Pre-Departure Orientation: Culture

Learning Outcomes

1. Explore the many dimensions of the concept of culture.
2. Develop a greater understanding of own cultural identity.
3. Understand the process of culture adjustment.

Understanding Culture

What is culture?

According to Nevadomski Berdan, Goodman, and Taylor (2013), "Culture is much more than food, sports and art. Culture is a system of shared values, beliefs and attitudes that are learned by a group of people who primarily work and socialize together" (p. 150).

The four images below are analogies for understanding culture. Do you see a similarity between the images and the concept of culture?

Iceberg

When we think of culture, we tend to think of only the visible aspects like food and dress (surface culture) yet the majority of culture is hidden beneath the surface (deep culture). Deep culture elements are those that are hidden from view and are grounded in the values, beliefs, and history of the people. The deeper the cultural element the harder it is to adapt or shift. For many, it is easier to adapt to a new style of clothes or to eat new foods than it is to change their way of thinking. “The goal of learning about cultures is to continue to probe the depths of an iceberg to seek to understand the drivers behind the actions and behaviors of another” (Berardo & Deardorff, 2012, p. 62).

Onion

Like an onion, people can have layers of culture. An individual’s culture can be layered with elements influenced by religion, race, gender or even geographic location. However, we often identify individuals by a single layer. For example, we may say “that, French person” or “that women.” This type of thinking creates a division between them and us. “When we think of or see only one layer of an individual, we are not seeing that person for the complex individual that they are and what they bring to a situation. We want to be recognized as being complex individuals shaped by a number of layers and we need to do the same for others" (Berardo & Deardorff, 2012, p. 62).

Fish in Water

Berardo and Deardorff (2012) describe culture to be like a fish in water. “Like water to a fish, the influence of our own culture is often invisible to us; it is simply what we know and what we depend on for survival. It is not until we become a fish out of water that we may realize our dependency on our own cultural environments or be able to see clearly what the water was that we lived in. Often the first step in working across cultures is to discover your own ocean and understand your own cultural influences" (p. 62).

Lenses

Our perception of the world and our reaction to it is influenced by our culture. Because we are all individuals with unique experiences and backgrounds, each person will view the world through a different filtering lens. According to Berardo and Deardorff (2012), "Culture is a system for making meaning of things, and as a result, we all wear cultural lenses or filters when we interpret a situation. This may lead to different concepts about everything, from what makes a good meeting to the role of a teacher or leader. The goal of working across cultures is to recognize our own lenses or cultural filter we are wearing in any situation and learn to put on the lenses of someone from a different cultural background" (p. 62).

How do we learn culture?

Most people grow up immersed in their culture. They absorb it from their family through rituals and customs, language, arts, social habits, and a shared history. People also learn about culture through school, relationships, television, and books.

What are your cultural norms?

To better understand another culture, it is important to first reflect on your own cultural values, habits, and assumptions.

People in the United States come from many different backgrounds, experiences, and communities, and no single set of values applies to everyone. However, there are some cultural patterns and norms that are commonly found in the U.S. and may shape how Americans think, communicate, and are perceived abroad. Some of these patterns may differ significantly from those in your host country. 

Individualism & Independence

We see ourselves as individuals, responsible for our own situations. We emphasize self-fulfillment. We give choices even to very young children and believe that it is wrong to expect individuals to always sacrifice their wants and needs for the good of the group. We admire individuals who fought their way to the top, do something first, or are the best. We define ourselves by what we do, not by our birth situation.

Privacy

We assume that everyone needs time alone. In some cultures, one is rarely alone and many translations of the word “privacy” carry a negative connotation of being isolated. U.S. children often have their own rooms and their own possessions. We have rules about confidentiality and personal property/ownership.

