Culture Shock

Today in prep class we discussed culture. What exactly is culture? We had a good discussion about it and came up with some good definitions, if something like "culture" can even be fully defined. We also talked about symbols, and how a large part of a culture is the different symbols and the meanings that people within a culture attach to those symbols. The tricky thing is that different cultures can have different meanings for symbols, or different symbols all together. This made me think about that phrase "culture shock". Culture shock is "anxiety, feelings of frustration, alienation and anger that may occur when a person is placed in a new culture" (thank you Wikipedia). It is sad to me that people would feel anxious, or angry, when placed in a new culture. This makes culture sound like some awful monster to be avoided at all costs. Why would a person feel this way? I think it relates to the “culture is like the ocean” metaphor that someone used in class. Culture is all around us, we are just kind of floating in it, and it can be great, until a huge wave comes up and crashes into you and knocks you down. You have to maintain a certain amount of flexibility when dealing with other cultures – be ready for the waves and just go with them, instead of trying to resist them.

 I am excited to be going to a new place where the culture is completely different than my own. I hope I do not have culture shock – but I think that is the point of this prep class, to prepare us for new cultures. I also think that culture shock can be totally avoided if you have the right attitude. Individuals are entirely responsible for how they react to any external event. But anyway, I would like to learn more about South African culture before I go, so I’ll be doing that, with the help of the prep course, throughout the semester. So here’s a stab at that, a little South African culture: South Africa has 11 official languages! And here are some South Africanisms: just now means sometime soon or shortly, while now now means sooner than just now. And play play means pretend. Cool!