Everything You Need to Know About Culture Shock When Moving Internationally

Culture shock is normal and common among travelers, especially if someone is relocating to another country completely different from the homeland. Leaving your comfort zone is never easy, but when you have an opportunity like this to be in your dream country, there shouldn’t be anything to stop you.

Even the most stable individuals and experienced travelers can become confused by culture shock. However, when you’re ready for a big change like moving overseas, ensure you avoid the relocation scams that could make your move even harder. Instead, book the best international moving services with a professional packing service, and be sure you’re in good hands. Also, check whether they will provide you with a secure storage unit and efficient overseas vehicle shipping. Learn how you’ll handle all difficulties and challenges you’ll face. So, let’s check what is and how to overcome culture shock in another country.

What Is Culture Shock?

After hiring professional international movers and organizing the move, you should learn about the possible culture shock. It’s a feeling of disorientation that can occur when you travel to a new place or experience a different culture. It is often accompanied by feelings of anxiety, homesickness, and loneliness. Culture shock is normal and common among travelers. It can be mild or severe, depending on your level of exposure to the new culture.

When people relocate to a new country alone, such as when they retire abroad, they may experience culture shock. Traveling for pleasure, business, or retirement can all cause culture shock, as can studying abroad. For instance, international students who relocate to study abroad in a different nation could encounter cultural adjustment difficulties due to unfamiliarity with the local climate, culture, language, cuisine, and values.

There are particular stages that most people go through before adjusting to their new environment, even if the adjustment timing of each person can vary. Culture shock can cause anxiety and be quite stressful. It is possible to get through it, though, and grow.

What Causes Culture Shock?

This is the state of confusion, unease, and sometimes even worry that comes from living in another country with strange customs you’re just not used to. Culture shock has a wide range of causes that are greatly influenced by how different the new society is from the previous, familiar culture. In other words, the abundance of strange and unknown people may cause these feelings, especially if they are living on their own in another country.

What Are the Symptoms of Culture Shock?

One of the biggest relocation mistakes is not going through every detail and challenge you may face. For example, you need to take seriously preparing all the relocation essentials but also not neglect the possibility you’ll have to ship your vehicle overseas.

Not to mention how not having an efficient move without a thorough to-do list could only worsen the situation with the culture shock symptoms. In fact, the variety of symptoms that result from culture shock can differ widely in severity from person to person. These may consist of:

• Being homesick,
• Disorientation,
• Feeling helpless,
• Irritability,
• Paranoia,
• Eating or sleeping disturbances,
• Lack of concentration,
• Feeling isolated,
• Sadness.

What Are the Stages of Culture Shock?

Some people experience the shock symptoms as soon as they land at the airport, while for others, it might be a month before they feel them again when they go to the corner market to buy some goods and realize they don’t actually understand the locals. For most people who move abroad, there are four distinct stages that eventually come to the surface. So, as one of the most helpful relocation hacks you can learn, be sure to learn as much as you can about all of them.

The honeymoon phase is a typical name for the first stage. People are ecstatic to be in an unfamiliar setting, which explains why. Frequently, they view it as an amazing adventure. This initial thrill can serve to sum up the entire experience for someone visiting for a brief while. Even though people anticipate it to persist, the honeymoon period ends for individuals making a longer-term shift.

The Honeymoon Stage

This is the initial stage of culture shock, where everything is new and exciting, no matter if relocating for the first time or not. You may feel like a tourist in your new surroundings. Things that stand out to you include the food, language, customs, and architecture. You may also notice the differences in the way people dress, behave, and interact with each other. This phase is typically short-lived and lasts only a few weeks.

The Frustration Stage

Learning how to live abroad, indeed, isn’t easy. As a result, individuals may feel overpowered by a new society at this point, especially if there is still a language barrier. Local customs can also become more difficult, and formerly simple requests can take much longer to do, which can be exhausting.

The main source of dissatisfaction is typically one’s failure to effectively communicate – to understand what others are saying and to make oneself understood. Due to the urge to withdraw, some people may find this stage of cultural adjustment to be the most challenging.

For instance, overseas students participating in study abroad programs who are adjusting to American culture may experience anger and anxiety, which might cause them to distance themselves from new friends and forget the reason they moved. Some people develop eating and sleeping difficulties during this phase and may think about leaving early.

The following are a few signs of culture shock:

• Frustration,
• Depression,
• Feeling unwelcome and disoriented,
• Irritability,
• Fatigue,
• Homesickness.

The Adaptation Stage

The stage of adaptation is frequently slow as people get used to their new circumstances. They start to feel less frustrated as they become used to their new surroundings. People will become even more accustomed, at least to the point where understanding some cultural cues becomes a lot easier, even though they can’t still fully grasp them.

