Oh, the places you’ll live: students discuss culture shock

Chapman offers over 90 semester and academic year study abroad programs around the world. Graphic by Emma Reith

Whether it’s coming to America from China or moving from Los Angeles to Orange, adjusting to a new environment can be difficult. Culture is often what makes people feel at home, but it can also make them feel out of place.

Livi Dom, a junior television writing and production major, said she experienced reverse culture shock when she returned to California from her fall 2017 semester abroad in Prague, Czech Republic.

“When I was living over there, I was living independently. You could go pretty much everywhere you wanted, using the subway or metro, tram system and buses,” she said.

It was especially difficult coming back to California, where public transportation is sparse, Dom said, and living in Panther Village made the transition even harder.

“Even though I was living with friends, I still felt isolated because the experience abroad was so life-changing for me that it was hard to articulate to my roommates just how much (the experience) meant to me,” Dom said.

When Dom was in Prague, she lived in an apartment with another student from the U.S., but had Czech neighbors. She described it as the “perfect, ideal living place.” After returning, California felt noisy in comparison, Dom said.

“There was a church nearby, a police station, and the city even had a mandatory quiet law, so I felt really safe there,” Dom said. “Everyone there was so quiet. I used to get on the trams and read, and it was so quiet that you could pick out tourists because they would be having loud conversations,” Dom said.

Culture shock also negatively impacts international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation, according to the International Journal of Intercultural Relations.

Shaun Chin, a senior strategic and corporate communications major, lived in China for 15 years. Coming to the U.S. as an international student at Chapman introduced him to a different social dynamic, he said.

“I felt like people weren’t very understanding. They weren’t as culturally curious,” Chin said. “Back at home, there was a lot more diversity.”

His culture shock affected his academic performance. Chin said he felt he didn’t fit in, so he was less motivated to work.

“Over time, I was able to adapt, but very slowly,” Chin said. “However, I like the idea that everyone here is open about social justice. Back where I’m from, we didn’t really highlight those things, so it’s good to see that everyone here is exercising their rights.”

Ian Policarpio, junior music education major, had a different experience with culture shock after moving to Orange from Van Nuys, Los Angeles, he said.

“I grew up in a poor neighborhood with people of color, and it was just a lot of working for what you have. Coming to Chapman really made me realize how big of a difference there was between my lifestyle and people in higher socioeconomic classes,” Policarpio said.

Policarpio said he would feel completely comfortable putting on a blindfold and walking down the streets of Orange at 2 a.m.

“Being at Chapman reminds me that I grew up in ‘the hood’ and everyone else didn’t. I remember as a freshman I made a joke about hearing gunshots every night before I went to sleep, and no one understood where I was coming from,” Policarpio said.

Living Orange County has a “chameleon” effect on him, he said.

“I’ve been down here for long enough that I know how to change the way that I talk to appeal to the demographic I’m looking for, and I constantly do that,” Policarpio said.