7 Quick And Handy Tips To Make Cultural Adjustment Easier While Studying Abroad
Congratulations! You are about to embark on an amazing voyage to your dream study destination. From carefully reviewing your documents to packing your belongings, you have so much to prepare; but it’s all so exciting. Once you have done the due diligence of the travel paraphernalia, take some time off to prepare yourself for the great change, the culture shift. The best part would be when you’ll start understanding, hence appreciating and eventually accepting the changes around you. Here are some tips to help you adjust to the cultural changes while studying abroad:
1.Keep an open mind, be positive: As you move to a different country, everything appears outlandish, from the language to the food. You may find people with an outlook that is poles apart from your beliefs. Remember, each country has its unique culture, conventions and lifestyle that together influence people’s consciousness. Culture is a relative idea. Just as you have come to a foreign country for education, consider the novelty of the place as an integral part of your educational journey. Approach whatever you encounter like a textbook, try to learn and understand the difference, the rationale behind all that you see and hear or even feel. Make your best effort to extract as much information and insight you can about their society and values.
2.Observe keenly: As much as you may read about the place and people or hear from someone who’s been there, nothing comes close to witnessing everything live, with your own eyes. As Confucius said “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” You must observe what kind of verbal and non-verbal modes of communication they use. Just as they’ll not appreciate a caricature of their behavioural and societal norms, they’ll readily accept someone who can emulate their style of interaction and communication with due respect and earnestness. Hence, do not plunge head-on but take your time, see through everything, ask locals and over time gather enough understanding of their communication cues so as not to be misunderstood. Your effort will not be in vain but win you some great friends.
3. Show curiosity and ask questions: Consider a foreigner asking you about your country and culture with eagerness. You’ll love to talk about your heritage and traditions. Similarly, if you show curiosity and enquire about the place, customs and the practices, the locals would be glad to share with you what they take pride in or are indispensable to their culture. Not only would you collect useful information but also feel a lot more familiar and at home. Furthermore, in a new country, even the basic style of living could be different. You might have to seek help to go about your chores. Do not hesitate to ask your peers or neighbours about how they get things done. However, language could be a roadblock, even if it’s English because native speakers can use many dialects. Hence, it’s ok to rephrase and repeat yourself to understand and clarify.
4. Travel and explore: Grab this opportunity to visit iconic places, landmarks, local bazaars, countryside. Comb through the neighbouring areas, explore the unique character of the land and the people. Though you’ll be having a lot of educational excursions, you can tour the place on your own. Travelling lends you the chance to learn about the history and the geography, to interact and converse with the locals and allows to immerse in the culture.
5. Join a hobby class or participate in physical activities: Monotony is a troublemaker; to avoid falling into a monotonous routine deviate your mind with activities where you get to interact with others. You can join clubs based on your interest, hobby classes or whichever physical activity interests you. By attending such classes beyond regular college is a way of keeping yourself engaged and motivated; it’s a strategy to ward off the feelings of loneliness and homesickness.
6. Talk to other international students/advisor: During the first few months, you’ll probably have to cope with a lot of issues about cultural differences. Lighten yourself by discussing your problems with other international students and what you are doing to resolve them. Don’t worry, they too would be going through the same difficult patch, facing similar problems and would be quite willing to share their ways of dealing with the problems. Together think of ways to overcome the challenges. However, you can also approach your college counsellor or international student advisor to get professional guidance.
7. Stay connected: Connect with your family and friends to let them in the loop. Your parents will feel more at ease if you share your problems and they can guide you through. Friends back home will provide you with doses of enthusiasm, laughter and the comfort of the good old days. Keeping in touch will make things a lot easier for you, especially at the initial phase.
To quote Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru “Culture is the widening of the mind and the spirit”, study abroad transfers you to an arena with infinite possibilities of expanding your vision. This is the base camp of life where you get trained to adjust to any situation in any part of the world, learn to seek unity in diversity and evolve as the future global citizen ready to transcend boundaries and transform lives.
ReachIvy sincerely hopes that this article serves as a critical tool to increase your knowledge base. For study abroad consultation or career counselling with ReachIvy, Submit a Query now! Also, review our resources section to access our free premium content..
This article was also published in The Better India on 01/06/2017.
