Coping with Culture Shock When Studying Abroad
Culture shock is the emotional process you may experience once you’ve become immersed in a foreign culture for an extended period of time. As you struggle to adapt to everyday life, you can sometimes feel a whole range of emotions, from excitement and enthusiasm to anxiety, depression, and anger. Everyone experiences culture shock to some degree—some get over it quickly, while others need to return home early to find relief.
It is possible to actively combat culture shock and emerge with a better understanding of yourself, your host country, and your home culture. It’s simply a matter of keeping the right frame of mind, being persistent, and allowing yourself the time and opportunities to become acquainted with your new environment. Consider the following suggestions for coping with culture shock.
- Stay Positive. Even when you make mistakes, remember that you came abroad to learn, and learning means trial and error. Remind yourself of your strengths every day. Just because you stumbled while speaking to a local in French, don’t assume your accomplishments are any less impressive.
- Be Healthy. Eat right, get plenty of sleep, and avoid the use of drugs or alcohol. Symptoms of culture shock can include anxiety, depression, and lethargy, all of which can be made worse by overeating and abusing substances. If you need help staying on track, reach out to a friend in your program.
- Ask Questions. If you notice that many of your mistakes are being made in the same situations, don’t be too shy to ask what’s going wrong. Most foreigners are very open to explaining the differences between their culture and yours—provided you express the interest. You might be able to proactively correct many of your issues this way, while making a few new friends on the side.
- Socialize Regularly. Put forth the effort to arrange trips to a café or other social locations so that you and other members of your study abroad program can relax. The key to beating culture shock is continuously exposing yourself to the culture in a positive light. Getting out into the host society, even with friends from your home country, increases your chances of making new friends and having fun.
- Have Patience. In some cases, all you need is time. If you find that your level of anxiety is shifting from one extreme to another, it’s likely that you just need to relax and let yourself adapt. Rushing your integration into a new community can make you feel disconnected, so just go with the flow.
Interested in more tips that help your study abroad experience be the best it can be? We’re here to help. Head over to our Staying Safe Abroad page to find out how to keep your international activities safe and enriching.
