Cultural shock during study abroad : Part One

Cultural shock during study abroad : Did you have any?

What was the biggest cultural shock or difference between your home country and the host? The food ? The people? The university or the education system? United Kingdom is one of the most popular study abroad destination among US and Australia. For me the the culture did not seem much different for first look. Here it is what I experienced.

The People

When I compared the people between UK and my home country the first thing I realized: people were more relaxed in UK. OK the quality of the life and social system is way better so probably people no need worry that much. I mean about bills, rent etc. After travelled a bit my experience was: the people seemed nicer, more helpful in the north than London for instance. In other places like Liverpool or Birmingham did not speak much with locals so I don’t know.

I was a bit shocked of the amount of immigrants and foreign workers. Not in a bad way, just really surprised. Actually myself was working and polish my English before entered into the university. So I had a bit of experience with working with British and foreign workers. I worked a lot with students in many part time jobs like being waiter, catering assistant etc. It was really fun, the job was easy and lot of chance for get know others. If you are a student actually the easiest way to earn some money: register to an agency and they give you a call if anything come up. Good for those who only able to work evenings and weekends.

I did not experience many disadvantage because I am foreigner. Of course you always can meet with jerks. Just ignore them. Some people will like you or not based on how you work, your personality etc. and they don’t bother about your race or skin colour. Some people will not like you anyway just because you not one of them. It’s like everywhere. Avoid the stupid.

Food

I wasn’t impressed much Sorry but the food what most people living on is absolute garbage. I mean like Greggs, Netto, Iceland, frozen .stuff ,pub dinner (microwave dinner) etc. OK you can go and buy nice food in M&S or Fencwick but which student can afford it? Not much. So in my opinion you learn to cook or get fat of the ready food. I did both .

I bought and ate cheap food from all the shops but in the end I did only shop the ingredients veggies milk etc. in there. In UK can find almost every corner a grocery shop so over there probably can get it cheaper than big shops like Tesco etc.

If you want to go out to eat.. well this is depends on the city. In Newcastle Italian food was dominant with Chinese and some Indian restaurant. According to my Indian friends none of those was authentic, they claimed it run by Pakistani or Bangladeshi owner. I don’t know I never tried those. Only eat home cooked Indian food at friends house. Easy with the Chinese food in UK specially if cheap. They use a lot of MSG so if you eat there a lot, might start loosing hair and having itchy skin…

In general I talking about the average people level so don’t throw me stones and claim Gordon Ramsey’s Michelin stars .

Take away: try to avoid it. You can try the famous “fish and chips” but only the nice ones. Avoid “donner kebab”. People just call it “shit on the stick”. I have to admit I tried and had time to time but no more than one a month… believe me if you try will know why I said that. Not for last the take away food expensive and unhealthy. One last story about food: My friend Andrew told me the most unhealthy food can found in Scotland. They roll a jumbo sausage in kebab, batter it and deep fry. Can you imagine? It contain all day calorie for you, don’t mention the fat level..

What is your experience?

Related posts:

1. Your Study Abroad
2. Why do we want to study abroad?

Tags: food, international students, people, student experience, student opinion, study abroad, study in UK

Category: student life, study abroad