Culture Shock

After this week’s reading, something that stuck out to me was the idea of culture shock and the meaning behind it as well as how different it can be from person to person depending on who they are and where they are and what exactly they are doing. Watching a YouTube video about students who studied abroad in different places, I noticed that some people experienced a sense of an overwhelming feeling while trying to get used to the new culture while some people felt excited to try new things, meet new people and experience a new life to them. It is interesting to see how people adapt to new cultures and the new life they are living. Whether they are traveling from place to place for business trips, studying abroad, or just to vacation, the difference in the culture from what you’re used to has a big impact on the time spent in the new place as well as the experience they encounter. The people video I watched, were a number of students who spent time studying abroad away from home. They talked about the feeling of homesick, missing food from home, and missing their families. As time went on, they felt more comfortable with the experience and as they adjusted to the language, the weather, and made friends, they were able to consider that place home.

From the reading, the direct definition of culture shock is “a sense of disorientation that occurs when entering a radically new social or cultural environment”. It is interesting to think about why people might want to study abroad. With the interest of getting an education, they are able to do that on top of traveling the world and seeing new things. Sociology studies cultures in many different aspects and I feel as if it is important for that study to talk to students who have experienced culture shock first hand and how they adapted to it, how it changed them, and how they dealt with the shock of being away from everything that is normal to them only while having to make a completely new normal for themselves. From the reading, it is explained that is very important to be able to put all judgment aside and have an open mind when entering a new country, state, city, etc. As it states in the reading, “when we so completely lack an understanding of our surroundings, that we are truly able to perceive what is right in front of our eyes.” We should be able to experience new things, find new things out about other people as well as ourselves, and see the world for what it is.

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