Helpful Guide for Culture Shock
After new college students arriving schoool, culture shock would definitely bring some troubles. It is obvious that the differences between various countries are more likely to trigger conflicts and arguments not only for international students but local.
The diversity of culture obviouly could leads to difference in living habits, eating habits, political opinions and so on. Sometimes, however, it is inevitable that we need to social with others from another country. Maybe those customs are totally new and hard to accept, we still ought to learn to integrate. Therefore, I will give some helpful tips within dealing with culture shock.
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Trying to communicate with other students on your own initiative. Whoever you are, local or international, talking to others forwardly means a friendly signal in a relationship. No matter what culture barriers limit your fulture friendship, at least you are positive and there will be possibilities.
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Being curious about cultures from another country. Some cultures are interesting like using chopsticks in China and nodding head to say ” yes” in India.
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Make more friends from different countries. By daily communication even gossip, we can learn a lot of customs like festivals and histories.
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Most importantly, do not judge others’ culture even if you dislike them. To some extent, the traditional culture may be sacred in one country but disgusting in another. However, we still need to respect other customs, do our best to understand their behaviour.
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Keep silent if you cannot accept a culture shock. From my perspective, it is impossible to impose us accepting every diverse customs. It is not necessary to aggrieve ourselves if we donot tend to adjust a different culture, so just do our own businesses.
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Talking to psychologists if you need it. Maybe it’s difficult for a forieign student socialize in a strange country which could leads to high peer pressure. Those qualified psychologists are able to give timely advices and solve your problems quickly.
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Attending more activities like volunteer work or clubs. Students could know new friends quickly and then get their culture efficiently.
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Be confident to your own culture.Although we need to integrate diverse culture, it doesn’t means that we need to give up our own customs. Try to bring various culture together and choose your own way to live.
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Tell staff if unavoidable conficts appear. Do not feel shamed telling staffs because they always know how to deal with arguments and they are happy to help you. For example, if some conflicts between roommates leads to long-time arguments and you all feel uncomfortable, the staff may change your roomates avoid fights.
In conclusion, we should try our best to accept a new culture positively and do not afriad of culture shock which is common for every student.
Siqi Zhang