Double Vision

Double Vision

Not many people get to travel outside of the United States to experience other countries.  If you are one of them, then you have not ever experienced culture shock.  Culture shock is the personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.  In other words, it is like getting off a plain in the middle of somewhere you have never been, and saying “wow”.  I experienced this when I went to the Bahamas two years ago.  We flew into an airport that was not in the tourist area of the islands.  When we were driving to our resort we were driving through the city.  It was very interesting, and not what I expected.  It was my first time being in another country.  My perception of the Bahamas was very nice and clean.  This was not the case.  It was very dirty, cramped, and people where everywhere.  I was in shock.  I was very concerned that my vacation would be ruined.  Then when we got to the top of this hill, there it was.  Everything I thought it would be was right in front of me.  It was very interesting to me that within two minutes, it went from slums to five star world famous resorts.  Even when I was on the beach at the resort I still experienced more shock.  Everything you could buy on the beach would have the option to be a package deal with marijuana.  In the United States you never see that happening.  Culture shock is very interesting and it can be both good and bad.  It could be good to experience other nations and understand what their norms are.  It could also be bad in that it could give wrong first impressions.  In my case it was at first a bad judgment on the first impression, they got to experience their culture. 

http://www.worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html

http://teenshealth.org/teen/your_mind/emotions/culture_shock.html