Egalitarianism

We generally express strong belief in the principle that all people are created equal with equal opportunities; yet, most Americans will admit that discrimination (e.g. racism & sexism) still exists in the U.S. We tend to enjoy stories of “self-made” individuals who rise from poverty to riches through hard work and initiative. Most Americans believe that individuals control their own destinies; children are told, “You can be whatever you want to be.” We generally do not like displays of social status (e.g. being bowed to, deferred to, etc.) nor do we have noble titles. We show respect in more subtle ways, like in the tone of our voice, order of speaking and seating arrangements (e.g. getting the most comfortable chair). Children are often allowed or encouraged to question their parents and “discuss” their parents’ decisions. Questioning professors is often highly valued and bosses often go out of their way to seem like “one of the gang." We chitchat with taxi drivers, waiters, bellmen, doctors, and lawyers. We give respectable titles to all jobs (e.g. sanitation worker).

Time

We are very concerned with time and efficiency and look for faster and more efficient ways of doing things. We talk about not “wasting time” or about “saving time.” In many cultures, time just is. We value organization and punctuality. We make “to do” lists, plan our leisure time, and carry calendars and schedules.

Informality

We use first names, even with people older than us and who have more social status. We use idiomatic speech, prop our feet up on desks, and wear informal clothing on many occasions.

Future-Oriented

We are less concerned with history than other cultures with regard to explaining conflicts (people from other cultures may go back several centuries). We value new things and ideas more than the old. Products are advertised as “new and improved." We believe we can and should improve our situation as in, “Don’t just stand there, do something.”

Achievement & Action-Oriented

We value hard work and continually want to improve our situation. We feel that we never achieve enough and should always keep bettering ourselves. We are always doing something and we feel bored or guilty after “doing nothing” for several hours.

Honesty & Directness

We value “getting to the point” more than maintaining “face” (prestige or dignity). We look up to the person who tells us directly and honestly when they are upset about something. We do not like to have a third person mediate. We believe it is important to tell the truth even though it may put us in an unfavorable light. In contrast, we also value giving positive feedback with the negative. Some other cultures are more concerned with “saving face” and may say something indirectly or put a more positive spin on a situation to save face.

In the TedTalk below, Dr. Juliana Mosley helps us to understand the concept of cultural humility, emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning, self-reflection, and power awareness. 

Exercise 1:

Try listing all the cultures and identities with which you belong. Below are some suggestions to get you started. Add as many as you think describe you.

Did this help you think about your own culture or identity? How have your cultures and identities affected your life?

Prepare for Stereotypes

Nevadomski Berdan, Goodman, and Taylor (2013) state the following:

"What does an American look like? What do Americans think? What do they feel? How do they act? There is no one answer. The U.S. is home to a vast array of racial and ethnic backgrounds not to mention the individual differences influenced by geography, socioeconomic conditions, education, vocation, religion, and cultural heritage. Our diversity is one of our strengths, yet stereotypical perceptions of Americans persist. Stereotypes sometimes contain a grain of truth but they prevent us from getting to know people. They can also be really unfair. You will be confronted with stereotypes and you will be judged by those stereotypes—not by who you are. It is important that you understand what some of these stereotypes are. Start thinking about issues of race, wealth, poverty, gender, religion, and politics here in the U.S. At some point you will probably find yourself serving as a cultural ambassador, explaining, for example, that not all Americans are rich, not all own a gun, and what they see of Americans on television and in the movies may or may not be accurate but is hardly typical" (p. 156).

American Identity

There may be times, for reasons of personal safety, that you do not want to be marked as an American or otherwise identified as an easy target for victimization. If you are concerned about anti-American sentiment, refer to the Glimpse Foundation's cultural acclimation guide below called “American Identity Abroad,” which “aims to help study abroad students navigate the sticky issues that surround being a citizen of the world’s only superpower.”

Racial and Ethnic Concerns

Your racial and ethnic identities may be understood differently abroad than they are in the United States. In some places, people may make assumptions about your nationality, language, or background based on your appearance, while in others your identity may feel less visible or be interpreted in unexpected ways. These experiences can be affirming, confusing, or uncomfortable. Reflecting on your identities before departure and staying open to learning can help you better navigate these moments while abroad.

Exercise 2:

Step 1: Based on first impressions, what do you think people will observe about you? Write as much as you can in just a few minutes.

