《文化冲击:出国前没人告诉你的事

Before going abroad, someone somewhere probably has mentioned something about 文化冲击. 对我来说，这是一个简短的， “是啊, 文化冲击 is something that a lot of people experience when abroad, 但它最终会消失。” 我的留学办公室. 考虑到这一点, I began preparing all the things I would need to go abroad: my suitcase, 签证, plane tickets -- but 文化冲击 definitely was not on my packing list!

Fast-forward -- I arrive in 西班牙 and am overwhelmed with the beauty, 文化, 和我新家的冒险. This excitement, or “honeymoon phase,” lasted about two days, before 文化冲击 sank in. 在兴奋消退之后, I began to feel isolated in a city where I knew no one and was living with complete strangers. 我觉得自己在街上很显眼, 每个人都把我看作是“愚蠢的美国人”.” I was frustrated with the ways in which I overestimated my Spanish speaking abilities and struggled with the Spanish accent I was unfamiliar with. I would be lying if I said that my first 2 weeks of studying abroad 没有 filled with tears and calls back home saying, “我不认为这适合我..."

当人们从国外学习归来, 你会经常听到他们改变人生的经历, and the crazy adventures they went on -- because this is most of what studying abroad looks like. 出国前, 我只是听说过这些故事, 那些人正在享受他们生命中最美好的时光, and I felt as though my feelings of 文化冲击 were abnormal and that maybe I wasn’t the type of person that could handle studying abroad. As the chaos of the first few weeks of arriving in a new country began to settle down, I made amazing new friends and received support from my onsite staff in 格拉纳达. 我开始意识到我的感觉是如此的正常. 宝博体育有很多! It is a challenge, so naturally it is going to take some time to adjust to. Here are some tips that I found helped me deal with the cultural shock I experienced:

留一点对家乡的回忆

Just because you are in a different country does not mean that you have to completely disconnect from your life back home. 在你的房间周围挂一些朋友和家人的照片, 腾出时间和家里的人用FaceTime聊天, 如果你想吃点家里的食物，也可以去麦当劳. While you want to experience all of the new 文化 you are surrounded by, 时不时地求助于家里的舒适是可以的.

与他人交谈

One of the biggest feelings I had regarding 文化冲击 was the feeling of isolation. 在这个新城市里我一个人也不认识, 我和陌生人住在一起, and I felt like I was the only one that did not love this experience. In talking to others, I realized that this could not be further from the truth. 在与其他留学生的交谈中, 以及我在格拉纳达的现场员工, 我开始意识到每个人都和我有同样的感受, and talking through these feelings with others made me feel a lot better.

从不同的角度看待事物，而不是坏事

I remember the first couple weeks immediately deeming everything that was different in 西班牙 than in the U.S. 那么糟糕. 我认为我们在晚上九点半吃晚饭很愚蠢.m. It also annoyed me that people were constantly smoking on the street. Once I began labeling the cultural differences I was encountering as simply different rather than something negative, I was able to better appreciate the new 文化 that I was immersing myself in, 并对这些差异感到兴奋.

承认这些感觉是正常的，会过去的

如果你问任何一个在国外学习过的人, I am confident that all of them will tell you that they experienced it at some point during their time abroad. 文化冲击在不同时间对每个人的影响是不同的, but it is important to acknowledge that your feelings are 100% normal and you are not the first, 你也不会是最后一个, 体验文化冲击.

等它过去

My biggest piece of advice when dealing with 文化冲击 is to wait it out. 当你第一次到那里的时候，一切似乎都是那么不同，那么可怕. I remember crying to my host mom one day shortly after I arrived, and she just kept telling me, poco a poco 意思是“一点一点地”.她是对的. Little by little, the things that seemed to be the biggest deal when I first arrived 没有. 而不是把每件事都看成是不同的和可怕的, I began to see all the opportunities I had and began enjoying the experience I was blessed enough to have.

So, 是的, 如果你现在问我在国外的经历, the first thing I would tell you about is how much of a life-changing experience it was and the crazy adventures I had. The feelings of 文化冲击 quickly went away, and I started having the time of my life. 我认为谈论文化冲击是很重要的, 然而, because it is something that everyone will experience at one point and it is one of the major challenges to overcome while studying abroad. I wish 文化冲击 would have been talked about a bit more before I went, 不是为了吓唬或阻止我宝博体育, but rather to better prepare me for 文化冲击 and acknowledge that the feelings I was feeling were completely normal and would be short lived. 文化冲击是真实存在的, 这是很难克服的, I would 100% go through it again to have the amazing experience that is studying abroad.

阿曼达·霍尔是在格拉纳达留学的CEA校友大使, 西班牙, 2020年春季学期. 她目前是伊利诺伊州立大学的一名学生.