CULTURE SHOCK

Adjusting As An International Student

WRITTEN BY AJ JEROME

DESIGNED BY AMBER SWAISGOOD

For all students, adjusting to college is challenging, whether you live five minutes away or in another state. But for international students, this transition is even harder. Not only do international students have to adapt to American culture, but they also have to adjust to the specific culture of Messiah University.

Phoebe Lim, a junior nursing major, also has experienced several countries in her life. She has lived in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Lim recalls that her first experience with culture shock happened when she was very young.

“I didn't know that people could freely worship whatever religion they wanted to worship with openness and without fear of persecution,” Lim said. “I had grown up in a country that was deeply oppressive of any form of religion that wasn't ancestral worship, and so I was quite shocked when I went to a church for the first time that wasn't guarded by police, gated, or hidden in a house.”

Joshua Nganga Ndura Kariuki, a sophomore Politics and International Relations major, was born in Lancaster, but his dad is from Nairobi, Kenya and his parents were missionaries in Chad. While growing up, he traveled between the three places, which made him realize how strange some normal behaviors in America seem.

“I think the one thing that I’ve been noticing more often is that a lot of Americans will smile and say hi even if they don't know you,” Kariuki said. “You could be going in opposite directions and someone will say hi. To me, that’s weird because I don’t know you, you don’t know me.”

Danuta Tachayeni Durai Raj, a senior biopsychology major, is an international student from Malaysia. She shares the same views on American greetings as Kariuki.

“If I was back in Malaysia, I would not typically try to talk to someone on the elevator or a stranger, because that would result in awkwardness,” Durai Raj said. “A lot of people in my culture tend to want to shy away from embarrassment or things that could lead to embarrassment- it's just not normal to just talk to people that you don't know.”

But beyond adjusting to American culture, Messiah as a community has a distinct culture that requires adjustment. This can cause culture shock for students who are not used to the culture here, and even more for international students.

“Messiah's culture feels like the exact antithesis to my own culture, filled with individuality and brazenness,” Lim said. “There is a distinct lack of diversity and cultural inclusion here that is extremely foreign from my own country, which to this day is still hard to get used to.”

“I don't believe it is genuine sometimes when people ask me how I am, it's more of courtesy or politeness, which is not something I would do back home,” Durai Raj said. “However, on the flip side, I think I have found people here that are genuinely wholesome and lovely. They're very bright, good-natured, and loving towards the community, which I attribute to our Christian values.”

Durai Raj also noted that she had expectations for how American college students would act, but those expectations were proven wrong once she got to Messiah.

“I think that many people at Messiah are super sheltered and don't know things outside of Pennsylvania or America, which isn't a bad thing, but they're just not as exposed or aware as I would've expected college students to be,” Durai Raj said.

Culture shock is a phenomenon that no international student can escape. But with the support of the community here at Messiah, along with friends and family from back home, international students soon find comfort in once shocking differences.

“Things just suddenly felt much better in my second semester cause I was more adjusted, knew what to expect, and found support in the international community as well as friends from my floor,” Durai Raj said.

“I really needed to go home over the summer just for my mental health and it was so weird cause I kept comparing everything back home and how some things exist in America but not at home. It was some weird reverse culture shock thing and I questioned a lot about why we don't practice some of the good things that America has back home too.”

Whether culture shock is experienced through entering a new country or entering into a new stage of life at Messiah, there are challenges while facing a new situation. But even as international students are faced with things that may make them uncomfortable or uneasy, it pushes them to find spaces in which they can truly find belonging.