culture shock

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http://craftymemories.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/culture-shock-chart.jpg

Culture shock is not a scientific term. It's just confusing feelings a person may have after leaving a familiar culture to live in a new culture. It's natural to have difficulty adjusting to a new culture. People from other cultures may have grown up with values and beliefs that differ from yours. Because of these differences, the things they chat about, the ways they express themselves, and the importance of various ideas may be very different from what you are used to. But the culture shock is temporary.

What Causes Culture Shock?

Culture shock isn’t a shameful thing. It is a norm as we try to adopt and adapt to different life. Culture is made up of the common things that members of a community learn from family, friends, media, literature, and even strangers. These things give influence how they look, act, and communicate. Often, you don't even know you're learning these things because they become second-nature to you — for instance, the way you greet people, when you eat your meals each day, the kind of things you find funny, or how you view religion.

When you go to a new place, you often enter a culture that is different from the one you left. Sometimes there are similarities. Other times, they can be very different, and even contradictory.

The differences between cultures can make it very difficult to adjust to the new surroundings. You may encounter unfamiliar clothes, weather, and food as well as different people, schools, and values. You may find yourself struggling to do things in your new surroundings that were easy back home. Dealing with the differences can be very unsettling; those feelings are part adjusting to a new culture.

But it is good in Islam as Allah told us in Quran,

“O mankind, indeed We (Allah) have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.”

(Alhujurat 49:13)