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It is through the events in the journey of life that shapes and molds who we are as people. As for me, immigrating to America was one of those milestones that have shaped who I am. Those who have had the opportunity of moving from a different country to America know what a privilege it is. I felt the same honor to know that I would be journeying to the land of opportunity. Without hesitance, I spent the last two months packing and making the final preparations before moving to a new continent. Although it was a bittersweet time, leaving my beloved family behind, I knew that I couldn’t resist the treasure that waited for me in the new land. Coming from a developing nation the high level of sophistication that greeted me on arrival to America made feel like I was in paradise. My brother who was already was living in America picked me from the Dallas Fort Worth airport. As my we drove away from the Airport towards his house where I would abode for a while, the smooth drive fascinated me; I was accustomed to potholes on the road in my home country. Deep in my mind I kept pondering how I will be able to survive in this cold, only to be amazed on arrival at the warmth I found inside the house. Out of curiosity I asked my niece, “why is it so warm in here?”, my niece answered with a smile “the heat is running aunty” whatever she meant I did not understand, although she spoke in English she had an American accent which took me long to adapt and decipher. My brother knowing that I will definitely experience culture shock, started giving me tidbits of what I would expect. I remember him saying “This is America my sister, they speak different here, many things have different names from home”. He then told me “open the trunk and offload y... ... middle of paper ... ...f the item. Coming to America, by far was not what I expected. However, after living here for four years, I have learned to adjust to the surroundings. I was not mentally prepared for the culture change that I was exposed to in the beginning but as days turned into months and eventually into years, I realized that I grew accustomed to the culture and eventually became a part of it. I have gotten accustomed to calculating distance by miles and not kilometers, temperatures by Fahrenheit not Celsius, weight by pounds not kilograms. I have also been influenced to see beauty in different content unlike home where thick women are considered beautiful, healthy and happily married unlike here where everyone is trying to lose weight to enhance their beauty and health. However, not even a decade in America can make me forget the extremes I experienced when I first arrived.
A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective Function Phase. These phases denote some of the stages that exemplify culture shock. The four phases are illustrated in the articles “New Immigrants: Portraits in Passage” by Thomas Bentz, “Immigrant America: A Portrait” by Alejandro Portes and Ruben G. Rumbaut, “When I Was Puerto Rican” by Esmeralda Santiago, “Today’s Immigrants, Their Stories” by Thomas Kessner and Betty Boyd Caroli, and lastly, “The New Americans: Immigrant Life in Southern California” by Ulli Steltzer, and are about the experiences of some immigrants. This essay will examine the four phases of culture shock and classify the experiences of these immigrants by the different phases of culture shock identified.
Since I still wanted to make friends, I desperately continued to try to break down the barrier between my peers and I and I slowly began to succeed. As I began making more and more friends, my experience in the U.S. started to become a happier one. Although there were still many things about American culture that I did not understand, I chose to face my fears head on which lead to a more content life. I realized that no matter where you are from, what obstacles you had to face, or what social class you belong to, coming to America gives you an opportunity to build a new and better life for you and your family. The journey to learn this lesson was not an easy one, but I’m glad I learned it.
The American expatriate community is the population of all Americans that are temporarily or permanently living outside the borders of the United States. These overseas-Americans, numbering over 6.32 million strong (Association for American Residents Overseas), confront many issues when they leave their homeland and transition to a new life in a foreign country. These issues can include dealing with the local language or trying to unravel the esoteric tax laws overseas workers must follow.
Culture Shock 1 Definition of Culture Culture as the most complex terms has countless different definitions ranging from complicated phrases to the simple statement describing culture as "the way we do things around here". The widely used definition of culture is that of Meads (1951), "A body of learned behaviour, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and successively learned by people who enter the society"(Joynt and Warner, 1996, P. 33). Hofstede(1980) created the very illustrative definition of culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another". Again to Hofstede's option, culture is learned not inherited, it is not impossible to learn new cultural traits and to unlearn old ones (Manz, 2003, online). Therefore, it must be feasible to integrate cultural differences.
