Learn Spanish in Costa Rica: Student Guide
| Learn Spanish in Costa Rica: Student Guide |
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Student Guide WELCOME TO COSTA RICA CULTURE SHOCK The following is a brief explanation of the symptoms and definition of culture shock which many people experience when arriving in a new country. The first few days and weeks abroad will probably be exciting, stimulating and alive. All you see will be strange, new and rich with tradition. Sounds, smells, gestures and movements will crowd your sensory antennae, leaving you exhilarated and exhausted. This is the honeymoon period. Enjoy it!. At the same time you may begin to experience the first symptoms of culture shock, the unpleasant disorientation which afflicts every visitor who enters a strange world. It is unfair, but often true, that the more eager you are to enter into the host culture and really understand what its people are like the more severe your shock may be. Tourists who come only to gaze and taste move on and are insulated from the shock. They live in hotels, tale takes, use credit cards and go home in a week or so. But you will try to live like a local citizen, in the "real world", and you may find it hard at first. The editors of Transition distinguish between tourists and travelers in this way: "Tourists are those who bring their homes with them to wherever they go, and apply them to whatever they see. They are closed to experience outside of the superficial. Travelers leave home at home, bringing only themselves and a desire to see and feel and take in and grow and learn" Culture shock is partly the result of strangeness everywhere. People seem familiar and friendly one minute and the next it shifts a bit. The cues are wrong. Gestures, manners clothing, the tone and rhythm of voices, the banking system, the telephones; in some cases, language and daily schedules are out of joint. Culture shock is also what happens when your expectations don’t match up with reality. You may be disappointed with what you see: too much noise and not enough thrill. You may be disgusted with your compatriots – they may seem naïve, rude, loud, affected, or provincial. You may even be disappointed in yourself and in your failure to articulate, sophisticated and cool. While you cannot avoid the first culture shock you can take steps to make it more bearable. Explore the territory, find a map and strike out on your own. Observe people closely and try to pick up the silent language. Avoid clustering with your North American or European friends. Keep a journal and watch yourself change. Above all, keep an open mind, and try to accept the people and culture rather than resist them. This requires great maturity, perceptiveness and skill in cross – cultural communication. |
