Adjusting to Life in Ellensburg and the United States

An international student who has spent four years at CWU and is about to graduate and return home, looked back at his educational experience and wrote a closing essay. In this essay he expressed what has been most significant in this educational experience. It has not been what he learned in the classroom and the theoretical knowledge he will take home with him as he begins his career. It is how much he has learned about himself and the confidence he feels in having been forced to adapt and understand himself in a foreign culture.

The process is termed "cultural adjustment." Stages have been identified to help intellectually understand the emotional "highs" and "lows" which every person who leaves the familiar and enters the "foreign" will experience.

The adjustment involves using a foreign language and with this new language being able to communicate not only verbally but through learning new ways of behaving, learning new cultural customs. It means to finally understand and be understood in a totally new and different culture.

This adjustment takes time. For the student, it took a full four years and as he was reflecting back, he could finally understand some of what he had experienced clearly enough to write about it. What became significant was that he understood that it was a long, adjustment process. He felt, however, that despite all the frustrations, the anger, the loneliness, the wanting to give up and go home he could now feel it was worth the challenge. Finally, he said in the essay, he sees himself more fully; feels more confident in facing new challenges; and is eager to go home. A new process of adjustment will begin again as he brings his new sense of who he is back to his home culture.

In an effort to describe this cultural adjustment process, many stages have been identified. The following "stages" are very general descriptions. Each person who leaves home and enters a completely foreign culture will go through these stages but not everyone goes through them in this order. Everyone's "cultural comfort" level and adaptation is different.

The cultural stages are described simply to let you know that when you experience the "highs" and the "lows" of this adjustment process, it will be normal. It is very helpful to remember that there is support should you need to talk to someone about what you are feeling during any particular stage. The staff in the ISS are here to support you.

Stages in the Cultural Adjustment Process:

1. Application Anxiety - You have taken the first step. You have applied and been accepted to study at CWU. You may feel anxious, full of questions, doubts about the ability to actually handle this new opportunity. At the same time, you are eager and excited to actually arrive and begin this experience.
2. Honeymoon - You are here. You have survived the initial challenge of leaving home, arriving on campus, gone through the registration process of selecting your classes, purchasing your books, learning about the Residence Halls, and the dining hall system. You have begun meeting lots of new people. People are eager to help you and are very interested in learning about you. You feel excited about your new environment and enthusiastic about all of the new things you are experiencing. You are happy to be at CWU and to be surrounded by Americans. It is fun practicing English, meeting new people and experiencing new things.
3. Initial Culture Shock - You no longer feel excited about your new environment and begin to feel uncomfortable about many things. Everything begins to seem so different from the usual ways of behaving and socially interacting that you have known at home. You may feel frustrated speaking English and feel that you cannot follow conversations or express your feelings. You feel everyone speaks too rapidly. It takes so much energy to simply get through your classes, to try to understand the professor, to meet new classmates, to participate in class discussions, to read and study when everything is in English, and to constantly try to speak and be understood in English. You may feel stressed about living with an American and notice many differences between you and your roommate. Nothing is easy and you may feel very angry. You may start to criticize your new environment, and find that nothing is "right" and that everything is "wrong." You don't want to make the effort to communicate with Americans. You only want to find friends who understand your language and with whom you can communicate. You may have trouble sleeping, focusing on your studies, feel enormous fatigue from speaking English all day long, lose your desire to eat, and feel profound loneliness and disorientation. Any or all of these experiences may happen within the first weeks or months of being at CWU.
4. Surface Adjustment - Gradually, as your English improves, communication becomes less frustrating. You begin to be able to feel you understand and can be understood. You gain confidence in participating in class discussions. You feel the routine of daily activities is less exhausting and you begin to feel more comfortable shopping, traveling to Seattle, participating in activities and interacting with all of your new friends. You have figured out how to live successfully, and you feel content and confident.
5. Mental Isolation and Unresolved Conflicts - At some point - weeks or months after you begin your studies - you begin to question why you are here, what you are accomplishing, and what your future will be. You may feel depressed, lonely, and critical of everything around you. Frustration and anger increase and a new and deeper sense of isolation may occur. You may feel bored with your studies, unable to study, and unmotivated. Although the language adjustment seems to be getting easier, communication seems to again get harder. You may want to communicate only with family and friends back home. It is very important that you recognize this feeling and make an effort to talk to your friends and staff in ISS. There is support but you need to find it.
6. Feel at Home and Acceptance of American Culture - American culture as you are experiencing it as a student at CWU is slowly making more sense. This may take months to years but at some point you will feel a sense of acceptance of yourself and your understanding of yourself at CWU. You will be different, feel differently from the self you knew before you began your experience at CWU. This will be a gradual awareness and you will experience this new sense of self over the months and years, as you return home for vacations and come back to CWU to resume your studies. You will understand your culture, its customs, in a new way. You will understand American culture and customs in a different way. You will feel increasingly confident that you can adjust when you travel home and you will look forward to coming back to CWU. CWU will eventually "feel like home." You will feel a sense of strength and confidence that you now have experienced two realities, two social systems, and can understand, adjust and learn to feel comfortable in both. You are eager to travel to, perhaps, a third culture, to have the opportunity to participate in another study/abroad program during your CWU experience. You feel strong and independent because you have made this cultural adjustment.
7. Return Anxiety and Pre-departure Concerns - You start to think about returning home and beginning a new career. This brings both excitement and anxiety, much as you experienced when you first made the step to apply for and begin your studies at CWU. You understand that you have changed. You are no longer the "you" you were before this cultural and educational experience. It has been four years or more since you lived at home. Will you be able to re-adjust to work and life at home? Will your friends and family understand you? Have they changed? You feel great sadness and anxiety giving up what now has become your second home.
8. Honeymoon - You are so happy to be back in your country and to see your family and home again. You are excited about going out with your friends and catching up on the latest trends and fashions.
9. Reverse Culture Shock - Again, this may take several weeks or months but the feelings you experienced in adjusting to CWU and the American culture will surface again as you re-enter your home culture. The process of readjusting to family and friends will require time. The feeling of not being understood, not having your American experience understood, not having family and friends interested in what you have experienced will cause frustration. You will want to communicate what your experience has meant and to make your new sense of yourself, how you perceive your home cultural differently, what you learned about being in America, now understood.
10. Reintegration - Eventually, you will gain an understanding of your shifted perspective and be able to talk about it. You will understand yourself in both your home culture and American culture. You will be able to move from one culture to another, comfortably, easily, with enjoyment and a new, fuller, deeper and broader sense of understanding. This is what it means to become bicultural. It takes a long time but it does happen. This is when you understand why you chose to come to America and to gain an American education. It includes career opportunities but most importantly, self-understanding and an appreciation of multiple cultural perspectives - behaviors, tastes, foods, belief systems, values, language.

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