Before my Grandfather petitioned my family and I to come to the U.S, I had so many assumptions about what America is all about. I illustrated that my family and I would have better lives once we relocate. What we didn 't know is
As stated above, in some cases, the course of one’s life can be altered in a matter of moments. With this in mind, the United States is known as the land of an immigrant's dream because a variety of them come to the United States seeking for a better life, in the land of opportunity. In fact, the United States is made by millions of immigrants, who have helped increase the economic growth by building successful businesses. For many years, the United States opened its doors to welcome those seeking freedom, to practice their religion freely, to escape poverty or oppression, to escape conflict or violence, and to make better lives for themselves and their children. In fact, many of these immigrants who came from another country, wanted to pursue
In the last century, globalization has become a very tangible part of how business is conducted. Technological advancement allows international trade and commerce to happen rapidly and easily while the advancement in how goods are transported and how people communicate have had a drastic effect on the globalization of business. Management practices and culture also has a bearing on how international enterprise has is conducted. Managers have to adapt to different management practices, adjust to a new culture, and sometimes face ethical issues in a foreign field. Management is an important role in finance and enterprise that has far reaching consequences on the globalization of business.
After being in this country for about a week, I realized that everything was different from what I was used to. The culture in this country is pretty different from the one in my country. As a new immigrant I found that the social behavior, the laws, and education were the 3 things that I found the most culturally shocking for me for the following reasons.
The opportunity for education given to me by my parent's migration along with the passion for agriculture instilled by my grandparents changed my destiny and granted me and my family an opportunity to leave the cycle of poverty. My partic...
There are many changes that can happen in a person’s life. Some changes are very tiny and would not affect my life very much. When I first arrived in this country, I realized that a tremendous transformation would happen in my life both physically and mentally. After spending more than eight months in the United States, I firmly believe that moving to the United States is a beneficial change for me.
Growing up in a diverse neighborhood in California laid the foundation for who I would become. It had also built my views to an extent, expanding by the events that would occur in my life. I was able to witness a number of different unique cultures and customs within. Whether these experiences came from my school to those I meet at church, my appreciation, and effort to stand out in society grew.
My journal is about culture shock. Culture shock is the disoriented feeling which occurs in the context of being in a new culture or when someone is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. For myself, culture shock came when I moved off to college and away from the life I was used to.
During my last year of college, I met the love of my life, who was profoundly intrigued by the American way of life. In less than a year we got engaged, married and moved to the United States. I was homesick before the plane left. To me the “intriguing” American way of life was just an unfamiliar, confusing, and upsetting mess. I was unable to speak the language and without friends, family and the comfort of home I felt lonely. I cried in the bathroom daily. Then, remembering how my dad successfully rebuilt his life after his stroke, I started to go out more embracing the local culture with a positive attitude. Since then I have worked very hard and I am proud of who I am and of what I have achieved. I had the privilege to work with children ...
Everyone deals with culture shock differently. People can often have preconceived notions of a specific culture that can cause them to be pleasantly surprised or disappointed (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012). Some cultures are also more different than other cultures. Someone moving from the United States to Canada is not going to have as much of an adjustment as someone moving from the United States to India, especially if they do not speak the language. The adjustment also can relate to certain personality attributes, like how open minded or stubborn someone is.
Oberg(1960), an anthropologist by whom the term culture shock was coined defined it as an “occupational disease...the anxiety that results from losing all of our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse” before an individual feels comfortable in a new culture (p. 177). Subsequent research found that not all sojourners experience the same level of anxiety, or experience anxiety for the same length of time (Church, 1982; Stening, 1979). This resulted in the study of cross-cultural adjustment as an individual difference criterion, which could potentially be predicted, rather than as a fixed period of anxiety that all sojourners will necessarily experience when they enter a new culture (Black,