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Language

Independent living

Climate

Dress

Food

‘Rules’ of behaviour

Shopping

Social roles

Unfamiliar city

Values

Homesick

Finally

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Have you ever felt that your life is ruined when you leaving away from your hometown and trying to start a new life in a new country?

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If your answer is YES. You probably suffer the culture shock. And don't worry about that, you are not the only one who's fighting for it. Culture shock happens to almost all people when they moving to a new surroundings. No matter how old you are, what culture background you are coming from.

So please just take it like a short time journey. Release your pressure, follow this guidance and experence the differences and contradictions between the UK and China. Build up a better understanding about what kind of problems and challenges both you and others will face to. And prepare for the shock. Don't forget the slogan:

PLEASE MIND THE GAP BETWEEN UK AND CHINA

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Language

Constantly listening and speaking in a foreign languageis tiring. If English is not your first language, you mayfind that you miss your familiar language which at homewould have been part of your everyday environment.Even if you are a fluent English speaker it is possible thatthe regional accents you discover when you arrive in theUK will make the language harder to understand. Peoplemay also speak quickly and you may feel embarrassed toask them to repeat what they have said.

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Independent living

You may used to live with your familiy. Your mother prepare meals for you everyday, you don't need to do too much house work. And you may never know how to pay water and electricity bills. But when you living alone in the UK, you have to do all these things on your own.

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Climate

Many students find that the British climate affects thema lot. You may be used to a much warmer climate, or youmay just find the greyness and dampness, especiallyduring the winter months, difficult to get used to.

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Dress

If you come from a warm climate, you may find ituncomfortable to wear heavy winter clothing. Not allstudents will find the British style of dress different but,for some, it may seem immodest, unattractive, comicalor simply drab.

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Food

You may find British food strange. It may taste different,or be cooked differently, or it may seem bland or heavycompared to what you are used to. I f you are in selfcatering accommodation and unused to cooking foryourself, you may find yourself relying on “fast” foodinstead of your usual diet. Try to find a supplier of familiar food, and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Also, because of the different eating habit, you may never tired lots of food in the UK, you don't know their name and taste, finding it's hard to make your choice when ordering food.

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‘Rules’ of behaviour

As well as the obvious things that hit you immediatelywhen you arrive, such as sights, sounds, smells andtastes, every culture has unspoken rules which affect theway people treat each other. These may be less obviousbut sooner or later you will probably encounter themand once again the effect may be disorientating. Forexample there will be differences in the ways peopledecide what is important, how tasks are allocated andhow time is observed. The British generally have areputation for punctuality. In business and academic lifekeeping to time is important. You should always be ontime for lectures, classes, and meetings with academicand administrative staff. If you are going to be late fora meeting do try to let whoever you are meeting know.Social life is a little more complicated. Arranging tomeet to see a film at 8pm means arriving at 8pm. Butif you are invited to visit someone’s home for dinner at8pm, you should probably aim to arrive at about tenminutes after eight, but not later than about twentypast. When going to a student party an invitation for8pm probably means any time from 9.30 onwards!These subtle differences can be difficult to grasp andcan contribute to culture shock.

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Shopping

Because of the different eating habits, food products that sell in the supermarket may be strange to you. You have to learn every name and brand on the labels. Some food such as beef, there are very specific catagories for them, and you probably feel confuse about them.vAnd you also may find that something you normally have in your hometown are very rare in the UK.

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Social roles

Social behaviours may confuse, surprise or offend you.For example you may find people appear cold anddistant or always in a hurry. This may be particularlylikely in the centre of large cities. Or you may besurprised to see couples holding hands and kissing inpublic. You may find the relationships between men andwomen more formal or less formal than you are used to,as well as differences in same sex social contact andrelationships.

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Unfamiliar city

You must saw lots of images of the landmark of London, but you still don't know too much about how can you get there. The name of roads, bus stops, tube stations are brand new to you. You have to get familiar with these things. Otherwise you would easily lost your way in the city. Also, you may be shock that people look so different to you, and it's hard to recognize their faces.

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Values

Although you may first become aware of culturaldifferences in your physical environment, e.g. food,dress, behaviour, you may also come to notice thatpeople from other cultures may have very differentviews of the world from yours. Cultures are built ondeeply-embedded sets of values, norms, assumptionsand beliefs. It can be surprising and sometimes distressingto find that people do not share some of your mostdeeply held ideas, as most of us take our core values andbeliefs for granted and assume they are universally held.As far as possible, try to suspend judgment until youunderstand how parts of a culture fit together into acoherent whole. Try to see what people say or do in thecontext of their own culture’s norms. This will help youto understand how other people see your behaviour, aswell as how to understand theirs. When you understandboth cultures, you will probably find some aspects ofeach that you like and others that you don’t.

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Homesick

It includes the shock of a new environment, meeting lots of new people and learning the ways of a different country.It also includes the shock of being separated from theimportant people in your life, maybe family, friends,colleagues, teachers: people you would normally talk toat times of uncertainty, people who give you supportand guidance. When familiar sights, sounds, smells ortastes are no longer there you can miss them very much.

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It is important to stress that culture shock is entirelynormal, usually unavoidable and not a sign that you havemade a mistake or that you won’t manage. In fact thereare very positive aspects of culture shock. The experiencecan be a significant learning experience, making youmore aware of aspects of your own culture as well as thenew culture you have entered. It will give you valuableskills that will serve you in many ways now and in thefuture and which will be part of the benefit of aninternational education.

Finally