Moving to a new country can be an exciting experience. In a new environment, you somehow feel more alive. Soon, however, the new and delightful feeling turns into stress and discomfort.Although not everyone experiences culture shock in exactly the same way, many experts agree that it has roughly five stages.
In the first stage, you are excited by your new environment. Your feelings about the new culture are positive, so you are eager to make contact with people and to try new foods.
This is the second stage of culture shock. Because you do not know the social customs of the new culture, you may find it difficult to make friends. For instance, you do not understand how to make "small talk," so it is hard to carry on a casual, get-acquainted conversation. These are not minor challenges; they are major frustrations.
In the third stage, you no longer have positive feelings about the new culture. You feel that you have made a mistake in coming here. Making friends hasn't been easy, so you begin to feel lonely and isolated. You begin to spend most of your free time with students from your home country, and you eat in restaurants that serve your native food.
You know that you are in the fourth stage of culture shock when you have negative feelings about almost everything. You become critical, suspicious, and irritable. You believe that people are unfriendly, that your teachers do not like you, and that the food is making you sick.
Finally, you reach the fifth stage. As your language skills improve, you begin to have some success in meeting people and in negotiating situations. After realizing that you cannot change your surroundings, you begin to accept the differences and tolerate them.
A. Your x self-confidence grows.
B. You k regret making the decision.
C. These w are the causes of culture shock.
D. In this stage, you actively reject the new culture.
E. This is the phenomenon known as culture shock.
F. Now you want to be with familiar people and eat familiar food.
G. Sooner or later, differences in behavior and customs become noticeable to you.
