No matter where you go or how much you think you know about a new place and it's society, there is bound to be some amount of culture shock. Culture shock is when a person finds themselves feeling confused, uncertain or, in many cases, anxious, when they find themselves in new culture or environment and is something that, depending on the person, can range from quite severe to hardly noticeable. For students traveling abroad, the first few days upon arrival tend to be filled with wonder and excitement; then the culture shock strikes. Often this causes students to find something to connect them back to the US, like a familiar food for example, or call friends and family back home at any chance they get. For myself, I found that I pointed out every difference and similarity between London and my home on the East-coast of the US to anyone that would listen. In a study abroad program like the one I had through AIFS, you are surrounded by other wide-eyed students going through the exact same things, although granted with different responses to culture shock. It is therefore natural to cling to one another and start making travel plans for weeks away before really getting to know one another. Although these types of friendships can end disastrously not long after they are formed, they can also become extremely strong and lasting. It is important, though, to remember that although you may be hanging out in a group full of other Americans from all over the country, you are on a new continent and, to get the most out of the trip, experience as much as you can through this new culture.
For me, the culture shock I received from my studies in London was nothing that wasn't easily handled, nor was it necessarily a bad kind of shock. The majority of people in England and in London unsurprisingly speak English, with a few exceptions just like in the US. Unlike the US, though, British English is different from American English in small ways. For example, when asking where the bathroom is, one would not use "bathroom" or "restroom"; rather, "toilet" or "loo" would be the words of choice in order to fit in the best and get the most straightforward answer. There is, of course, the matter of accents as well. In London, there are not only just London-English accents. People from all over Great Britain, Ireland, and the whole of Europe and even America find themselves making a home in London. Because of this, there is a huge variety in accents as well as cultures. As I was told many times while abroad, London is nothing like the rest of England or Britain, particularly in terms of culture. It must also be mentioned also that students are bound to get homesick on at least on occasion while studying abroad. Many become homesick directly after those first few days of fascination, while for others, it can take months. As my classmates and I were told by many of our professors, study abroad students tend to get particularly homesick during Thanksgiving time. After having spent about three months abroad and having no desire to return home in the slightest, I began to imagine that I was immune to the homesick virus. Yet, as it happened, on my last month in London, I was suddenly hit with a bout of homesickness that I was not at all prepared for. That homesickness was fleeting, however, and disappeared completely as I boarded my flight home, having said many tearful goodbyes to the prodigious friends I had made.
No matter the country or city that you are studying in, one of the best ways to learn how to operate in this new atmosphere is to watch the other people around you. Focus on people that seem to be locals and pay attention to the things that they do and do not do. In London, there are many similarities in how one might conduct themselves in the US, but there are also many, more minor things that could get you into a bit of bother. For example, the city is littered with escalators and I hardly went a day without using one. In the US, there aren't really any rules to follow when using an escalator other than the more obvious things like "don't walk down an escalator that is running up"; however, in London, the escalator can cause more of a ruckus than one might have thought. By watching the Londoners around me, I was able to quickly realize that if one wants to only stand on the escalator, they must do so on the right side, and if one wants to walk down the escalator, they must do so on the left side. Many of my friends made the mistake of standing on the left side of the escalator and nearly got run down by busy Londoners on the move. As inconsequential or silly as escalator etiquette may seem, by simply following these sorts of small London rules, and by watching how fellow Londoners conduct themselves, you will be leaps ahead of all others that are trying to fit in and understand the diverse culture of London.
Sources:
“Culture Shock.”Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture shock.
Ward, Martha C. “Managing Student Culture and Culture Shock: A Case from European Tirol.”Anthropology & Education Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, 1999, pp. 228–237.JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3196075. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020.
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