By Saki Mu
It is really natural that you experience culture shock when they are living in or studying abroad in another country. In Some reason, some people do not get homesick even though they are far away from their house. In my case, I am originally from Kumamoto, and now I live in Nishinomiya. Furthermore, I live in United States right now. Since I was use to live far away from my family, I did not feel any culture shock as the others did when I get to MFWI. May be if I lived with my parents, I might did experience some culture shock. There are four stages in culture shock: honeymoon stage, culture shock, acceptance, and integration. Not everyone goes through this culture shock stages, but most of the people do. In addition, I did not experience culture shock this time in MFWI, but I was in a culture shock long time ago when I first moved into the United States. Therefore, culture shock seems like it is unfortunate thing to experience, however, it is really important stages to experience to get into the country and the culture you are into.
Culture shock seems really terrible things to experience, and of course it is; however, it is worth experiencing because that way, you can learn how you liked your country. You will not be able to notice if you stayed in your country forever. The first stage of the culture shock is called “honeymoon stage”. During this stage, people feel happy and everything is new for them. Everything is interesting for them. This stage often occurs when people just have arrived in other country and just started to discover the land.
The second stage is called “culture shock”. This stage differs from people to people, but usually the person will experience something that was unexpected and then the person starts feeling unhappy. Some people may become angry, depressed, or tired of everything. The person will start thinking how weird the country is, and the person starts complaining about the country. Surprisingly, some people does not feel culture shock at all, on the other hand, some people feels culture shock really badly. This happens when people starts settling down in the country.
The third stage is called “acceptance”. In this stage, people start feeling the country like as their home. They somehow got out from the stage of culture shock and accept the weird thing as it is a culture of the country. In this stage, things will get easier than before, and you will start making a lot of friends, and everything gets easier than before. The person starts accepting the country so this stage is called acceptance stage.
The final stage is called “integration”. It takes really long time to reach to this stage. The person starts feeling good and can speak the language fluently and everything becomes easy. In general, it is said that it will take more than a year to reach to this stage if you moved in or went to study abroad to another country. The person starts feeling comfortable living in the country and now the person is bicultural. This happened to the people who really got use to the country and found her place in the country.
From my opinion, I think experiencing culture shock is a fantastic life experience in the world. I say this because culture shock makes people stronger than you ever think. In the past, when I was in fifth grade, I moved into South Carolina and experienced culture shock even I was ten years old. Somehow I overcome with culture shock and started having marvelous life after that. If I were to give some advice to the people who are in the culture shock stage, I would say the time will solve this problem, and do not take everything seriously about your negative experience. You have to tell somebody that you have done something funny and laugh at them together. I think this is the best way to get out from the culture shock stages. I think culture shock is a best thing to experience in the whole life because you can learn about yourself as you go through the stages.
It is really natural that you experience culture shock when they are living in or studying abroad in another country. In Some reason, some people do not get homesick even though they are far away from their house. In my case, I am originally from Kumamoto, and now I live in Nishinomiya. Furthermore, I live in United States right now. Since I was use to live far away from my family, I did not feel any culture shock as the others did when I get to MFWI. May be if I lived with my parents, I might did experience some culture shock. There are four stages in culture shock: honeymoon stage, culture shock, acceptance, and integration. Not everyone goes through this culture shock stages, but most of the people do. In addition, I did not experience culture shock this time in MFWI, but I was in a culture shock long time ago when I first moved into the United States. Therefore, culture shock seems like it is unfortunate thing to experience, however, it is really important stages to experience to get into the country and the culture you are into.
Culture shock seems really terrible things to experience, and of course it is; however, it is worth experiencing because that way, you can learn how you liked your country. You will not be able to notice if you stayed in your country forever. The first stage of the culture shock is called “honeymoon stage”. During this stage, people feel happy and everything is new for them. Everything is interesting for them. This stage often occurs when people just have arrived in other country and just started to discover the land.
The second stage is called “culture shock”. This stage differs from people to people, but usually the person will experience something that was unexpected and then the person starts feeling unhappy. Some people may become angry, depressed, or tired of everything. The person will start thinking how weird the country is, and the person starts complaining about the country. Surprisingly, some people does not feel culture shock at all, on the other hand, some people feels culture shock really badly. This happens when people starts settling down in the country.
The third stage is called “acceptance”. In this stage, people start feeling the country like as their home. They somehow got out from the stage of culture shock and accept the weird thing as it is a culture of the country. In this stage, things will get easier than before, and you will start making a lot of friends, and everything gets easier than before. The person starts accepting the country so this stage is called acceptance stage.
The final stage is called “integration”. It takes really long time to reach to this stage. The person starts feeling good and can speak the language fluently and everything becomes easy. In general, it is said that it will take more than a year to reach to this stage if you moved in or went to study abroad to another country. The person starts feeling comfortable living in the country and now the person is bicultural. This happened to the people who really got use to the country and found her place in the country.
From my opinion, I think experiencing culture shock is a fantastic life experience in the world. I say this because culture shock makes people stronger than you ever think. In the past, when I was in fifth grade, I moved into South Carolina and experienced culture shock even I was ten years old. Somehow I overcome with culture shock and started having marvelous life after that. If I were to give some advice to the people who are in the culture shock stage, I would say the time will solve this problem, and do not take everything seriously about your negative experience. You have to tell somebody that you have done something funny and laugh at them together. I think this is the best way to get out from the culture shock stages. I think culture shock is a best thing to experience in the whole life because you can learn about yourself as you go through the stages.
I read your great blog. I am in acceptance stage now. Your advice is helpful for me. Thank you.
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