Cultural Shift

From AFSWiki

AFS Participants can expect to experience emotional highs and lows during the experience, just as they would during any given time period back home. The catch is, because they will be away from your normal network of support and various comforts of home, the level of intensity of the emotions you feel while abroad can be greater than usual.

It is easy to imagine how frustrating it might be for students not to be able to communicate as well with others as they would like, especially in the beginning of the experience, or the sadness they may feel as a result being away from your family and friends. These intense emotions are signals that they are learning and growing in many ways as they strive to adjust to your new surroundings. We refer to this as “culture shift.”

Signals that a student is in culture shift mode:

• Everything is an effort, especially with a new language, and even the simplest activities take figuring out. They lack the instinctive knowledge of how to handle things in this new environment.
• They really miss familiar surroundings and long for the comfort of home.
• They feel very critical of their host country, culture and family.
• They may even develop physical manifestations: headaches, stomach aches, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping.
• They feel isolated and may want to further isolate themselves from their hosts with increased sleeping, reading, listening with headphones or spending time on the computer.

Managing Culture Shift

The aforementioned signals are their body and mind’s way of telling them that they need a break from trying to process so many differences and shifting their behavior accordingly. Once they have some relief, have recharged their batteries so to speak, they will be better able to take advantage of the learning experiences that these challenges represent.

Here are some ideas that can help students regulate the emotional highs and lows that are part of the culture shift process. They can find additional suggestions in the “While You Are Abroad” section of Culture Trek.

• Recognize the fact that low periods are to be expected and are a common experience for people living in a new country/culture/home.
• Make an effort to reach out to people around you: your AFS Contact, Host Family, friends, other AFS Participants, etc. Talking about your feelings will help you understand that it is a natural stage and help lessen the sense of isolation.
• Share something with your hosts that is the same or similar to something you like to do at home.
• Establish good sleeping habits. Do not over sleep or sleep too little.
• Don’t spend too much time calling home or e-mailing all friends and family. This may make you more homesick!
• Get some physical exercise!
• Seek out opportunities to help others. Taking your mind off your own situation will actually lessen the homesickness.
• Try and learn more about your host community – the local politics, sites of historic or cultural interest, the local market.
• Try and focus on making the most of your experience while it lasts.