Dealing with Culture Shock

Culture shock is one of the most common fear that people must overcome in order to travel the world. Unfortunately for most of us, travelers, we grew up thinking that the only culture and normal way of life that exist is ours. And let's face it, what do we always see on the big screen, books, magazines, and in the news? It would be understandable to think this way, especially if our 'own' has been magnified and glorified by the media all our lives, our environment molded our behavior and thinking, making us believe that nothing else exists, only observing other people's lives from a distance, at the comfort of our own home through TV and internet. Until we have learned to travel, a chance to understand and be part of other people's lives. We realized that there's a bigger world than ours with bigger problems. Unfortunately, due to our conditioned thinking and behavior, they are still what we call 'others'.

We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.
― Alan W. Watts

Personally, I'm not a big fan of 'ALL' culture, not that I don't respect it but I blame it for all the ugly faces of human civilization. I have traveled and exposed myself to different cultures to satisfy my own curiosity. It is just like art to me, something created to be appreciated. But there is no need for me to be attached to ideologies and cultural beliefs, and the over-patriotism of people sends chills down my spine. What makes human nature is just something I can't trust. I believe that the need to protect and fight for culture brought all these world issues and false divides.

Culture shock is an emotional disorientation, a sudden blow, and feeling of anxiety that happens when we go to a foreign country very far from our own. It can be an overwhelming and exhilarating experience to be exposed to a different language, people, smells, and sights. And the only way to overcome this shock is to just go through it.

This is one of the things that I like about the couchsurfing community, it helps me deal with culture shock by actually living with the locals. There are no other people who can help us deal with this sudden change but the local people themselves. They welcome a stranger in their house to show their culture and the real hospitality. I can easily just stay in a hostel or a cheap hotel just like any other travelers, make friends with the receptionist and other fellow travelers. I will listen to my fellow travelers' cultural experience, then that's about it. Then I will go back to my own country just with all that kind of experience.

Real travel is about getting out of our comfort zone. For me, being with the same people who speak the same language and staying in hotels cheap or not is just what the rest of the travelers are doing. Paying attention to the world and understanding culture is what makes a real travel experience. I'm done with this hostel chitchat, lonely planet, overrated backpacker's destinations, travel blogs and party places. If I really want to grow and learn, I will stay in villages, travel the road less traveled, volunteer in communities and live the lives of locals. I will conquer my own fear of culture shock by being curious and understanding people's way of life, and this for me is what travel is all about. I'm not asking everyone to do this as we have our own ways. But at least for me, I would do this type of travel once or at some point in my life so I could come back with a sense of awareness and a deeper appreciation of my own life. It is a choice.

I understand that it is not easy for some, or for most travelers coming from the same parts of the world. We should understand that travel is a privilege for most countries, some people don't see travel as a need, especially if they have to take care of their own necessities first - food, shelter, education, clothing. We can't impose travel in other people's lives if we really don't understand their environment and culture. To travel is also to understand why another way of life is different from ours, why do other people think and behave not within the context of what we deem as 'normal'.

It would be hard for young travelers to understand this at this point as most of them are just going out there, just for the experience. Later on, there's a deeper meaning that travel will show and make us learn. If we are brought up in the well-pampered western society with a big problem such as the government, we travel to realize that there exist real issues outside our own little world. Bigger problems than our own - hunger, poverty, government control, war... And it is up to us travelers to make an impact, to spread awareness and to make the change ourselves. Understanding is the first step. Then creating our own 'culture', one that unites us all.

The first step - especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money - the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.
― Chuck Palahniuk