Fused Feelings

A personal shock

“…It was a great shock for the girl when she came to the United States for the first time. She was one in the crowd of foreigners on the airport. The girl thought she is lost. Completely alone, wondering what will happen. Then, she got there, at the college where she was going to attend a summer program. The first week was a real shock. She felt alone. There was no one to whom she could talk. Slowly, everything started changing. The girl found friends. She started adapting to the new environment and accepting things. She did not feel like foreigner any longer. She was one of the many walking on Brooklyn Bridge, one of the many who were reading in Columbia’s Low Library, one of the many who were living in Manhattan’s borough. At the end of the program, she was happy. The girl managed to find her place in NYC. It was the place where she discovered herself for the first time. It was the city that helped her discover what she wanted to do in life…”

Mixed feelings of a foreigner.
How do foreigners feel in another country? It really depends, but what usually happens to most internationals is a cultural shock.
As the world grows, as increasing number of people travel, work or study abroad, more attention is given on the type of silent sickness that most of the time damages the inexperienced traveler. What basically happens is the loss of emotional equilibrium that a person suffers when he/she moves from a familiar environment where the person learned to function easily and successfully. This basically describes the shock a foreigner feel. The individual in the new environment might feel miserable and often consider that there is something wrong. Not all, to be sure, suffer significant emotional disorientation. However, many do, especially the ones who have never before been away from home.
The transition to an alien culture often has an impact. For example an American is visiting certain Eastern European country. The American can find himself depressed by some living conditions in most of the rural areas.
When a person takes up residence in a foreign country there is a period of excitement when everything seems new and challenging. However, after a while, that person may fill like victim. The victim says to himself, "These people don't seem to know or care what I'm going through. Therefore they must be selfish, insensitive people. Therefore I don't like them." In that way the individual receives negative feedback and the self-esteem gets lower and lower.
Often communication is difficult for a foreigner in another country when is in the company of bunch of people who belong to that country. Experts in communication emphasize the fact that language and voice are by no means the only form of communication; they can be supported by number of facial expressions that are misinterpreted.
Almost always, fortunately, symptoms of culture shock subside with the passage of time. The first sign of recovery may well be the reappearance of the victim's sense of humor; she/he begins to smile or even laugh at some of the things that irritated him/her so much at first. As familiarity with local language and customs increases, his/her self-confidence and self-esteem begin to return. In fact, there is a slow progress.
   Foreigners should:
• Be aware that a culture shock exists, that will have an effect, but it doesn’t last forever.
• Try to remember that the problem is in them.
• Accept the idea that is painful, but they should not give up easily. At the it is just a wonderful experience.