Maria Abroad's Essay 'Adapting To A New Culture'

The chapter continued to discuss how people experience other cultures when they are removed from their area to a different place. This occurs in the form of culture shock people experience new traditions that are unfamiliar to them when the come to a place that is home to another culture. Human development may also include joining the ideas of various cultures and forming it into a new concept. It puts heavy emphasis on learning other cultures in an unbiased form in order to compare and make observations. This chapter also studies of culture have been able to advance over time and how change is an essential aspect of

There are many questions arises when it comes to the way different cultures manage everyday life. In the book, The Immigrant Advantage by Claudia Kolker, gives us some explanations on their survival techniques. This book can help some Americans like me; live a healthy, happy and hopeful lifestyle. The Author suggests that some of us Americans can learn a few tips on immigration living. To support her information the author goes on a journey and talks face to face to some of the immigrants that moved to the U.S. with their families. Also she gives some details on her past life experiences that helped her cope with life expectations.

Pederson (7) explains that there are stages of culture shock, which he identifies as the honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation. In the honeymoon phase, a person is likely to get excited about being in a new place, meeting new people, tasting new foods, and acquiring new habits. However, as time passes by, they get into a phase of negotiation, where the differences between the culture one is used to and the one they find themselves in start to become apparent. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and frustrations start to take shape as unfavorable events perceived as strange come in the way of the person 's life, especially if a person does not feel accepted in the new culture (Mukherjee 273). Loneliness may set in, and the urge to go back to the familiar culture strongly comes into play. However, as time goes by, adjustment sets in, usually within six to twelve months, and one gets accustomed to the culture and also comes up with a routine. By this phase, one knows what is expected of them, and life once again becomes ‘normal.’

The being of acceptance when traveling to new places and countries can cause hardships and confusion when being somewhere new. While there are similarities and differences between everyone whose ever been to new countries have always learned the hard way of becoming accepted. Beyond stating the similarities and differences in the articles, “I Want to Be Miss America”, by Julia Alvarez, “Hot Dogs and Wild Geese,” by Friroozeh Dumas and “Global Voices”, by Joshua St. Onge, the larger idea can be seen by reading all three texts and finding that two of the authors, Alvarez and Dumas have similarities in the articles while Onge has a different perspective on the way culture change has hardships. Culture change can be very pleasant and very difficult to

Pg. 43 When you find yourself in a cultural environment outside of your own, how do you know when to adjust and when to resist?

The ability to cope with a new environment immediately is what very few people possess. Ishmael Beah and Muhammad Saeed, both went through massive changes in environment, with led them having many negative experiences. My situation was very similar to both of them. I used to live in Pakistan and just recently came to Canada. Pakistan was a magnificent place, but many people still consider it as a third world country. Most of my family and some of my friends also live there. Overall life was satisfactory, but my family was in need of change. For ages I had no idea that we were going to move to Canada, so my parents did a great job keeping it a secret. On our last month in Pakistan, all my immediate family came to my house from wherever they were settled in the world. My cousins, who were in Saudi Arabia came and even my uncle arrived from Canada. We had a huge party when my uncle arrived at my house because, he lived in Canada and rarely visited. On the very last day of us living in Pakistan, I gave my farewells and with my parents and two brothers we got ready to start our new life in a foreign land. I thought life in Canada would be effortless and always amusing. Since I was lost in the fake image of life in Canada, to my surprise it wasn’t effortless and amusing and

Leaving one's own country and moving to another is one of the most difficult journeys anyone can make. In one's home country, he or she has a place, an identity that is

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

Most people in the United States would say that the ability to adapt is simply a part of the American way of life. Americans have always relied on this trait since the early days of British colonization to present times. It can be demonstrated in all facets of life. Adaptability was the reason the old frontier was populated; people adjusted to the unfamiliar climates, conditions, and landscapes. New immigrants were able to adapt to the culture and thrive in the United States, and they continue to. Americans adapted to the threat of the enemy during World War II and needed to accustom themselves to a life full of restrictions on their day-to-day activities. In the military, soldiers adapt to a new way of thinking in order to allow themselves to become warriors. Currently, Americans must adapt to a life lived in view of everyone with the use of social media and camera-ready cell phones. Throughout the course of American history and into our present times, American citizens have depended on their ability to adapt, whether it be mentally, physically, and/or emotionally. It was imperative that citizens were adaptable in the past, and it continues to be so today. The adaptability trait is not only necessary to survive, but it is also an important factor to prosper, as the life of Louie Zamperini demonstrates.

Transitions are never an easy thing to conquer. It is often hard and stressful to cope with changes to one’s surrounding, but in the cases in which one manages to conquer this obstacle, elevation of knowledge and experience are great results gained from this achievement. I originally came from Africa and recently moved to the United States to join my mother and my step father. This great change in the things I had become accustomed to in my daily life was not easy, furthermore taking into account the fact that I had never experienced a transition so little as shifting from one residence to another.

Piaget had a phrase that said “Assimilation and Accommodation lead to Adaptation.” Assimilation is when a person fits his or her external information in with what he or she already knows. The change is external in this case. Accommodation is the exact opposite.

Most of the diasporic people migrate to foreign countries to get a good position in the society, to develop their level of the economical social status and quest for job. Likewise, some of these reasons many people moving to the alien country with their dreams are suddenly destroyed in that particular country. There is the new way of life could not be adopted by some immigrants’ because of their conflict with the two different countries, which means they would try to following the immigrant culture but followed only by but their outside of dressing sense, and communication level only but could not change at psychological level.

In the article Annette Weidner expresses how her initial expectations were challenged by the transition in cultures. She writes how learning a new cultural and having to let go of her own were not as easy as expected causing her to rethink each step of her research (pp. 6-7).

As an international student, it is often very hard for people from different culture to fit into another culture and get adapted to how the new culture works. Something that I have significantly

The difficulty of moving to a new culture is that a lot of people would feel fear because they are so use to their own culture, so now they leave what they are used to a new way and it will be hard for them to adapt. Some may like the new food and the pace of life, then later on in the month’s people may feel like the new life and culture is unpleasant life for instance: public hygiene, the language barriers, traffic safety, and food accessibility. Still the most part in relocating to a different culture is the communication because they might not understand the language or might say the wrong word thinking it means the same in the other countries. People adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet