It’s not exactly the Kübler-Ross model, but there are phases to living abroad. Learn more about what to expect during your international adventure and take a look at these 5 stages of living overseas. Individual results may vary.
Culture shock describes the impact of moving from a familiar to culture to one that's unfamiliar and encompasses all the excitement and anxiety that can come from it.
The initial arrival and subsequent weeks in your country abroad will be full of surprises and anticipation. Getting on your feet in a new environment or country will take longer for some interns than others. For example, those accustomed to living in quieter, rural areas may have a harder time adjusting to the noise and bustle of a city and navigating the public transport on top of all the cultural differences of a foreign country. Usually, the stage of culture shock is accompanied by a sense of wonder and amazement. New tastes, new smells, new sights, new people, new languages… It’s all so foreign and different! The culture shock stage is an exhilarating but sometimes overwhelming phase of living, working, and interning abroad.
To help you through this stage of living abroad, we have an article on how to handle culture shock to give you some helpful and practical tips.
Most interns abroad don’t spend too much time bummed out about how much they miss home, but it still touches just about everyone at some point and feeling homesick can be a natural part of working and living overseas.
In more extreme cases, homesickness can cause so much grief that it will keep you inside being a homebody instead of going out and exploring. To get through this, talk to your friends and family at home to make yourself feel better but remind yourself that this experience and your time abroad is short. You’ll be back home in no time and regret it if you spent your whole time sad about missing home. This is often one of the most bittersweet stages of living abroad. Even if you’re feeling down, try to force yourself out to socialize and meet new people from different parts of the world. Focus on the new relationships you’re forming rather than the ones you left behind.
You could even ask someone who's been through this before how they dealt with their homesickness or read our blog post on how to shake the homesick blues!
After spending more time working and living in a foreign country, you’ll start to pick up on all sorts of cultural differences and adjust your behavior, becoming a cultural chameleon to help you fit-in to your exciting new community. Learning all these subtle differences will help you appreciate and understand the culture even more, improving cross-cultural communication skills and your ability to adjust to new environments.
Cultural adjustment will come naturally to you as you explore the area and talk to the locals. Chatting to the local community is a great way to learn about the country and culture, and will help you to adjust easier as you settle in.
There’s no stopping you now. You’ve spent some time soaking in the culture and atmosphere, and now you’re in full abroad adventure mode - there’s no looking back! Now that you’re adjusted to this new culture and your homesickness has departed, you can have even more fun exploring and testing your limits, which help with your professional and personal growth as you experience new tasks and adventures to enrich your time away. You’ll also enjoy the opportunities at your work more than when you arrived, as you’ll be used to the workload and office rhythm.
No! It can’t be! Already? Time flies when you’re having adventures abroad. It can be hard to reckon with, but you do have a return ticket and people in your home country waiting to see your smiling face once again. Though leaving can be difficult and emotional, don’t forget you can always come back – for vacation or a job. And thanks to social media, you’ll be able to keep in touch with your new friends and meet them again as your lives and travels bring you to different places around the world.