If you’ve traveled anywhere outside of your “sphere,” you’ve probably experienced culture shock. It can happen anywhere you travel, not just abroad; the culture shock I experience returning to visit Grandma in the boonies down South is sometimes greater than traveling to cities in China, where I don't even speak the language. Culture shock doesn't have to be a bad thing (I love the south, y'all), and in fact, I generally see it as a positive! Culture shock is just another way of saying you’re being pushed outside of your cultural comfort zone, and if you stay open-minded to what you’re experiencing, it can teach you some pretty incredible things. For me, culture shock is an opportunity to show me different ways of living which are equally valid to my own. I’ve found that there are four common culture shock triggers, or situations which might provoke a sense of culture shock: food, language, fashion and politics/religion. FoodOh, Lord, food. I love food. I think it’s the number one way to experience other cultures, and the best part is, you can do it almost anywhere: I may not be able to travel to Myanmar today, but I sure as heck can taste some authentic Burmese cuisine at the restaurant downtown. On the other hand, food can also be the bane of my existence when I travel. I’m a vegetarian, and a picky one at that, which can make it incredibly difficult to find food to eat. In China, I went to restaurants where I was served everything from water with cabbage in it to some of the best dumplings I’ve eaten in my life. If you’re dealing with a highly restricted diet, finding food can become really tough! So my advice on this one is twofold: First: If you have dietary restrictions, do your research on where you’re eating to see if you can actually eat there. If you get to a place and they don’t have anything you can eat (it’s happened to me many times), be polite but know that it’s okay to leave. And second: Try the food. Don’t make yourself sick eating things you know you can't, obviously, but step outside of your comfort zone! So many people want to just stick to McDonald’s when they travel abroad, which means they miss out on a huge part of the culture they came all this way to experience. So try the national dish. Try local delicacies. Try the “weird things.” The things you can’t find at home. Try duck spit soup, witchetty grubs, even candied scorpions on a stick! Even if you hated it, at least you tried something new. You’ll regret it more if you had the opportunity to try something but passed up on it because you were afraid, than if you tried it and hated it. LanguageNot everybody speaks your language. Some people do speak your language, but only a little, or their colloquial terms make it difficult to communicate (Australian thongs, or British pants, for example). Don’t expect other people to do all the work for you! It can be really hard to travel to a place where you can’t communicate with others very well. Learning a few basic words and phrases in the dominant language of the region will make your travels so, so much easier. Even if you can’t pronounce it quite right, most people will appreciate the effort, and it will smooth the whole process over. Learning body language and social customs is really important, too. It’s good to know which hand gestures are and aren’t okay (giving a thumbs up in the middle east is a big no-no), how loudly people tend to speak in public, what forms of PDA are socially acceptable, and all those little things we may not necessarily think about in our home countries. It may take some time to research all these things, but it will make life so much easier on your travels -- and help you avoid people writing you off as just another rude tourist. FashionTo be honest, the best feeling is when you’re traveling somewhere, and a local mistakes you as one of them because of the way you were dressed. You don’t have to go all in and research the latest fashion trends (although that’s something I enjoy doing), but knowing the basics like what kind of shoes people wear or how modestly you’re expected to dress (particularly in religious areas) is always good to know. Obviously, you can’t expect to be seen as a local everywhere you go. I’m blonde and very white, so I wasn’t expecting to be mistaken for a local in China, but dressing like a local can not only be seen as respectful (again, like in religious areas), but will help keep you from attracting unwanted attention from pickpockets and the like. Finally, I’d say that it’s okay to get into the fashion scene where you are. Learn the difference between appreciating and appropriating, learn where certain items are worn (and by whom), and then have some fun! Sometimes, culture shock can make people a little judgemental -- when things don’t look or sound or feel like we’re used to, we can start comparing it to “back home,” and get annoyed when things are too different. Realize that you’re the weird one in this situation. Other people may feel comfortable or empowered wearing very different things than you do, and it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to respond. Odds are, you’re not traveling to impose your culture’s views on every other culture, but instead to experience the differences in cultures around the world -- so why get mad when they really are different? Politics and ReligionTwo things you’re never supposed to talk about at the dinner table, right? To be honest, politics and religion are two of my favorite topics -- because so long as everyone is honestly trying to be respectful and come from a place of trying to understand the other person’s viewpoint, you can have some really interesting conversations. Visiting England, my biggest experience in culture shock was concerning knives. Yes, knives. I had seen posters around advertising the benefits of programs designed to allow people to go "knife free" -- which I assumed was a governmental sobriety program's euphemism for needles. It wasn't until someone approached me on the street asking for a donation for one of these programs, designed to stop knife crimes, that I realized: no, they're really talking about knives. We had a very confusing conversation--he couldn't believe I didn't know about the seriousness of knife crimes, and I couldn't believe he was being serious (oops). Coming from a countrywhere mass shootings are so common, knife violence was low on my radar. This is not to say that my country's problems are greater than theirs, or that their solutions will work here--knife crimes are just not a big problem where I live, so it wasn’t something I thought about. It was a good lesson in perspective. It's interesting to see how other countries combat their problems, not just from an international relations perspective, but to see how we can learn from them! After all, that's a big part of what travel is all about--experiencing other cultures and witnessing how we are all so different and yet so similar. My biggest piece of advice is to just be respectful and open-minded. Other people in other cultures may have different ideas than what you’re used to, but that doesn’t make their viewpoints less valuable. If you’re confronted with something different than what you’re used to, take time to listen. Note: This does not extend to bigotry. If someone is being a bigot, my mentality is to try to get them to stop while also not putting yourself or anyone else in danger. This depends entirely on the situation. Most people advise not to engage the perpetrator(s), but instead address the victim(s) and aid them however you can. If you need an example of how to do this, you can research online, or contact me directly in the comments below for how I’ve dealt with these situations. Culture shock can hit us whenever we travel, but with the right mindset, we can use it as a learning experience. By staying open-minded and focusing on being respectful and curious, we can make our travels a thousand times better than if we close ourselves off and constantly compare everything to our lives back home. How do you experience culture shock, and what do you do when it happens? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below! Like this post? Why not share it?If you enjoyed this article, please leave me a comment telling me what you think! Or, if you found it useful, share it with your friends! You'll be helping me turn my passion for travel into a business, and more importantly, you'll be helping your friends out with any travel questions they might have, too. See more adventures!If you liked this post, you may also like:
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Hi, there! Call me Kris. I’m a world traveler, author and artist working to showcase the world's beauty and inspire you to find your confidence to see the world!
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