Shock Experience : A Story Of My Culture Shock Story

Until now my experiences in this country had been very special to me. For the first time, I had to be away from my family. I was forced to make every decision without being reliant on the wisdom of elders. For the first time, I saw and spoke to

I came to US during my 8th grade and that was a life changing moment in my life. It was first time traveling aboard and that also not for a trip but for to permanent settlement. I was nervous my whole time been in the plane that how I will cope up with new environment and with bunch of English speakers. I got more. When it came pilot call for, that it's time to land on the Detroit Airport, tighten your seatbelts and be relax. As soon as the plane landed on American soil, I knew that this was the place where I’d to start a new life. Even though I knew America is the “Land of Opportunity”, everything here seemed so strange to me, the streets, the language and the people that was my first time traveling abroad.

The first and second year after moving from China to the United States, I was afraid to talk to strangers because my English was not quite well. I had to depend on my husband to deal with my personal business, such as making a doctor’s appointment, calling to the bank, or questioning the DMV officers. Douglass says, “being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart” (62). Being a dependent and helpless adult is a shame for me. In addition, I did not have extra money to go to school to improve my English skills. Thus, I stayed home all the time to avoid the embarrassment that happened when I did not understand strangers’ conversation. Meanwhile, being silent at home leaded worries to my future. I realized that I had to improve my oral English to gain self-confidence. I spent time reading various articles on the internet, and I watched English dialogues’ videos on YouTube. As a non-English speaking immigrant living in the U.S., I challenged myself to overcome difficulties to integrate myself into a new

Arriving at a foreign country at the age of eleven years old was and exiting and yet intimidating experience. High buildings, wide roads, newer and nicer cars on the streets were some of the first things I noticed when I arrived to the city of Los Angeles CA. Living in a country where you were not born in could be difficult some times. Although Spanish is spoken at a grand scale in CA, it was difficult to communicate with and understand the teachers from my classes at the elementary level since all they spoke was English. Los Angeles is a city of great diversity, therefore it is believed to be the perfect place for any person arriving from another country to not feel like a foreign, such believe

On December third, I got ready to come to United State. My bags were in order and my passport with me. The time did not run that was not a piece of cake to me since I wanted to see my family. I went to the airport and I waited five hours on it. When I arrived to Washington D.C, I was enthusiastic. My family was waited me at the airport. When I saw my family, I ran to them and I hug them. It was amazing feelings. My family and I were happy because we finally were together. My father was registration me on VCU. Now I am studying English Language Program after that I will complete my degree to biomedical engineering. I have the best teachers in the world teach my English. This is the last semester in English that will be difficult for me since

I agree, the culture shock that I am referring to is something that is uncomfortable by necessary. I live in Maui, Hawaii, and it is a very diverse state. Growing up, I had a diversity of friends who were Samoan, Tongan, Japanese, and Filipino. Although, when left for college to Honolulu, Hawaii, I meet a different kind of Samoan/ Tongan individual. My college friend was born and raised in the Samoan Islands. My friends back at home who are Samoan and/ or Tongan wasn’t as immersed in the Samoan and/ or Tongan culture than my friend in college, which is why I didn’t know that certain American words are an insult in their language.

On the big road was the car that would take us to Ho Chi Minh Airport. When I was in the car, I cried until we reach the airport. Because, I knew that I would not be able to step on this soil for many years to come. The time for us to get into the airplane came. This was my first time riding on this big machine; it was as huge as an island was my reaction. We sat in the airplane for about 2 days, and then at morning dawn, it reached American soil. My aunt said, “Look at the grass in America, it is green like the rice fields in Vietnam.” Then I took a look. The atmosphere was so peaceful and so natural. That’s what I liked about it. There was a thought that came to me, “We are in the America now, but I still miss

When we are reading a book, if we always read the same easy book that we read since we are the kindergartens, we wouldn’t learn new things. We would just read the same ten page over and over again, without knowing anything new. Although I was born in another country, the United States is the place I feel like home. When I came here (five years ago), I was a kind of a person, who has no perseverance or determination at all, and I was so negative, plus, I thought that I was the best in the world (which is not true). But all of that started to change suddenly when I get to know more about this country. Therefore, in here, I learned lots of new lessons, especially the lessons about life. So now, I am a persistent person, I believed, who won’t give

Three months ago I was studying my last moments of high school in Mexico. I had already planned the university I was going to and the major I wanted to course. Everything was happening really fast when my father told my mother and I that he had a job opportunity in the United States. He didn't wish to force us to go with him, although we did accept to leave because both of us consider that the most valuable thing in this world is family.

Moving to America is the most significant event in my life. It was like I have to start my life from beginning. New people, new culture, new school, and everything that surrounds me was new and different from the one I have been used to. From day one I was a confident girl, who can outcome any situation. But still I was little scared about how to fit in in American culture and how to express who I am. Even though the main reason why we moved to US was not education, but my main focus was on study.

Consequently, this experience has given a lot of talk about me. I define me a strong person, having difficulties, feelings through, without my family and friends. I know I can do this. I am more confident and calmer than when I just came to the United States. I’ve learned that if you give up in whatever thing you do or have negative thoughts you will not be a successful person. Don’t make poor decisions, that is an advice that always have it in mind. I’m moving forward in my school’s grades to try to get a scholarship, make my parents proud. I’m thankful to my parents for teaching me everything I know so far, for being the person that I am today. I’m still trying to learn English and adapted in a new country. I know this is difficult, but not difficult, to overcome this challenge that was for

When I was young, my mother told me that America has the greatest universities. So, I started to have the dream of going to America. I asked myself: what is that? Where is that? What is that about? After a long time, the only things I knew were that America is on the other side of the world, their people are all kind, and that is the country of freedom. They are good and strong and seen like the country which is portrayed in the Chinese network news broadcast! So, that make me feel that being in America has changing my whole life.

I came to the US on September 15, 2009. My mother had accepted a job at Wake Forest Baptist hospital and decided to move my whole family to America. I did not understand why we had to come to America, having to leave my friends, my home, and all my childhood memories to go to a completely foreign environment. But my parents said it was a new beginning.

In 2010, as my sisters-in-law and their families prepared to immigrate to the United States (U.S.), my husband and I did all we can to advise and assist them in getting ready for their long journey from Nigeria to the U.S. To our surprise, contrary to every advice we gave them, in preparation for life in the US, they started out with trying American fast foods of different kinds. Culture shock is expected for anyone who immigrates to the US, regardless of where they come from. The type(s) of help the person(s) gets on how to overcome it and their adherence, most often, determines the future outcome of life in their new country of residence.

Culture Shock has played a tremendous role in the growth of cultural ecology because it is an issue that is constantly growing all over the world. In the United States, it may not seem like things are changing involving culture shock, but it is not any different then the changes in places like Africa and China for example. It is developing equally across the world because there are now more ways to travel. So, what exactly is culture shock anyways? Well, it is known as going to a foreign or unfamiliar territory that one is not used to, so they may feel symptoms of anxiety such as nervousness or shock because the customs, actions, beliefs, etc of those people may not seem familiar to them, so one may feel ill-prepared for the changing environment. Also, for example, if one was to go to school in the U.S. but came from China, they would feel culture shock because the rules in China are not the same as rules in the U.S. and so it may make one feel uneasy about the situation because they are not use to change and maybe the move was to quick for them to adjust properly. The United States is very different from foreign areas because the culture is very different. Where have people of Africa seen movie productions, music, sports, universities, iPhones, computers, etc? The answer is not where they live but in the United States if they traveled there before. This is exactly the issue with culture shock in ecology. Culture is what people behave like, feel, and do. Shock is a symptom