Please help with culture shock

[achristianguy]

My name is Josh Brister and this is my third day here. I'm with the EPIK Fall intake. Anyway, I'm still having culture shock. I visited some friends downtown last Saturday and we had a blast. I live in Dalseong which is very south but it's only about 15 minutes or so by bus! I'd like advice from you on dealing with that, but I'd love to make some more friends do stuff with. I'm a great dancer! Anybody interested?

Josh

[Bender0330]

I can't say I'm much of a dancer but you should try to find out about local events going on and see if friends would like to join you.  I'm in Daegu and had a few friends join me to go see the Daegu body painting festival.  Is your area anywhere near Daegu?

[Jozigirl]

You're going to keep having culture shock throughout the year.  I'm on my second contract and still have days where the culture shock just hits me.  I've seen the same thing happen to people who have been here 4 - 5 years or more too.  Just look for things you're interested in doing and take it one day at a time. 

[megharp]

I feel the same.  Culture shock is hitting me hard every time I leave my apartment in Gangnam, Seoul.  I hope I adjust more.  So far I've been in Seoul for 3 days, but 10 in total (I was in the fall EPIK orientation).

[bertacci]

I'm new to living in Seoul, but not to living in another country, so my advice is to do something consistent every day. For example, go for coffee at a local coffee shop and get to know your neighbourhood.

[asa47]

What kind of culture shock did you guys have exactly?  I haven't really felt any different from when I was at home, except that I have to use mostly Korean with people.

[Vincent]

jeasus
 gangnam is a lovely place to be  - go for a walk around the music /arts centre  - the big round yoke at the top of the underpass tunnell and chill out and enjoy it

As for culture shock  - calm down a bit and learn to accept the mystery of what you don't know about what's going on around you  - you get used to it, get into a korean language class too if you want to meet a few people  - it will help with the shock when you can ask and answer a few things/even recognising the odd word helps you feel less isocelated.

[notanartist]

I would do a little research so you know what to expect.  Y'all are in for a long, wild ride: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

The first days are hardest and usually overwhelming.  Once you adjust a little (and get over jet lag), chances are you'll fall in love with many aspects of Korean culture.  This will hopefully last several months, but for me it was only a couple weeks in this country!  Then you hate everything for a while, and once you get over that, you're pretty much adjusted!  You might not get fully comfortable until 8 months in, or even longer.

Take it one day at a time, and do what you need to to stay sane at first.  Walks around your neighborhood usually help, especially if the weather's nice.  But don't feel guilty about hiding in your apartment, eating Pringles, Oreos, and Dr. Pepper and watching movies from your home country every once in a while!

[dmor2]

This may be a little late but here it goes..

I've been here for about two weeks now and I'm still trying to get used to it. I've been venturing further and further from my apartment each day to get to know the area and explore the shops. Taking the city buses around your city also helps, so you can see more of the area. They go in loops so you can take different ones and explore different areas you can't usually reach by foot. If you have facebook, see if there are any foreigner groups in your area you can join. Also, ask your co-teachers if there are any foreign teachers at other schools in your area (They can usually call up the school and ask them). Being able to speak English to someone who understands you is a great feeling. I speak a good amount of Korean from studying it in college but being able to skype with family and friends from home or hang out with new friends in my area and speak English is a great stress reliever and always makes me feel better and more comfortable.

[kandii]

I remember something very valuable someone said in training "there will days that will be absolutely fantastic and the next day, you'll wonder what you were thinking when you decided to come in the first place".  This couldn't be more true.  Like another person said, get into a routine.  Also, if you can, get a bicycle -- I did and it's been great for getting around my neighborhood and just exploring not to mention transporting groceries.

As there are so many styles of dance, I'm not sure exactly which you are referring to but if you're into clubbing, the major cities like Seoul, Busan, Daegu and Daejeon have it.  I love salsa and so far, I've found spots in Hongdae (Seoul), Daejeon and over the summer, there was a salsa on the beach event at Haeundae in Busan.  So I think with a little bit of searching, you should be able to find activities to get in to.

Lastly, make friends (both expats and Koreans) because they will help keep you sane when things get overwhelming.

