Adnan Jaafar
Kate Goschen
English 90
5 June 2015
How International Students Deal with Culture Shock
The population of international students in foreign countries continues to surge in recent years with students coming from a range of nationalities. For instance, according to the Institute of International Education, “Over 723,270 international students intended [sic] U.S. Colleges, universities and institutes in the 2010 – 2011 school year” (Foreign Students). The number of foreign students in the United States has been increasing gradually over the past few years. “Numerous universities specifically take measures to attract international students for financial reasons as well as a measure to enrich the college environment and add diversity to the students’ population” (Hser 37). However, many international students have been facing many challenges and problems to adapt themselves to the new foods, activities, cultures, customs and languages in the foreign country. The process of adapting, understanding and recognizing these changes is called culture shock. The deep understanding of the meaning of culture shock, the stages of culture shock and the solutions to overcome culture shock can reduce the rate of culture shock problems.
The phrase “culture shock” denotes the anxiety that can be experienced when people move from a familiar culture to a different culture. It can affect anyone who travels to a foreign country at any time, perhaps especially international students. According to Oberg, “Culture shock may be defined as the psychological disorientation experienced by people who suddenly enter radically different cultural environments to live and work” (qtd.in Eschbach, Parker and Stoeberl 280). Since, every country has a different culture, when students further their studies in the new country, they will face many challenges, especially with understanding the academic system and doing well in the classroom. This is mainly because there is a huge difference between the academic system in their home country and one in the foreign country. Sometimes, the international students will feel that it is hard to pay attention in class because they lost their direction and they do not know what is appropriate or inappropriate to do in the class. Therefore, the issue can greatly affect their academic success. For instance, the educational system in the States teaches their students to participate by giving their opinions and asking questions in class. Americans have informal student and teacher relationships, a wide choice of classes and many group activities; in contrast, most of the international students come from lecture-based academic traditions. The professor and student will have a formal relationship that involves a little interaction. The students will view the instructors as authority figures and do not ask any questions in the class. So, the international students will need much time to adapt themselves to the new educational system in the foreign countries. Based on my personal experience, I faced many problems in the first and second week of class. The local students, even the lecturers, were talking too fast. Even though I tried a few times to listen carefully to their conversation, I failed to understand throughout their discourse. It was very hard for me to understand what they were talking about because, basically, English is my second language. I need much time to translate the words so that I can understand their conversations.
In spite of its intricacy, culture shock can be defined by a series of four distinct phases, following a cultural adjustment curve which begins with a high spirits at first, slowly drops into frustration, then shifts to understanding and lastly enjoys the new culture (Stewart Black and Mendenhall 230). “First of all, the stages of culture shock should be understood, which can help people predict the difficulties they may experience in a new cultural environment. It has four phases, and each stage can appear only at certain times and show different features” (Xia 99). The first stage of culture shock is the initial stage. It also can be described with the term “Honeymoon stage”. This usually happens during the first few days or weeks. In this stage, the students will feel very excited to meet with the new things in their lives. They will definitely enjoy themselves by taking some beautiful pictures and travelling to many interesting places. Then, the second stage will emerge a few weeks after that. The second stage is the crisis stage. In this stage, students probably will start to experience the symptoms of culture shock, such as depression, frustration, exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Students may get depressed by the difficulties in communicating with the locals and performing any task. Then, the adjustment stage will appear as students start to adapt and become comfortable with the new surroundings. They will start to learn about the cultures, foods and languages day by day. They managed to control the situation that they found hard before this and started to assimilate themselves with the community and culture. The fourth stage is the mastery stage where students develop the ability to adapt to the new culture. “In this phase, people are able to solve problems and manage new cultures successfully, and symptoms of culture shock disappear largely” (Janssens 160). Now, students can judge the bad and good between the new culture and their home country's culture. They will be more comfortable with the new culture and start to enjoy themselves. Their conversation and daily tasks also will become easy.
Other than that, culture shock is a common thing that every international student may experience when they further their studies in the foreign countries. Sometimes, it will pose many challenges for the international student to adapt. Even though the students cannot avoid experiencing culture shock, they can learn how to overcome it. “To be successful in an unfamiliar culture, one must understand and adapt to the culture. Here are some proven strategies that can ease the impact of culture shock, such as study the language, socialize with host nations and be open to accept cultural difference” (Topchik). Language plays an important role to connect people with each other. It is important for the international student to learn the local language so that they can have communication with the local students or even with the lecturer. They can understand the daily conversation between the local people and ask any question that they do not understand. So, it can help students to connect themselves with the community and not feel isolated. This strategy can be differently applied, especially for shy persons. Even I, whose English is better than many international students’ English, found this situation is very challenging. Based on my experience, I was very shy about communicating with locals without using my mother tongue. This is because I was afraid that they could understand my words. So, it was very hard for me to make a new friends. After that, I decided to study the new language even more and try to practice it with close friends from my own culture so that I could improve it in the future and feel confidence to communicate with each other.
Next, international students can overcome culture shock by socializing with the host nation. They should spend more time with the local students rather than their own friends from the same country. This is because the local students are far more expert about their culture and language. They can share some information about what is appropriate or inappropriate to do in their culture and are able to answer all the confusion regarding their culture. This solution can help the international students to develop a deeper understanding of the new culture and can help them to adapt to it. Based on my experience, I have a local friend in my class, Michael. He always shares some information about his culture with me, such as foods, customs, languages and events. I always spend my time with Michael so that I can have a deeper understanding of the new culture here.
The last solution is being open to accept the cultural difference, which means being tolerant to accept the local practices and customs as not right or wrong but just simply different from the familiar culture. As a matter of fact, every has a different way they practice their culture. For instance, for the Americans, a person who is not straightforward in talking is usually perceived as insincere; in contrast, for Asians, the directness is humiliating. That person can be considered as rude. The international students should be open minded and slowly allow themselves to follow the rhythm of the new culture. “It may be difficult for people to accept this difference with pleasure, but a tolerant attitude and an open mind may make them communicate better with the host nationals” (Ferraro 26). Once they accept the culture with pleasure, it will be easy for them to adjust to the new culture. For example, in my country, we used to address our professors with a title in front of their name, such as Professor John; in contrast, in the United States, they usually to call their professors by the professor’s first name. It is quite hard for me get use to with the new change at first, but after a few week, I managed to accept this part of the culture and use it in my daily life.
In conclusion, the term culture shock is used to describe the experience that international students face when they study abroad. The students may feel stress when they face the difficulties to adjust themselves to the new culture, not being able to engage with the community or struggling with learning in the classroom. Usually, the international students will need much time to overcome the culture shock. Most will, however, get over the stress when they adapt to the new culture. Other than that, culture gives the students the ability to survive in a broad range of environments. Thus, once students have mastered the culture, it becomes a way of life for the students in the new country.

Works Cited
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Ferraro, G. P. The Cultural Dimension of International Business. 5rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.
“Foreign Students Studying in the United States” Spantran.com. SpanTran, Inc. 20 December. 2012. Web. 3 June. 2015.
Hser, M. P. “Campus Internationalization: a Study of American Universities Internationalization Efforts.” International Education (2005): 35-38. Print.
Janssens, M. Intercultural interaction: A Burden on International Managers. Journal of Organizational Behaviour 16.2 (1995): 155-167. Print.
Topchik, G. Cures for Culture Shock. Training & Development 49.1 (1995): 58. Print.
Xia, J. Analysis of Impact of Culture Shock on Individual Psychology. International Journal of Psychological Studies 1.2 (2009): 97-101. Print.