For example:

• They may notice how I dress.
• They may hear my accent.
• They may notice my race or ethnicity.
• They may notice tattoos or piercings.

Step 2: Consider how someone in your host country might interpret or make further assumptions about you based on these first impressions.

Step 3: Consider some of your hidden identities that you wrote down in exercise 1 and finish the sentence: Based on first impressions, people may not be able to tell that I...

Activity reproduced from: Kurtzman, Rich. (2022). Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad. Lioncrest Publishing.
 

Research Your Host Culture

Seek Out Information from Others

Learning about your host country before departure can help ease your transition abroad and better prepare you for cultural difference. The more familiar you are with everyday customs, social expectations, and ways of life, the easier it will be to adjust once you arrive.

Here are a few ways to prepare:

• Read about everyday behaviors, customs, and social norms in your host country.
• Talk to people who grew up in or have spent significant time in your host country.
• Connect with study abroad returnees to learn about their experiences and advice. If you do not meet a returnee at your country-specific pre-departure orientation, ask your study abroad advisor to help you connect with someone.
• Seek out students with similar identities or backgrounds and ask about their experiences abroad, including how they navigated stereotypes or cultural differences.
• Read student evaluations or personal stories from others who studied in your host country. Study Abroad 101 contains thousands of reviews from students that participated in study abroad programs at many UCEAP partner institutions (p. 152). UC Merced student stories can be found on the study abroad website.

Familiarize Yourself with Local Laws

Laws and social expectations can vary significantly from one country to another. While some laws may feel familiar, others may be very different from what you are used to in the United States. Before departure, take time to learn about the laws, customs, and expectations in your host country, especially those related to public behavior, transportation, alcohol, relationships, and personal conduct. Understanding these differences can help you avoid misunderstandings and better adapt to your new environment

Exercise 3:

The goal of this activity is to reflect on how we describe cultures, including our own. Imagine you are on a plane flying home from abroad and the person sitting next to you is from your study abroad host country. They turn to to you and say: “I have never been to your country before, and I don’t really know much about it. Tell me what the culture is like. What are the people like?”

Step 1: Write down six adjectives that describe YOUR culture.

If you’re struggling with this, that’s ok! It can be difficult to describe our own culture when we haven’t been confronted with a different way of living or thinking.

Step 2: Write down six adjectives that describe your HOST culture.

How did you come up with these descriptions? Have you visited your host country before? Do you know someone from there? Or have your ideas come from classes, movies, or someone else's experiences? It’s normal to generalize. This is how we make sense of something we don’t fully understand. But making a judgement about a group of people can be damaging if we aren’t willing to change our ideas. So that’s why you’re writing down your ideas now. Write what you think you know about your host culture so you can fill in the gaps of your understanding and stay open to revising your assumptions.

Step 3: Write down six adjectives that people from your host culture would use to describe your culture.

When we met new people, it is rarely a blank slate. Everyone brings their own perspectives, assumptions, and bias. If the six adjectives you wrote down do not reflect who you are personally, you may need to work harder to challenge those assumptions and shapre how others come to know you.

Activity reproduced from: Kurtzman, Rich. (2022). Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad. Lioncrest Publishing.

In the TED Talk below, Julien S. Bourrelle explains how the cultural “glasses” we wear shape the way we interpret the world around us. Understanding these perspectives can help you approach cultural differences with greater awareness, curiosity, and openness. 

Seven Lessons for Cross-Cultural Understanding

In Craig Storti's Cross-Cultural Dialogues: 74 Brief Encounters with Cultural Differences, readers are challenged with uncovering the cultural norms in 74 conversations between an American and people from other cultures. The overall lesson gained from the book is that much of human behavior is particular to a culture and is not universal. The following seven lessons created by Storti should help you to avoid misunderstandings and other negative consequences during your interactions abroad.

