Culture shock is a pretty common thing for people who are new travelers, for more conservative ones, or for people who are just simply too sensitive about things around them. Hard to believe? Then imagine you being thrown away from your cozy life to fast, colorful, and dirty Indian streets where people only look after themselves and don‘t even think to adapt to your needs. Culture shock also is more common in exotic countries than in places where tourists are a very common thing. In various big resorts, you won‘t experience that because the staff is trained to help you feel as much as home as possible. But if you are a traveler who loves to experience much more than that, you will choose a far away destination in which you can experience that scary shock. But don‘t worry because today I am going to give you some tips, how to prepare for such a thing, and how to deal with it if that happens to you.
Keep Your Mind Open
One of the first things you need to work with yourself is to try keeping your mind open during traveling. If every time then you see something a little bit different than in your country and you instantly think that is wrong – you are doing it wrong, not the local people! Traveling is great because you are able to learn about new cultures, also see bizarre things that you might not see at home. This is why you should totally be open-minded and even dare to experience some new things too. Experience the most with and don’t avoid things that are far away from your comfort zone. You will be amazed how much you will experience during your trip.
Do Research
Another thing, which might be the best one to avoid culture shock, is to simply do a research about that country you are planning to visit. This is how you will avoid surprises and also avoid situations that you can’t understand. In various types of guidebooks for travelers, you can read and learn almost absolutely everything about a country. It will prepare you really well, and even give you basic language skills too. So just get it in the nearest, for instance, Target store and start learning. You can also shop online and save time too.
Don’t Compare Your Country With A Country You Are Visiting
One of the biggest mistakes a traveler can do is to constantly compare his country to a country he is visiting. That is never going to end up well, because this is how a person can ruin (and will!) the whole trip. If you are always thinking, that “people in my country smile more”, “food at home is way better!” and so on, you will miss absolutely everything that is good about that country. The same goes if you do an opposite thing and compare your country as it is way worse. You need to look clear and without any bias here. You came there not to grade it, you came there to see as much as possible and learn about a country! Again, just be open-minded and don’t even try to compare two things that might be totally different.
Don’t Forget Your Sense Of Humor!
Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself if you are shocked of local people eating bugs! Show that you are fun, relax person, who is OK with things that are around you. Even if you are not. A little bit of optimism always is a better thing to do than nag all the time. So laugh, smile and be a happy person who enjoys traveling the world! You will see that no culture shock will try to harm a person like that. This is the best medicine to all problems!
Great insights 🙂