Culture Shock

I think that any exchange student will know what I mean when I say that exchange is a roller coaster of feelings. My first weeks were comparable to the loop-de-loops… I had great highs, but I sank to unbelievable lows. I finally think that I have moved onto the kiddy roller coaster – the one that is pretty stable!

In terms of the differences between Germany and the USA, it’s the small things that seem to have hit me the hardest. The people express their emotions and thoughts in a way that is completely foreign to me, and I can’t explain it because I don’t yet understand it. It was only a few days ago that I became aware of this difference, and now I am infinitely curious as to where this difference stems from.

I remember in May of 2011, a sixteen year old girl that said she would be immune to the effects of culture shock because she is an open minded free-thinker. I don’t know who she is… but she reminds me a lot of me. I don’t think I truly understood what the Rotarians were talking about when they informed us to be on the lookout for culture shock, so I got hit pretty hard with it. It is only now that it has passed that I can reflect on it as such.  Culture shock isn’t something that makes you a lesser person, or less open to other cultures, but it is a normal occurrence throughout travel. Things are going to be different wherever you go, and change isn’t an easy thing. Every change we go through – no matter how much we desired it – is bittersweet for we are leaving a part of ourselves in our past life. Change is the only thing that stays the same. There isn’t a cell in my body that regrets change, because my horizons have been broadened and I feel like an immensely stronger person. And to thank for this: my family and Rotary. Thank you so much.