Culture is defined as the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular
society, group, place or time. Culture is often the core of social norms in a
society and is a good guide as to the morals or standards that people abide by.
Furthermore, when put into a society whose culture is foreign to someone, they
may experience culture shock. Culture shock is defined as the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who
is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes.
This happens often when someone travels to a foreign country that they have never
been to before. For example, two summers ago, my family and I took a trip to
Rome, Italy and we all had experienced culture shock the second we got off the
plane.
Everything was so different and like absolutely nothing I had
ever seen before; even the smell in the air was nothing like Chicago’s air. When
we first started to roam the airport, looking for the place to get our rented
car, we were struggling already. There were very few signs that we in English
and even fewer people that spoke English. When we got the car, we began to
drive to the villa and things really began to sink in that this beautiful place
wasn’t comparable to where I am from. The cars were speeding past us like it
was no big deal and there were more people driving motorized scooters that cars
who would weave in and out of the lanes like they didn’t even exist. I was terrified
at first because I had never seen people drive that way before; so fast and
fearless.
We got to the villa and it was the most beautiful place I had
ever seen. The roads around the villa and neighborhood were either cobblestone
or gravel. The family who owned it was there to greet us and they had an
extremely strong accent that we could hardly understand. The house had no air
conditioning and the weather at the time we were there was 90 degrees and above
nearly every day. This was something so different for me as well because my
family always has the air on, but this house didn’t even have a ventilation system.
Additionally, I experienced culture shock at literally every
single restaurant we ate at. The waiters and waitresses did not understand English
and hardly spoke it themselves. Furthermore, all of the menus were in Italian,
so we had no idea what was there to eat. At every restaurant we would have to
act out the food we were asking about or keep repeating ourselves until the
waiter/waitress had idea of what we were trying to say. Of course, this made
the experience fun and spontaneous because there were a few times we just
pointed to something on the menu in hopes it was good and order it.
Communication in general was the biggest form of culture
shock I had experience on this trip. Talking to people was a struggle,
especially when trying to wander the city on our own. Furthermore the
communication with Italian boys was a huge culture shock as well. They were all
very bold and forward and were not ashamed of putting themselves out there in
any way, as opposed to in America, dating is often a long process and seems to
often be nerve-racking.
I love everything about Italy, regardless of how shocked from
their culture I was. I truly recommend that anyone that has the chance should
absolutely go there, however just be prepared and not judgmental to their
culture just because it is different. Yes, you will mostly experience culture
shock, but it is well worth it.
This is a link of the best places to travel while in Italy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9-ZMG230QM
This is a link of a bunch of people sharing there stories and how they experienced culture shock while vacationing in Italy as well.
http://www.culture-shock.me/country/IT
