5 Tips to Lessen Culture Shock when Traveling Abroad and Back
Nathan Cameron is a professor at The Institute for G.O.D. and travels regularly to The Philippines with Global Outreach Developments, International.
Culture shock - the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes (Oxford Dictionary). This is an acceptable dictionary definition, but the experience of culture shock is something that defies easy description.
Anyone who has spent longer than a month in a developing world country can relate to the odd and discomforting feeling of standing in a U.S. supermarket, staring at the endless options of some same product. Why are there so many options for the same kind of cheese? Or the infinite variety of a category - more cereal options than one could try in a year, on the other side of eating the same thing with slight variation every meal for 30 days.
At the Institute, we know this feeling. Still, we believe every college student should study abroad and even take an immersive approach in our undergraduate programs. These opportunities aren’t just “hop on a plane and go” type trips. Institute trips are run by faculty or alumni who have participated in and facilitated mission trips. Doing so has led to invaluable experience concerning how someone planning to travel can reduce the impact of culture shock when arriving in the destination country and returning home. Read on for five tips that anyone can use when traveling!
Depending on what time zone you’re flying to, curbing jet lag happens several days before you get to your destination. Especially if your trip is short, every moment counts!
Boss your Logistics
This first one may have many tips in one, but these are important. The more familiar you can be with the place you’re going, the less “shocked” you will be. This includes everything from considering time zone changes in your flights to looking at maps and getting an idea of what public transport on the ground looks like.
Flights: Consider the time zone of the country you’re going to, and make sure you have it available as viewable on the clock app of your phone. Make conscious attempts to get your body on that time clock BEFORE you arrive. On a longer flight, this might mean drinking coffee to stay awake until it’s 8 or 9 pm in the country you’re going to, then allowing yourself to fall asleep at that time. (I’ve found this is made easier by putting on a movie you’ve seen several times already.) This will help to lessen the overall sense of disorientation when you arrive where you’re going, so you can hit the ground running! On the first day in the country you’re visiting, fight the urge to nap and wait until it’s well into the evening to go to sleep. It’s the quickest way to adjust your body’s nocturnal clock! Do the same on your trip home.
Maps: Before you go, check out the place you’ll be staying on Google or Apple maps. Familiarize yourself with important places like markets, hospitals, and transportation hubs; if you can, connect with somebody who lives in the area (or has been before). They can often help you know what to expect in public transportation, perhaps even down to the jeep color that will get you to the road you’re staying on! Write down everything along these lines, on your phone and on paper. Once you arrive, visit the places you identified and engage the public transport system. Such immediate immersion will help you feel familiar with processes you’ll encounter daily.
Phone: contact your carrier before you leave to see what options are available for international travel and make wise decisions. It may be cheaper to get a local number when you arrive. Still, you’ll need to research options before going and ensure your phone is unlocked to support foreign sim cards. If you get an international number, make sure you find out where you can do that in your destination country before you arrive. Get it as quickly as you can once you get there, and get it to people who need it back home in an emergency.
2. Find a Cultural Expert
There are two layers to this one. First - find someone before you go who you can listen to (not ask questions of) concerning where you are going. This should be someone of your own culture who understands the language, the culture, and the customs of the place you are going and can give you a solid set of things to expect.
Those tips might include things already mentioned, like navigating public transportation or ensuring you hit the ground with energy after a long flight. Still, they should also have insights into how to show respect, to whom, and what kind of things the culture you’re going to value. They probably will also be able to assist you with some of the logistics mentioned above.
Second - find a contact on the ground whom you can get to know through phone and video meetings before leaving the country. Ideally, this would be someone that your cultural expert put you in touch with. Develop a relationship with them, share your plans or project ideas, and get their feedback so that you aren’t surprised by an unexpected cultural response when you arrive.
We’re all made in the image of God. As President Gregg Garner likes to say “we’re more alike than we are different.” A big part of getting over culture shock is learning the similarities that exist.
3. Search for Similarities
While there is undoubtedly a myriad of differences between the culture you visit and the one you call your own, the reality is that certain things are common to all. Everyone wants to be understood, for example, and everyone has a desire to see their family healthy and successful. While what “healthy and successful” looks like can vary from culture to culture, you can find a connection to others in a shared desire, which can spur conversation about how it is implemented differently. This will provide you an opportunity to learn, which makes you an active engager of that other culture, rather than a passive disoriented one.
Take this understanding with you to the places you visit as well. Most places in the world will contain venues similar to ones you’re familiar with - shopping malls, banks, places like that. It’s not a bad thing to visit those places and make some comparisons to enhance your understanding of that culture’s operations. You want to move from “they do it differently” to “they do this way,” and you want to understand why. This practice brings familiarity and lessens the realities of culture shock.
On The Institute’s mission experiences, students are challenged to go beyond ‘visitor’ status and join in with daily activities, cooking, chores, education, and daily life. This invaluable experience of living with people and experiencing life with them will open your eyes to a new perspective.
Pictured: Institute student Olivia Lasater does laundry in rural El Salvador during her first introductory trip, Summer Internship.
4. Talk to the People!
Confusion regarding cultural differences is best cleared up by conversing with someone from another culture. Since you are probably reading this blog because you have a heart for ministry, there is likely a point person in the country you’re traveling to. Ask them your questions. You shouldn’t do this in a demeaning or condescending way. Still, generally, people feel valued when others seek to understand them better. Understanding cultural practices is one of the best ways to accomplish that.
On the other side, be willing to answer questions about your culture, as mutual understanding is paramount for effective ministry. The more you can understand, the less shocking the culture you’re in becomes, and the more you can develop an appreciation for it.
Thankfully most of the world does have cell service and international phone plans allowing you to reach your family easily.
5. Schedule Times to Phone Home
Today’s technology affords us many communication advantages that weren’t available even 20 years ago. Apps like WhatsApp are cross-platform and run on cellular data. Most phones have wifi audio and video calling capabilities. If you can avail of a data plan on your phone or visit a location with wifi, you can keep in touch with people back home. This is both a blessing and a temptation. The foreignness of another culture may tempt you to reclusively dive into your device. Don’t do that, but set some times where you can contact either family or friends to give them updates about your time abroad. Set a limit and stick to it - perhaps 30 minutes twice a week. Of course, you’ll want to consider the time zone of those you will contact. Having supporting voices available to talk to while in a foreign culture can help reduce the impact of the shock you may otherwise experience.
Keeping in touch like this also helps lessen culture shock when you get back. You know what those closest to you are up to because you’ve talked to them. They know what you’ve been through to the degree you’ve shared and can help you reintegrate into your home culture when you return.
In Closing
There they are - 5 tips (plus a few others couched within them) for how to mitigate culture shock when traveling abroad! Granted, several more tips could have made this list, but I hope that the above gives you some wisdom that will help make any trip you take less of a shock and more of a success. Naturally, the more you travel, the less culture shock will affect you, and the more you’ll be able to give others tips yourself!
