My Cultural Shock in France

“I am often tired of myself and have a notion that by travel I can add to my personality and so change myself a little. I do not bring back from a journey quite the same self that I took.” Somerset Maugham

France has become my new home, I have been living in for almost 3 months. I am getting used to french culture and lifestyle, even though some differences are still unbelievable to me. Sometimes, I am shocked and confused by them at the same time. Could it be a cultural shock?

The term “Cultural shock” describes feelings of a person who is experiencing new culture. He/she moves from their culture to another one which is unfamiliar. Everybody can react differently in this situation which forces the person to adapt to the unfamiliarity with local customs, language, acceptable behavior etc. Cultural shock consists of four stages: honeymoon, shock, adapting, and adjustment. Last time sharing my first experience, I found myself at honeymoon stage. This stage was bliss and I was extremely vocal about France. Now, I am stepping in adjustment stage. I don’t understand all the differences, but I got to the point when I respect them.  This movement is precisely described in following poem.

“Okay, we are different it's true.
And I don't like to do all the things that you do.
But here's one thing to think through.
You're a lot like me and I'm a lot like you!"
Robert Alan Silverstein

When I arrived to France, I knew that the culture will be different, but my understanding was stereotypical - I was full of clichés about France. Although, I finally adjust to new environment, some of the cliché rests the same unchanged.

What are the CLICHÉ?


The more time I spend in France, the more my cliché associations deepen, in spite of the fact that time should turned them into real image. However, in general my attitude has changed toward French culture. Little by little my attitude is improving every single day.

I realized that my culture was not the center of this world. They might be different but they are not weird, wrong, or to be feared. Thanks to my new French friends and book “A Year in the Merde”, I got insight into the culture – into both layers implicit and explicit. Every new day is hiding new small adventures. A magic mystery lies in the beauty of cultural diversity. Don’t be frightened by unfamiliarity of culture different from your own. Open and fill your heart with new amazing experience. I wish you best of luck to you on your travels!
 

 

Kulturní šok ve Francii

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