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Cultural Shock And Reverse Culture Shock

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Culture shock and reverse culture shock

It is without doubt that for some people, going to a foreign country can be quite the shock. Before I experienced living abroad, I was adamant that I too would experience a culture shock. What happened was totally the opposite.

I spend my last year of my bachelor studies living in Belgium, Ghent. I received a scholarship, so I did not have to work to support myself. Instedad I focused on my studies and of course on the adventure. You see, culture shock is not something you catch, like the flu or the common cold; it’s not something you get when you set foot on the airport, it’s a feeling and it is not always there. If I was in a more exotic place than Europe, I believe I would have had a minor culture shock, but having to write about a culture shock I experienced during my stay in a European country is simply impossible.

To begin, the name of the “phenomenon” implies that there must be a clash of to ground-breakingly different cultures. So my question is, what shocking difference can a person find in Belgium. Yes, they speak a different language, but to my surprise with my english and survival level german at that time I managed to navigate the high seas of restaurants, laundarettes, social life and lectures. In the end it turned out that Dutch is simply a clumsy combination of English and German and one does not need any sophisticated knowledge of the language. Even when asking for directions I could rely on the fact that everyone

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