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    Culture Adaptation Information: Graduate International Student Orientation 2014

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    Bri Magsino
    The document discusses the stages of cultural adjustment that international students often experience when studying abroad. It describes the typical stages as pre-departure anxiety, the honeymoon period, initial culture shock, surface adjustment, culture shock, true cultural learning, adaptation and adjustment, and potential re-entry shock when returning home. The stages involve initial excitement, frustration with differences, depression, and eventual adaptation to the new culture. The document also provides tips for minimizing culture shock, such as maintaining social support networks and a sense of humor. Not all students experience severe culture shock.

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    Culture Adaptation Information: Graduate International Student Orientation 2014

    Uploaded by

    Bri Magsino
    42 views5 pages
    The document discusses the stages of cultural adjustment that international students often experience when studying abroad. It describes the typical stages as pre-departure anxiety, the honeymoon period, initial culture shock, surface adjustment, culture shock, true cultural learning, adaptation and adjustment, and potential re-entry shock when returning home. The stages involve initial excitement, frustration with differences, depression, and eventual adaptation to the new culture. The document also provides tips for minimizing culture shock, such as maintaining social support networks and a sense of humor. Not all students experience severe culture shock.

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    The document discusses the stages of cultural adjustment that international students often experience when studying abroad. It describes the typical stages as pre-departure anxiety, the honeymoon period, initial culture shock, surface adjustment, culture shock, true cultural learning, adaptation and adjustment, and potential re-entry shock when returning home. The stages involve initial excitement, frustration with differences, depression, and eventual adaptation to the new culture. The document also provides tips for minimizing culture shock, such as maintaining social support networks and a sense of humor. Not all students experience severe culture shock.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    42 views5 pages

    Culture Adaptation Information: Graduate International Student Orientation 2014

    Uploaded by

    Bri Magsino
    The document discusses the stages of cultural adjustment that international students often experience when studying abroad. It describes the typical stages as pre-departure anxiety, the honeymoon period, initial culture shock, surface adjustment, culture shock, true cultural learning, adaptation and adjustment, and potential re-entry shock when returning home. The stages involve initial excitement, frustration with differences, depression, and eventual adaptation to the new culture. The document also provides tips for minimizing culture shock, such as maintaining social support networks and a sense of humor. Not all students experience severe culture shock.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 5

    Culture

    Adaptation
    Information
    Graduate International Student Orientation
    2014
    International Center
    20 Sawyer Avenue, Medford MA 02155 | Phone: 617.627.3458 | Fax: 617.627.6076
    internationalcenter@tufts.edu | http://ase.tufts.edu/icenter

    CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT
    Studying abroad is often an exciting and challenging experience, and it means making big changes in
    your daily life. You will go through some sort of “cultural adjustment,” or transition into a new culture.
    Some researchers describe four stages of cultural adjustment; others believe it is a six-step process; still
    others believe it is an ongoing process including time before and after your stay abroad. Not everyone
    experiences exact stages but most travelers will go through highs and lows – the positive as well as the
    negative aspects of living in a new culture. Most people experience “culture shock” as part of this
    process. The general stages of cultural adaptation most people experience are described below.

    Pre-departure Anxiety
    There are a lot of preparations to make before living in another country. It can be nerve-wracking to say
    goodbye to your friends and family. People often get overwhelmed with the details of their preparations.

    The Honeymoon
    This stage is characterized by exhilaration, anticipation and excitement. Just like the beginning of many
    new relationships, the first reaction to a new culture is often euphoric. You have finally arrived in the U.S. after
    months or even years of planning! The differences in scenery, food, language, or customs can be exhilarating!
    During this period you may show extreme eagerness in pleasing people and cooperating with others. In your
    eagerness to please, you may forget to tell people when you do not understand something. When experiencing
    some difficulties with simple things like, for instance, making telephone calls, or using public transport, you
    tend to down-play negative emotions.
    Initial Culture Shock
    This is when the differences that first were so exciting to you are now frustrating. For many, the shock can
    come at the first meal when familiar foods are nowhere to be found. For others, it is the realization that
    speaking a second language all day is not only exhausting; it’s frustrating to feel limited in your
    communication. For others, the initial shock is an accumulation of many factors, including the lack of familiar
    faces and cultural cues.

    Surface Adjustment
    This can occur when you have settled into a new routine. Maybe you have successfully registered and made it
    to your classes. Perhaps you’ve met some people in your classes that seem like they will become friends.

    Culture Shock
    This stage is characterized by frustration, anger, anxiety and sometimes depression. There may be
    unresolved cultural conflicts in the classroom, with friends, or with the society in general. You may find
    yourself frustrated with the college bureaucracy and tired of speaking and listening in English every day. You
    may feel upset because although you have studied English, you do not feel as though you understand those
    around you. You may begin to blame the external environment for your uncomfortable feelings. You may feel
    isolated and become withdrawn from life around you. You seek security in the familiar. Many academic
    problems begin at this stage.

    True Cultural Learning


    Moving out of culture shock and into adaptation and adjustment is not simply a matter of feeling better.
    Rather, it requires understanding the reasons behind culture shock and developing personal strategies for
    dealing with cultural differences. Most sojourners cannot do this process alone: get help from others with
    international experience or from International Center staff to understand U.S. culture and appropriate coping
    strategies.

