Response Paper #2
Culture shock is something that most people have experienced at least once in their life. It is realizing that you are experiencing someone else’s culture rather than your own. It could be as simple as going to a new ethnic restaurant, going on a vacation to a different place, or simply talking with someone or a group of people from a different culture than your own. Some people act surprised, some act upset or confused, and some people act very intrigued and embracing. People may feel many different ways when confronted with a completely different way of life.
I myself experienced culture shock when I went on a few different vacations. I had a lot of the same experiences, so I am grouping them into one. The times that I experienced the most sense of “culture shock” was on vacation to St. Thomas, the Bahamas, and on a cruise to Mexico. There were many different things I observed while on my trips. One very noticeable and remember able things was the environment. While traveling through the land of each of the places I went to, there were definite sights to take in and experience. These places are so beautiful, yet there were some very impoverished areas; it is quite an ironic thing to me. The language isn’t so much an issue as the language there was English; it was the accents that were very thick and hard to understand at times. There are always some barriers when traveling to other places.
The people there were very touchy-feely and got very close to others. They have no problem being in other people’s “personal space”. Here in America we value the space around us to be comfortable and relaxing; being in someone’s personal space usually makes people feel very uncomfortable and on edge. Although everyone in the main tourist places are very friendly and feeding into that tourism aspect of the culture, the main culture is definitely a close, in your space one. It is just their way of living and how they handle everything that comes their way.
In dealing with ethnocentrism while I was there, I realized what I thought I would never do. Most people in the United States believe that it is the greatest nation on earth. When you go somewhere outside of the US, you start to believe this more so. You start to miss where you are from, and the comforts of being from America. While some practices in America may be completely acceptable, they may not be in another culture, and vice versa. You have to learn to accept the area that you are in, the people from there, and the culture that comes from the area.
I learned to be more accepting and understanding of other’s cultures. I also learned that you definitely cannot judge a book by its cover, or in this case cultural stigmas; you will surely miss out. You may be nervous to try something, or think that something is totally crazy, but how will you know you don’t care for it if you don’t try it? People tend to get so caught up in the normalcy of their lives. While we are out of our comfort zone, it is the perfect opportunity to try something new. You can’t always look at other’s believing that your culture is the best. In turn, I believe that we all need to be more embracing of other’s ways of life.
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