[only4uonly]

I think when it's first time in a country you are not familiar with, you will always face the problem of culture shock in some point. I think it is important to try to understand the culture rather than taking them offensive and thinking it's different all the time. Just try to accept it and go along with it!! Hope you do enjoy your life in Korea

[exenglish]

Surprisingly, I didn't go through much of a culture shock, maybe because I had been thinking about moving to Korea for a while. From my experience everyone is really nice to foreigners here. Once you get adjusted, you will find that Korea is very easy to assimilate into.

[caciqueguaro]

My wife and I arrived two weeks ago and I've come to know what this culture shock is all about... I thinkthe best way to deal with it is physical activity. I get down pretty often, miss home.. open spaces... english... Tim Horton's, the list goes on. But really if I go for a jog or something I feel better right away.

[JohnnyBoy]

One day I thought about reading up on C.S., and found it helped me recognise what was going on...I appreciate the OP and exchange of ideas.

http://www.brynmawr.edu/oip/documents/ManagingCultureShock.pdf
http://actionresearchinc.com/docs/researching-culture-shock.pdf
http://www.juliaferguson.com/shock.html
http://percival-music.ca/blog/2010-02-07-academic-shock.html

[tboasis7]

Yea, just been in Korea for two weeks now, but I think after living in China for six months its going a little better for me! Just keep busy and immerse yourself in as much culture as possible... and having a home country binge every so often is okay too! I watched some top gear and ate chocolate biscuits last night :p

[ACofOntario]

I have been in Korea for 2 weeks, and have yet to experience this mysterious "Culture shock" everyone keeps talking about... just what do you mean exactly?  How do you feel? Is it unpleasant?  Should I be expecting it?

I don't feel any different than I did before coming to Korea... Maybe it's because I have been travelling around the world for the last 2 months? Would that help me adjust faster?

Anyway, I would love it if someone would please explain in detail what they are feeling when they say "culture shock"... just so I know if I have it or not, haha.

Andrew

[ACofOntario]

ok, sorry, I read the link someone posted about culture shock. Makes more sense now.  I think I have already had minor culture shock a few days ago... but nothing serious enough to go "I am having culture shock". Just some slight annoyances with food and language barriers.... but really, I expected those annoyances.

[flasyb]

I have been in Korea for 2 weeks, and have yet to experience this mysterious "Culture shock" everyone keeps talking about... just what do you mean exactly?  How do you feel? Is it unpleasant?  Should I be expecting it?

I don't feel any different than I did before coming to Korea... Maybe it's because I have been travelling around the world for the last 2 months? Would that help me adjust faster?

Anyway, I would love it if someone would please explain in detail what they are feeling when they say "culture shock"... just so I know if I have it or not, haha.

Andrew

It happens to a lot of us at some point. Here's wikipedia with the apparent 4 stages of culture shock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

At 2 weeks, you're probably in the so-called honeymoon period. Things are great, food and booze are cheap, everybody calls you handsome (sometimes even strangers in the street), and you're getting an unusual amount of attention from the ladies. What's not to love?

Personally, I've never had it. I've seen it happen a lot though. The cases that I've seen usually involve frustrations that build up over time until the person winds up hating the new culture entirely. At that point, everything that happens, however minor, is yet another plot engineered by "those people" in order to get at you. Sufferers make it sound like everyone around them is unusual and absurd. They no longer seek to understand situations and instead say stuff like, "This country is __ing crazy!"  "Nothing makes sense here," and, "I'm just tired of putting up with s*** all the time." Sometimes they might be justified in these statements as they might be putting up with a lot of s***. However, they often go too far and really believe that everyone has it in for them and blame the country, culture and its denizens for everything bad that happens. That's when the true hatred of the new culture sets in and it's already passed time to leave. The worst/ironic thing is, those sufferers of culture shock tend to have the hardest time adjusting to life back home too.

Don't get too complacent though Andrew. It can happen to any of us.

[Kev20]

I reckon the more you read about it, the more likely you are to get it.

[Jozigirl]

I reckon the more you read about it, the more likely you are to get it.

  It's not like it's a contagious disease or the flu...