Cultural shock - chill out, it doesn’t cause permanent damage

Dr Sára Bigazzi, lecturer of the Psychology Department at the University of Pécs
Photo: Szabolcs Csortos, UnivPécs

Which nation do you think is mostly affected by cultural shock?

I wouldn’t connect the measure of cultural shock to nations: in my opinion it depends rather on one’s former experiences with diversity, on being open-minded and flexible. Besides, your ability to operate in new situations, with new people is also influenced by your past experiences. If someone lived in a little village in Italy, coming to Pécs, he or she might feel extremely big differences between his former and current lifestyle, and might not be not be aware of how to overcome this gap. At the same time, there can be someone else from India - which has a completely far different culture than  Hungary - who can adapt to the changes easily since she already spent some time in a foreign country and, on top of it, has an easy-going personality.

I think open mindedness is closely linked to experiences: after a while it has to evolve otherwise you can’t cope with your novel lifestyle successfully. Of course, you shouldn’t deny your values and attitudes. The challenge is to cope with the differences when you meet people who don’t share your norms. When you get into a new situation, your only choice is to experience new things. The more new situations you experience, the easier you can handle them.

How long does it take to get acclimatized to the new environment?

I don’t think we can talk about a general length of time, since everyone arrives with different purposes: some will live here for a short time, some for years, and some move here permanently. Moreover, it depends on how much you are willing to discover your limits and also on how frequently you interact with local people. Acclimatization can be much faster if you go to the grocery alone, or go to pubs where you can meet local people, and try to talk to them. If you take part in courses which though held in English, there are also Hungarian students and visit little pubs in “Uránváros”! This way you will understand how things take place in Pécs more easily.

This is the reason why I don’t agree with placing all the Erasmus students near to each other: this way there is almost nothing they can experience regarding the reality in Pécs or in Hungary. You might be surrounded by local people, but if you close the door of your room and do nothing else but studying... don’t expect too much good: this protected situation makes your adaptation more difficult.

As far as I see, those who spend years in Pécs, are more motivated to get acquainted with Hungarian culture, than those students who spend only a few months here.

When do you think adaptation is easier? Spending a short or a long time in a foreign country?

Of course, when you don’t move to a place permanently, you don’t necessarily have to experience cultural shock: you can stay with a closed circle of people. Immigrants for example frequently create their own neighbourhoods like in the case of Chinatowns, where people belonging together can preserve their own traditions. Cultural shock is more common in those cases, when you feel alone with your values and you experience that everyone else behaves differently. We all try to categorize people, especially when we don’t know them yet. However, certain categories might have a completely different meaning as compared to those in your home country. If you can’t position their behaviour along your category system, you should deactivate your frame of references as much as possible and accept the stimuli coming towards you.

Dr Sára Bigazzi, lecturer of the Psychology Department at the University of Pécs
Photo: Szabolcs Csortos, UnivPécs

Does keeping in touch with our fellow countrymen help or hinder our integration?

It can naturally give you an internal protection and safety: if you know that there are people around you who understand what you are saying and think similarly. However, it is important to leave the protection of this net, even together with them. You can experience things together, too and in this case you have the possibility to discuss your experiences later.

Technology makes it very easy to keep contact nowadays. How much can it shorten the integration time?

As well as your fellow countrymen, it can give you an internal protection. You can contact people from home who are behind you and if you are in trouble, they can support you, but I don’t think that it would restrain your adaptation. However, you should focus on finding your place in the new system. It doesn’t mean that you should accept everything unconditionally, but you have to get known your limits: how much you can give up from yourself and how much you want to keep. Of course, you will lose a little bit from yourself, but with the help of this attitude, you can change your own behaviour much easier later if necessary.

Is it possible to prepare for the changes?

Absolutely. There are some trainings where the rules you should behaviour abroad can be acquired. You can learn how you can have a talk with someone who speaks a different language and think in a different way.  I’m not thinking about speaking in English, but about showing the world around us from different perspectives, and about the ways we can accept, discuss and share that with others.

What can we win with a study abroad?

It also depends on our purpose. I think the main task of an Erasmus student is having fun in another world, they shouldn’t focus only on the university. As human beings they can develop a lot by this experience. The challenge is leaving our protected environment.

Those who spend more years in our town, experience the Hungarian reality much deeper, they live through a different process. They have to understand how the public transport system works in Hungary, they could be part of a community which will be theirs for years. I think that this kind of experience and flexibility can help in almost each profession.

I would also advise Hungarian students to go abroad: learning from books or listening to our teachers are not the most important sources of our knowledge. With foreign experience we can use our knowledge in a different way. We will be able to question it, and this way we can develop ourselves.

When does the degree of homesickness appear when consultation should be obtained?

Obviously if you have so much homesickness that you can’t deal with it, you can always go home. A psychologist can help you adapt to a certain point, but sooner or later you need to be able to survive alone.

What would you recommend for the foreign students arriving in Hungary?

Guidebooks can’t prepare you when arriving in another country. At first you are still only a tourist. The local people make you feel this: they can appreciate if you speak even two words in their language. Later, however, this won’t be enough: you should learn the basic words and phrases to communicate what you want. Increase your awareness about finding yourself, your own schemes, categories and value system. You can’t and don’t have to get rid of them, but you can think about them in a reflective way. That’s the reason why spending some time in a foreign country can help us

recognise question our perspectives. At the same time, though doing it, we may even reinforce ourselves.