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Introductory video

About this Module

This course focuses on culture shock. Now, you might wonder if you will ever experience culture shock. You might have already travelled abroad on a holiday, met people from another cultural background, or even moved countries (for your study programme) and did not experience shock. Going abroad is a deliberate choice and you are feeling excited about your upcoming adventure. So you might think: why is this course useful?

However, even if you already have extensive experience with going abroad it is still definitely possible to experience culture shock. With this module we want to help you be aware of the ups and downs that may happen so you can fully live your upcoming adventure. In this module you will learn what culture shock is, why it happens, how to deal with it and how you and your fellow students can help each other.

It is likely that you have just completed Module 3: Cultural Awareness, where you learnt more about the differences between your home country and your study abroad destination, tips on how to engage with a new culture, and how to best plan your cultural journey. Now that you have selected your study abroad destination, you can fully focus your preparation. It is recommended to revisit some of the exercises in cultural awareness and do some of the more advanced exercises to expand your cultural knowledge of your study abroad destination. Throughout this module we will prompt you to have a look at exercises from the Cultural Awareness Module as well.

Time Needed

100 minutes

Learning Outcomes

After completing this module you will be able to:

Understand the concept of culture shock and its phases;
Understand the factors triggering it;
How to deal with it;
Be aware of peers experiences - students’ testimonials.

Module Structure

Step 1: What is Culture Shock?
Step 2: Why students experience it?
Step 3: When are you dealing with CS? culture shock triggers
Step 4: How to deal with CS? What to do when experiencing it?
Step 5: More information

Keywords

Culture: the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society
Culture Shock: a sense of anxiety, depression, or confusion that results from being in an unfamiliar culture or environment when living in a foreign country or society
Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person

About the Developers

Daria Milone (University of Pavia)
Eva van der Sleen (University of Amsterdam)
Gaia Garancini (University of Pavia)
Jonli So (University of Amsterdam)
Adriana Prizel-Kania (Jagiellonian University)
Eduardo Alias Gómez (University of Granada)
Shane Lordan (University College Dublin)
Elena Ballvé Martin (Student Testimonial)
Iulia Rusu (Student Testimonial)
Anna Manford (Student Testimonial)
Laura Parra Sánchez (Student Testimonial)
Claudio Santagostini (University of Pavia)
Edoardo Fava (University of Pavia)

About License and Version

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 international license

The European Commision's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Comission cannot be held resposible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Version 1.00