    Adaptation and Adjustment


    It takes time to adapt and adjust to your new environment, but adjustments will lead to an easing of tense
    feelings, relaxation and openness. Skills you developed in previous transitions will help you when you
    encounter future intercultural challenges. Adjusting and adapting to a new culture requires the ability to know
    yourself well and to know the ways of the culture and its expectations of you. At this time you begin to relax in
    your new situation and are even able to laugh at minor mistakes and misunderstandings, which previously
    would have caused major headaches in other stages. You will become more relaxed after you have made some
    friends and are able to manage the size and complexity of the University. You begin to feel more comfortable
    with your studies and do well taking tests.

    Further adaptation is characterized by greater comfort levels in the U.S. and an appreciation for the home
    country. During this stage, you not only retain allegiance to your home culture, but you also feel at home in the
    U.S. You have made a significant adjustment to the norms and standards of the University and the new
    community and environment in which you now live, and your self-esteem grows. You can accept the negative
    differences and tolerate them.

    Re-entry shock or adjustment


    The challenges of going home can be many – the most significant can be that you did not expect it to be hard to
    come home. It can be difficult, no matter how excited you are to see family and friends. Moreover, it can be
    hard to make sense of your experiences in the U.S., especially if you have to immediately find a job or return to
    your studies. With reentry, the goal is not to jump right back into everything exactly as it was before your time
    in the U.S. – otherwise, why did you leave? You want to put your new found skills to good use: seeing things
    from another point of view, speaking another language, and learning of another area of the world. Staying
    connected with other international alumni is one strategy that can lessen the shock of reentry.
    CULTURE SHOCK
    Let’s discuss culture shock a bit more in depth, as this can be the most distressing part of your cultural
    adaptation. As you embark upon an exciting journey of studying abroad in the U.S. you may experience some
    confusion, discomfort, and disorientation while trying to adapt to a new culture. This discomfort, as you are
    “culturally adapting,” is known as culture shock. Some people are affected by culture shock more than others,
    but rest assured culture shock is a very normal process in which nearly everyone goes through.

    Some possible indicators of culture shock include:

     Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, irritability, loneliness


     Homesickness
     Sleeping more than usual
     Feeling depressed
     Getting angry easily
     Stereotyping of host country/culture
     Increase in physical ailments or pains
     Compulsive eating or lack of appetite
     Boredom or fatigue
     Extreme cleanliness
     Unexplainable crying
     Emotional & intellectual withdrawal

    MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF CULTURE SHOCK

     Be aware of the existence of cultural adjustment. Realize it is natural to miss your family,
    friends and home. Talk about these feelings with someone you feel comfortable with.

     Find friends from your home country to talk with. However, try not to spend all of your time
    with fellow nationals. Resist making jokes, stereotypes and negative comments about Americans
    and the U.S. Try, instead, to focus on the positive aspects of this new culture.

     Find an American to be a “cultural informant” in order for you to gain a proper prospective. Be
    curious and don’t be afraid to ask questions and get genuine feedback about your
    interpretation of American customs, values and behavior. People will enjoy responding to your
    interest in understanding Americans.

     Maintain your sense of humor. Be able to talk & laugh about your mistakes.

     Set realistic goals to avoid disappointment. It will take you longer to accomplish tasks in a new
    culture, academic environment and in a new language.

     Have an ability to accept failure. Those who study abroad are successful people in their own
    culture, and therefore are not used to being unsuccessful. When living in a new culture it is
    natural to experience difficulties and occasional failures.

     Remain flexible in your attitudes. Look for the logical explanations for host behavior and
    values.
    NOT EVERYONE EXPERIENCES CULTURE SHOCK
    What if you immediately feel at home in the U.S and experience no problems in settling in? Research has
    shown that the more practiced at absorbing, accepting and adapting you are, the more easily you
    overcome culture shock. If you are confident from speaking the language and possess a thorough
    knowledge of your new home, you can feel settled after a relatively short period. If you have adjusted
    well to your new environment, you perform competently the roles that each social context requires and
    thus avoid the frustrations resulting from socially inappropriate behavior.

    Some individuals do not seek cultural adjustment, either because they do not agree with the values and
    behavior prevalent in the new country, or because they fear losing their own cultural identity. Living in a
    cultural vacuum may not be easy and can lead to feeling, and being treated, like an outsider.

    Others deny or even reject their own culture and unquestioningly embrace everything new. While living
    in the U.S., this may seem a viable course of action but on returning home can lead to re-integration
    problems.

    Those who neither completely reject their own culture or that of the new country tend to be most
    successful at overcoming culture shock. They will attempt to mix and merge aspects of both cultures and
    thus become bicultural.

    Information drawn and adapted from the following resources:

    Eickelmann, C. (2011). Study abroad and culture shock. The International Education Site.
    http://www.intstudy.com/articles/ec184a13.htm

    Rhinesmith, S. H. (1975). Bring home the world. A Management Guide for Community Leaders of
    International Programs. New York: AMACOM, a division of American Management
    Associations. p. 55; Wen-Chih Tseng & Fred B. Newton, (2002, December).

    University of Minnesota. (2011). Culture in the U.S. International Student Handbook.


    http://www.isss.umn.edu/publications/HandBook/HandBook.html

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