Settling In: Culture Shock

• Read About: Settling In | Culture Shock | Getting Around | Language

  Part of the experience of being in a foreign country is the cultural difference.

  Travelling to live for a significant period of time in a foreign country, I found - and continue to find - it helpful to consciously remind myself that it will never be the same as home: there will be food that cannot be found in the supermarkets (there may not be a supermarket); complicated and apparently pointless administrative processes to go through, multiple times and lasting for months; there will be people who don’t know you and who, zooming through their own very full lives, may not think to stop to see how you are getting on; there will be the language you don’t understand, the jokes you won’t get and won’t be able to make in response etc etc. However, this is the experience: embrace it!!

  Helpful to prepare and maintain…
  1. Healthy mental attitude - acceptance and open-mindedness to what will happen, who you will meet, what you will do and what you could achieve.
  2. Readiness to participate and to accept invitations eg. to dinner, the cinema, a school play, a choir practice, a sports game, a bar etc.
  3. Willingness to seek out and take opportunities. Look to make your own temporary life - what are you interested in? Find out about clubs, groups, associations etc.
  4. Active interest to learn. Show curiosity, ask questions, enjoy it!!
  5. Readiness and confidence to ask for advice and for help (people seldom know you need it otherwise) if things get tough.

  Thanks to: Arabella Lawson