The Acceptance Stage

People can enjoy their new house more during the acceptance or healing stage when most begin to realize all the benefits of the relocation. Most of the time, as beliefs and attitudes about their new environment change, self-confidence rises, and their sense of humor returns. In other words, they can generally relax and feel happier after clearing up the problems and misconceptions from the frustration period. At this point, the majority of people mature, modify their old habits, and perhaps even pick up some manners from the new society.

How to Recognize the Culture Shock?

Culture shock presents itself both emotionally and physically, like many other forms of stress. It’s critical to spot these symptoms in yourself, your traveling companion, and anyone else in your vicinity (perhaps fellow volunteers) who has recently relocated to a different culture. And when you do that, ensure you know how to deal with the stress in the right way (check the video below and reduce stress right now).

How to Deal With Culture Shock and Survive It

People respond differently to cultural changes that are required when relocating to a new country. Even though it is normal to feel culture shock when introduced to or residing in a foreign place for a long period of time. In essence, even though the culture shock is prevalent, some people experience it considerably more strongly than others.

The discomfort should be reduced, and your integration into the new culture should go a little more smoothly if you know there are things to do both before and during your journey.

• Learn more and be prepared – To at least have some idea of what to anticipate, do some research on your foreign country. The most apparent place to start is with a guidebook because they typically have a wealth of information on how local culture operates. You can also get the opinions of locals to that location by asking them. Knowing what to anticipate and double-checking your presumptions at the border will help reduce the initial shock and better equip you to adapt to a different environment.
• Try to maintain an open mind. – When visiting a different country with its own culture, it’s crucial to be open-minded. This entails rebuffing the ingrained need to contrast everything unique with your own culture. The new environment is just distinct, neither good nor bad. The greatest method to remain completely neutral and promote cross-cultural awareness is to refrain from passing judgment and resist the impulse to categorize everything that occurs.
• Establish a new routine – Create a new habit as soon as you can to aid in your adjustment to another country. Get lots of rest and eat healthy meals on time (even if your timetable follows the customs of your new culture). Regular exercise is essential as a stress reducer. When you start to feel like everything is a little bit too much to manage, bring familiar and sentimental items into your home to comfort you and serve as a reminder of home. So, be sure to know what you’ll keep, and check which items an international mover can’t move.
• Adapt and create new acquaintances – A fantastic method to understand better your new host culture and country is through making new acquaintances. While making friends with fellow expats is acceptable, it’s also crucial to have local acquaintances. You may need to talk to your expat friends about how you’re feeling about the new culture, but you don’t want to become bogged down in your previous viewpoints. Making friends in the community is crucial to getting a real understanding of the new culture. Invite your new pals around once you’ve started to make friends and prepare their favorite meals. Frequently, they enjoy learning just as much as you do.
• Sulk in your new environment – Soak up your new culture and enjoy it. Visit the local festivals, participate in a group, join a church, and go sightseeing. Take a class, then go to the beach if surfing is what you like to do on the weekends. Take advantage of the opportunity to relax or get more sleep if everyone chooses to sleep in on Sunday. You may often learn a lot about a culture just by participating in its activities and observing how and why individuals behave. Additionally, it increases your chances of meeting new people.
• Put your new language to use – Learn a few phrases in the regional dialect, whether or not you are fluent in it and are using them to communicate and bond with the locals. Make an attempt to remember and use the names of the people you are chatting with while grinning at them. In this way, they’ll be more understanding when you use their language incorrectly and more willing to assist you in improving it. Stepping outside and interacting with your neighbors is one of the finest methods to learn a new language and finally start using it.

Ask for Professional Help

It’s very typical to go through all the signs of cultural shock in a yo-yo rhythm. It could seem like all the bad sensations have finally left you at one time, but then all of a sudden, right when it’s at least expected, they come back. However, ignoring them and letting your mental health up to chance can quickly make the symptoms worse. So, be sure to learn all the relocation tips, like renting a storage unit, a worthy investment, and other important things. That way, you’ll be able to deal with all difficulties more maturely.

Homesickness and grief may cause you to develop anxiety or depression after moving if you don’t hunt for coping techniques while you’re away from home. It is unquestionably at this point that assistance from professionals is required. You may easily come up with plans and original methods to deal with your situation with a little outside help.

In the video below, you can check how to learn about the different culture you’re currently in.

Moving Abroad is Worth Experiencing the Culture Shock

Some people find culture shock exciting and view it as an opportunity to learn about a new culture. Others find it stressful and difficult to adjust to the new environment. The good news is that this common stage of almost every move, especially if you’re relocating abroad, can be successfully survived. You just need to be patient and persistent, and after some time, you’ll see what great things you’ve learned from it. And let the reputable international moving company take care of the rest.