1. Don't assume everyone is the same.
2. What you think of as normal behavior may only be cultural. Much of human behavior is universal but certainly not all. Before you project your norms on the human race, consider the possibility that you might be making incorrect assumptions.
3. Familiar behaviors may have different meanings. The same behavior (saying “yes” for example) can exist in different cultures and not mean the same thing. Just because you’ve recognized a given behavior, don’t assume you’ve understood it.
4. Don't assume that what you meant is what was understood. You can be sure of what you mean when you say something but you can't be sure how someone else interprets it. Check for signs that the other person did or did not understand you.
5. Don't assume that what you understood is what was meant. We all hear what others say through the medium of our own experience. You know what those words mean to you but what do they mean to the person speaking them?
6. You don't have to like or accept “different” behavior but understanding where it comes from may help you find ways to deal with it.
7. Most people do behave rationally; you just have to discover the rationale (p.129-131).

In the TED Talk below, Pellegrino Riccardi discusses how two completely different cultures can coexist with each other.

Culture Adjustment

Culture Shock

The process of mentally, physically, and emotionally adjusting to a new environment is commonly known as “culture shock” or "culture shift." It is a response to being in a situation where everything is different from your previous experiences, including languages/slang, food, transportation, body language, and everyday activities. Culture shock covers a wide range of reactions from mild annoyance to frustration, depression, fatigue, and excitement.

Honeymoon

The first few hours, days, or weeks abroad are often characterized by the excitement of sensory overload. Both adrenaline and expectations are running high and everything seems new and intriguing.

Hostility

Once the initial honeymoon phase subsides the dissonance between native and host cultures begins to seem more pronounced and a sense of alienation can set it. Curiosity and enthusiasm about-face, transforming into frustration, insecurity, negativity toward local culture, glorification of home culture, exaggerated responses to minor problems, withdrawal, and/or depression.

For tips to cope with loneliness abroad, check out the blog post “ Abroad but not Alone: How to Cope with Loneliness” in The Californian Abroad.

Gradual Adjustment

With time, you will begin to orient yourself to a different set of cultural practices and feel increasingly comfortable and confident in your new surroundings. Your sense of humor, which may have been lying dormant for a while, will reemerge.

Reentry or Reverse Culture Shock

Upon returning home, you will be faced with integrating your abroad experience with life in the United States. You may feel disorientated, out of place or changed by your experience in a way that makes relating to family and friends difficult.

For a more detailed look at reverse culture shock and what you can do to overcome it, check out the blog post “Reverse Culture Shock: Adjusting to Life at Home After Study Abroad” in The Californian Abroad.

Watch this video to hear how other students around the world adapted to a foreign culture.

To cope with culture shock Nevadomski Berdan et al. (2013) suggest the following:

• Maintain the ability to laugh at your mistakes. We learn by making mistakes.
• Self awareness is crucial; remember, your reactions and emotions are normal.
• Look for positive aspects of every experience.
• Be open to learning about your host culture, ask questions, and attempt to understand behaviors instead of judging them
• Set small goals for yourself initially. Your adjustment should be gradual.
• Take care of yourself physically; make sure you get enough sleep and keep a proper diet.
• Adjust your schedule to the rhythm of the host culture (i.e. meal times, study habits, time off) (p. 175).

It may also help to:

• Reflect on your experiences by keeping a journal or a blog.
• Try not to label things as “good” or “bad” but merely “different” and do not blow things out of proportion.
• Develop habits or join organizations that will help you interact regularly in the host campus and city.
• Remember that you are the foreigner and that people will expect you to adapt to their expectations.

Culture shock is often unavoidable but recognizing it as a normal part of the adjustment process can help you move through it with greater patience and self-awareness. Everyone experiences culture shock differently, and there is no single “right” way to adapt. Give yourself time, stay curious, and allow yourself to be uncomfortable as you learn and grow. Some of the most meaningful parts of studying abroad often come from the moments that challenge you the most

Ten Points of Adjustment You Might Face Abroad:

1. Concept of time and schedules
2. Approach to work and integration of work into daily life
3. Eating habits
4. Gender relations
5. Reliance on walking and public transit vs. cars
6. Size of public and private spaces
7. Prevalence and permissibility of smoking
8. Incorporation of exercise into daily life
9. Environmental conscientiousness (prevalence or lack thereof)
10. High interest in domestic and international affairs

Exercise 4:

Create a daily schedule of a typical day for you in the U.S. Next, create a daily schedule for life in your host country. What are some ways your host country schedule might be different from your current patterns? What features of your current schedule are likely to be very different in another culture?

