I’ve been for a month now! Can you
believe it? I can’t! It feels like just yesterday I was arriving in my new home,
and now here I am settling back in at my… “old” (?) home. I already kind of
talked about the sort of culture shock that I experienced during my first few
days in London. It happened even though I doubted that it could happen to me,
and I was angry and terrified at the same time, to admit for those first few
days my experiences weren’t necessarily meeting up to my expectations. But then
I settled in and I was fine, I made friends, I found my way around, I got used
to my new courses, and I finally felt “at home” but soon the abroad team at my
school began to talk about this thing called reverse culture shock and I
immediately though, “No! That’s silly, that won’t happen to me, not again! I’m
excited to go home and have my ‘normal’ life back again.” SURPRISE. REVERSE
CULTURE SHOCK IS MOST DEFINITELY A THING. You know how I know? I can feel it
right now, and it is WEIRD. Let me tell you about it…
It’s a part of this thing
(above) called the cultural adaptation curve. It’s caused by EXACTLY the same
reasons you felt culture shock in your new country. You’ve left your norm, and
now you’re expected to do things the way that your new society does them. Things
like language, food, clothing, manners, behavior, and so on cause culture
shock, and just as you’re getting used to them, or just as you feel integrated
into this new society, you’ve got to go home and assimilate back into your home
society again.
Luckily for me, I went to a
country where the language was almost non-existent, there were a few different things
that would pop up every now and again like words used in different contexts
than I would normally use them, but living with people who use them like this every
day made it easy for me to adjust. Maybe I’m sneaky, or maybe I was just
prepared, but the food and general culture of London does not severely differ
from that in the US. It was the little things that all started to add up for
me, because when you first arrive, everything is enchanting and charming, but
by week 2 or 3, you’re basically just pissed that they don’t have the soap you
like to use, or your favorite cereal tastes different, or maybe they put a ‘u’
in words where it seems absolutely unnecessary. All these things add up and
then you end up feeling like this guy…
Then one day, one of those
things will happen, you’ll pour your bowl of cereal and taste it, and it’ll
taste just like it always has… because now you’re used to it. That’s just the
way it tastes, and you’ve accepted that… and maybe even LIKE IT now. Who knows,
I’m sure stranger things have happened. You’ve finally come to the realization
THIS place is your new home, and you like it, whether or not you ACTUALLY like
it, because it feels like home. You know that you really feel comfortable when
you start to call you little dorm room home. When someone asks you where you’re
going and you say “Oh, I think I’ll just go home now.” No, you’re going to your
little cubicle of a rented bedroom, BUT you’ve probably spent a lot of time in
there (like maybe when on the second day you felt so homesick that you locked
yourself in there for a large number of hours), maybe you played games with
friends, I don’t know, your personal time is NONE of my business. Regardless
you now feel a homey feeling whenever you walk through that door, and maybe you
don’t understand it, but you’ll just accept it as it is.
BUT WAIT. Don’t get too
comfortable because just as you start to think- “I would be ok with living in
this little room for a little while longer.” You’ve got to pack up all of the
things you’ve acquired over the past months into that one suitcase that you
brought that was way too full when you’d arrived and try and make it to the
airport. You’ve got to say goodbye to your newly adopted family- because that
is what you end up becoming, and all of your new friends and go back to your
actual home. You will most likely feel excited, because you’ll be going back to
see all your friends, and family, you’ll be going back to the familiar- but if
you see the pattern here then you know where I’m going with this… IT’S NOT
FAMILIAR ANY MORE. You’re back home, and sure, you vaguely remember your social
norms, but you probably say little things that make people say “Oh, you’ve
turned so European!” No, I haven’t, or maybe I have. But I lived there, and no
one Americanized anything for me- SO NO DUH, I’ve lost my American tone a
little, yes. Then you’ll start to notice things- just like in your host country
that will start to annoy you. That’s just where I am now. I see things happen,
or have things happen to me and all I can think is “Well that would never
happen in England…” or “Nobody says that in England…” or the biggie, “That
really makes me wish I was back in England…” (That one makes me cringe too, so
don’t worry. And not because I don’t love England, because I do, I just know I’d
be annoyed if someone said that to me…). I have faith though, that soon enough
I’ll have assimilated back into my own lifestyle here at home.
I know that this could
potentially sound like I am complaining, and I certainly am not. I’M JUST
WARNING YOU, I didn’t believe it would happen to me in a million years, and it
happened TWICE. So think of this as a heads up… that’s all. Culture shock and
all, I would 110% recommend study abroad or moving abroad to anyone and
everyone, even if it’s only for a bit, because it is an incredible experience,
one you cannot find anywhere else. Its complete cultural immersion, HELLO that
explains the culture shock, but regardless it is amazing, and you will make
friends, and memories and have experiences that will be unparalleled to
anything else you do, EVER. I promise. Let me know if you’d like to hear
anything else about my study abroad experience, I’m always willing to share –
Partially I think because my friends and family are already sick of me talking
about it, because they don’t even ask anymore… HAHA! Ok, well that’s all- my
one lesson- GET OUT THERE AND IMMERSE YOURSELF IN EVERY WONDERFUL FANTASTIC
CULTURAL EXPERIENCE YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON!
Cheers!!
xoxo
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