culture "shock"

On a whim, I flipped through our ACM Student Handbook today. I paused to review the section “Culture Shock.” It was the first time I opened the handbook since summer and I don’t remember penning “how different could Italy be?!” in the adjacent margin. I guess during the summer, when Florence was still an unknown distant place, I could not fathom the possibility of experiencing culture shock in Italy.

I think the label “culture shock” is what misled me. I perceived “culture shock” as meaning literally being shocked by new customs or traditions. I think I would have tried to steel myself more to the prospect of experiencing “culture shock” if I had felt like Italy would be radically different from America. But from a glance I naively believed them to be similar enough to think myself immune. I think instead of being called “culture shock” it should be titled something more like “culture astonishment.” The subtle yet very real differences between the States and Italy have crept up on me. Lately I’ve been feeling irritated by daily events which have begun to slowly grind on my efforts to be positive.

Before rereading this section from the handbook I was at a loss of words to describe or pinpoint what was bringing me down.

From the handbook:
Distinctive Features of Culture Shock:
“Culture shock does not result from a specific event or a series of events. Instead, culture shock comes from encountering different ways of doing, organizing, perceiving or valuing which threaten your basic, unconscious belief that your encultured customs, assumptions, values and behaviors are right.”
“culture shock does not strike suddenly or have a single principal cause. Instead the cumulative effects build up slowly, from a series of small, difficult-to-identify events.”

Sources of Culture Shock:
“Continually experiencing situations in which you are expected to function with maximum skill and speed, but without adequately explained rules”
“Being cut off from familiar cultural cues and patterns, especially the subtle, indirect ways you normally express feelings. All the nuances and shades of meaning that you instinctively understand and that make your life comprehensible are suddenly taken away.”
“Living, studying or working over an extended period of time in an ambiguous situation”

ACM truly did a fantastic job with this section. I wish I had taken better heed of its wisdom. However reading something, does not necessarily equate with comprehending it. And to be honest, I never could have understood this passage during the summer, while I was in the utmost comfort of my home, until I began to actually experience some of these emotions.