Daily schedule examples:

Reproduced from: Bruce La Brack, "Different Days, Different Days," in Building Cultural Competence: Innovative Activities and Models, eds. K. Berardo and D.K. Deardorff (Sterling, VA: Styles, 2012), 200-2007.

Being aware of the changes that may come with living in another culture is the first step in the adjustment process. Sometimes the most routine things at home may not be possible or may be seen as inappropriate elsewhere. What will you need to adjust once abroad?

Don't be Too Hard on Yourself

According to Nevadomski Berdan et al. (2013), "Cultural mistakes and bungling are part and parcel of the international experience. As the old saying goes, the only way to never make a mistake is to never do anything at all. So be gentle on yourself, and try to be understanding when others goof up too. If you don't already know how to laugh at yourself and your mistakes, it's time to start! Don't hesitate to use humor publicly (especially about yourself), as it can dissolve cultural barriers quickly."

"At the same time, try to learn from each of your mistakes (and from those you see others making), so that you don't make the same ones over and over. Never fear, there will be plenty of new mistakes to make as you continue to try new things. Unconditional acceptance is one of the most important requirements of a truly successful experience abroad. You have to let your barriers fall and accept new ways of living. Only then will you begin to understand that our world is indeed a very large and complicated place, with countless paths to countless ends" (p. 178).

When misunderstandings happen, apologize if needed, ask questions, and stay open to learning. 

Have Fun!

Studying abroad is often described as a once in a lifetime experience. It will be filled with adventure and excitement but not everyday will be as good as the last. To power through the less enjoyable days Nevadomski Berdan et al. (2013) recommends that you "Keep a positive attitude and make sure you have coping mechanisms in place to get you through some of the difficult moments" (p. 179). It will be worth it all in the end.

Additional Resources

The Californian Abroad

This blog produced by UCEAP provides an inside look at the experiences UC students have had all over the world. Blog posts cover topics related to daily living, career planning, and travel tips.

UCEAP Program Guides

This online resource is available in your Predeparture Requirements checklist in the UCEAP Portal. In your program guide, click on "Daily Life Abroad" for country specific information on social conduct in your host country.

American Identity Abroad

This online resource is a guide to acclimation in your host country. In this study, 350 study abroad returnees were surveyed about their experiences as Americans abroad, including the stereotypes they confronted and the ways in which their experiences abroad changed or expanded their attitudes towards the U.S.

Culture Shock

This online resource also from Glimpse is a guide for dealing with culture shock.

What's Up With Culture?

This is a self-guided cross-cultural training program that is free and available online through the University of Pacific.

Peace Corps Culture Matters

Read through the Peace Corps cross-culture training workbook for a deeper understanding of culture and culture adjustment.

BeGlobali

This online resource provides destination guides, travel tips, and information to help you prepare for the cultural experience you will encounter. 

Mobility International

This online resource provides information for students traveling with disabilities (both physical and mental).

Travel Guides

Books like the Culture Shock! or the Culture Smart series are a great way to read about the cultures of your host country. These books provide useful information on culture and etiquette and there is almost a book for every country in the world. For more information, visit amazon.com.

References

Berardo, K., & Deardorff, D. K. (Eds.). (2012). Building cultural competence. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Kurtzman, Rich. (2022). Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad. Lioncrest Publishing.

Nevadomski Berdan, S., Goodman, A., & Taylor, C. (2013). A student guide to study abroad. New York, NY: The Institute of International Education.

Storti, C. (1994). Cross-cultural dialogues: 74 brief encounters with cultural difference. Boston, MA: Intercultural Press.