When you are travelling, culture shock can happen anywhere, and it’s a totally normal emotional reaction when you are in an unfamiliar environment.
Your anxiety levels may rise because you are uncertain of your surroundings. If you throw in some confusion caused by language barriers and general commotion you may start to feel overwhelmed.
Be Prepared!
Culture shock can often kick in the minute you leave the arrivals hall of the destination airport. And just like a good scout, it’s best to be prepared!
Until this point, much about your journey, most likely, will be pretty familiar. Doing battle with printing luggage tags and knowing what needs to be taken out of your carry-on luggage before hitting the x-ray conveyor belt becomes second nature to the seasoned traveller. As does trying to act ‘normal’ at passport control and not over-doing it at duty-free. Even arriving at foreign airports there is still a familiarity about them.
As you step from the relative safety of the arrival hall; BOOM it hits you.
The sea of faces. The smells. The colours. The noise. The general hustle and bustle will give you sensory overload.
Look for Familiarity
Arriving into a new culture can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have a familiar face to meet you, or even an unfamiliar face but holding a name board with a familiar name. The trick is not to compensate with being over-confidence as you may come off as arrogant. Don’t be completely reserved either, as that too can draw attention that you are unsure what you are doing or where you are going.
Just take your time, be observant of your surroundings and try to follow the crowd and fit in.
A general rule of thumb when adjusting to a new culture is if you don’t see the locals doing it, make damned sure you’re not doing it either! Just do and be your best.
You won’t know all the subtle customs and rules of etiquette in the place you have just arrived in. You may unintentionally do, or say, the wrong thing which could be seen as offensive. When in doubt, just apologise and explain that you’re a beginner. Most people will be forgiving, some will even find your mistake humorous.
If you go into it with an open mind and the ability to laugh at your mistakes, you will be a winner.
One of the easiest ways to reduce your levels of anxiety around culture shock is to travel with a small group. Let your guide, or host, lead the way and just follow until you know what you are doing yourself!
Manners Matter
Make your mum proud of you!
Every culture has different rules for etiquette and manners, it is impossible to learn all of them. However, a simple Google search will at least give you a foundation of what is considered rude in your host country. A great website to have a quick read of before departure to a new destination is https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/
At the bare minimum educate yourself about the etiquette around greeting someone, eating, tipping, appearance and beliefs. That’s not too much to ask.
Learn a few words in the local language. Everyday words such as hello, goodbye, please and thank-you are a good place to start. It’s also appreciated if you learn location names, however bad you are at it. And if you make a mistake it will elicit anything from a wry smile to a belly laugh – but hey, at least you gave it a go.
What’s the worst that can happen? Well, we’ll answer that one for you. Be careful when saying Machu Picchu (pronounced Mat-choo Peek-choo) which means Old Mountain. If pronounced Mat-choo Pee-choo, you’ve immediately changed the translation to Old Penis.
Just giving you the heads-up!
