The Culture Shock

The term, culture shock, was introduced for the first time in 1958 to describe the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the immigrant’s lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, now knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place.
Like me when I first came to America, I was really shy and hesitated to communicate and interact with people around me in the total new environment. Everything was quite different that made me take time to adapt it and sometimes I felt depress and stressful to get used to it. I saw people in America live the life obviously different from my country’s culture and custom. They were really opened and friendly with people, but I did not know how to react or respond to them. When I enroll in the English course in Irvine Valley College, I honestly helped the difficult time at first to communicate and learn English with my international friends and teachers. I tried to talk with myself that I shouldn’t be shy, just talk with them freely and naturally, but I almost kept silence instead. Sometimes, I wanted to cry or felt homesick when I was beyond of the new environment alone without any Vietnamese student there. It was good for me to practice English and I got better after one month. I think one of the reason was I got Culture Shock. We can describe culture shock as the physical and emotional discomfort one suffers when coming to live in another country or a place different from the place of origin. Often, the way that we lived before is not acceptable in the new place. Everything seems different. That was why I had special reactions and responds to things which were unfamiliar to me. Everyone has this type of emotion when he or she interact which new environment, but we should control it properly other while we will have difficult life because of Culture Shock. Just studying how to adapt it and think yourself as a part of a new culture, you will find the better way to overcome your emotion problem. Even though, I had a hard time at first to adapt American culture, and right now I still have it, but I have been trying my best to get used to it. I found out many interesting customs and cultures over here from different foreign countries and their cultures. I learned and experienced a lot of useful things. I started confusing should I go back my country or stay here to develop my career and life. I think learning to adapt a new culture and overcome the culture shock is really a great experience for everyone. We should like a transformable animal can easily adapt to new environment, therefore we can have a better life in anywhere we go. Culture Shock is just a temporary emotion; it will be gone gradually when you start accepting your new place.
The symptoms of culture shock can appear at different times. Although one can experience real pain from culture shock, it is also an opportunity for redefining one’s life objectives. It can be an opportunity for learning and acquiring new perspectives. Culture shock can make one develop a better understanding of oneself and stimulate personal creativity.