Journal #22

I recently read read an article about culture shock that I found interesting. It discussed the different levels of culture shock (Honeymoon, Crisis, Adjustment, Mastery) and what actions are found in each level. Whenever I travel I find that I experience some sort of culture shock (whether it is large or small) and as a result feel that everyone experiences culture shock in some form or another. The difficult thing about culture shock is that while you are experiencing it many times it is difficult to recognize the fact that it is culture shock that you are experiencing. For example, when I went to Chile on my internship I went with 2 other girls. These girls were my friends and I had lived with one of them before this trip. Now, during the "Crisis" phase of my culture shock I got irritated at them for things that normally would not have bothered me. It was the fact that there was so much around me that was unfamiliar and that I could not "handle" that the normal small things became too much. It took us a while before we realized that our common bickering was caused by culture shock. However, once we discovered this we were able to fix it. When one of us was doing something that got to the point of being annoying instead of arguing we would do something different: go for a walk, go to our rooms to write, go get ice cream, etc. etc. and we were able to peacefully get through our Crisis stage.
I think that my favorite stage is the "Mastery" stage becuase this is where I feel you truly learn the lessons from everything that you have gone through and you are able to take those lessons home with you. in this stage you are used to everyday life and as a result you are able to better understand the culture you are in, the people you are surrounded by and the life you are experiencing. This can be difficult for many because it is easy to get stuck in the Crisis stage or the Adjustment stage for the majority of the trip. However, I have learned that the best way to deal with Culture Shock and get through these stages is to learn how to recoognize each stage and as a result be able to move through each stage to a point where you can enjoy the experience of living in another country.