6758 culture shock stories

CULTURE SHOCK STORIES Task 1: You are going to read stories taken from Etiquette Hell Forum on the topic: Culture shock stories For questions 1-14, choose your answers from the people (A-F) Some of the choices may be required more than once Note: When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order According to the article, which person/ people: irritated his/ her relative made a false assumption experienced awkwardness in his/her living place predicted herself/himself to be struck with awe was forced to what he/she thought as impolite contracted an illness was taken aback by some people’s disregard of security complained about strict regulations experienced substandard living conditions 10 led an urban life 11 was struck by intense fear 12 got treats thanks to his/ her look 13 got confused with dishes’ names 14 WHAT’S YOUR CULTURE SHOCK STORY? Page Six posters shared their experience of sudden exposure to a different culture on Etiquette Hell Forum A When I was living in London there was an interesting experience My Aunt has a place in the country and a house in London I had always visited her at her country place, and stayed at a hotel in London However, that time I came to live with her in London When I landed at Heathrow, I grabbed a taxi insane and went into the house I was desperate so I followed her feeling really guilty That was until I saw the dessert bars on the kitchen table with a note "Just help yourself! Happy 150th Anniversary Zumbrota!" and gave the driver the address; I got to the house My cousin was also annoyed with me because I kept and locking the car "Why in the world are you locking a thought to myself "hmm wonder what car??" apartment she lives in" That was until I rang the door bell and the butler answered and I asked him which apartment my aunt lived in His response "You must be the American Madam is in the library waiting for you, she has tea and sandwiches waiting, I'll take your bags up to your C I spent six months as an exchange student in the Netherlands and the smallness was probably room The library is the second room down the hall." the biggest surprise, even though I knew to expect it Turns out what I assumed was an apartment building I lived in a dorm type apartment with maybe ten was her actual house, I always assumed that most other students, male and female In Finland it's people lived in flats in London since housing was so almost always gender-separated and having to share expensive the bathroom with a strange man who wasn't in the And then there was the whole "chips are not potato chips, they are French fries" incident that left my aunt ROFL [1] at a pub when I ordered a sandwich and chips thinking I was getting potato chips and not French fries [1] habit of locking doors (I've only recently found out that in some countries the custom is to knock on the door and not lock it) was a bit difficult for me I had lived with roommates in Finland but it was always just two or three people in an apartment, not eleven and we only had two toilets and two bathrooms with two ROFL: (Internet slang) Rolling on the floor, laughing showers each (in the bathroom that was on my side of the apartment one shower stall didn't lock and the B other didn't work properly) and three sinks There's nothing wrong with that kind of housing but I'm very I was visiting my father's small shy and even brushing my teeth when someone can Southeastern Minnesota town from Los Angeles It walk in (the bathroom didn't really have a door) made happened to be the town’s 150th anniversary and me uncomfortable The others didn't seem to mind there was a parade through the main part of town and walked around half-naked I tended to get up Older relatives were in the parade for their 150th before the others and went to bed when they were anniversary; their home was in town a block away cooking dinner at pm I think that they found me from the parade very strange So my cousin told me we could walk to their house and use the bathroom I fought, saying “we can't just go into their house and use the facilities, they’re not home That’s just rude”, my cousin thought I was Page D When I was young, my family moved to Turkey The first shock was walking into the airport bathroom and finding nothing but a porcelain hole in had to book your cooking time (when you wanted to the ground I cried the entire way to the hotel It use the cooker) on a weekly schedule didn't take long to figure out we were out of our element For me it was the adventure of a lifetime For my mom (who had four children under the age of six), it must have been more like a nightmare (We four kids all came down with chicken pox the first couple months of moving there) The city we lived in was dirty, overcrowded, and had rats the size of cats (I remember trying to 'pet the kitty', only to have mom yank me away) We couldn't drink the tap water, there were earthquakes and power outages on a regular basis (we'd be in the elevator at the most inconvenient times), and oh! The roaches! But as I said, for a kid it was awesome The The floor monitor sold the tokens for the washing machine which you reserved by booking it in the reservation book You were only allowed to one wash per week The same thing applied to the tumble drier I had come from a fairly laidback single sex English hall of residence where people cooked when they wanted and used the launderette as they pleased and the only rules related to music volume I found the rigidity of the hall rules difficult to adjust to, not least because everyone else in the hall took them so seriously Turks would fawn over my siblings and I as we were I also found the fact that there were 16 students on blond haired and blue eyed We got pinched on the my corridor and bathrooms I was one of only cheeks, and be given sweets when we walked by women I had a hard time adjusting to sharing pastry shops bathrooms with that many men Most of them did not I remember the day I found what I thought was a dinosaur bone in the playground at school- later I lock the door, and had a fairly relaxed attitude to nudity in the communal areas found out it was just a sheep's leg bone leftover from the sacrifices that had been made a few weeks previous (we would line up along the playground wall to watch it happen) We got to ride horse and buggies, see bears dancing in the streets for money, and the beaches were magnificent (despite getting stung by jellyfish) And holy cow, the baklava was good! E F I am a city girl I live in a large city, and for most of my adult life I lived in an apartment with people on all sides Now that being said, I went to visit my best friend in Idaho At the time she lived in a mobile on acres out in the middle of nowhere I was shocked SHOCKED that they didn't lock the doors and left their car keys in the car, unlocked We I think for me the greatest experience of took a trip to Yellowstone one day, and when we got culture shock was my semester in Germany as a back I had a panic attack because the front door was student I couldn't get over how the hall of residence wide open They said "Well, ya, it's hot! worked want it to be too warm in the house!" We were gone You arrived and checked in and were We don't introduced to the floor monitor who always had the ALL DAY with the front door open! last room on the right of the floor (that was a rule) They have now moved about 30 miles to another little He (in this case) gave me the key to the fridge and town and have sold the mobile and the land They told me which shelf I was allowed to use This was have a lovely cute house and they told me when the then marked on the diagram of the fridge that he kept sale was final, there weren't even any keys for the and replicated on the diagram that was on the fridge doors door One of my friends was on a floor where you STILL no keys for the locks I got up one morning to Page They've lived there for a few years now and discover they left the front door open because, well, it was HOT! Source: Retrieved on May 14th 2011 from http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=90832.45 Task 2: Find these words and phrases in the text above and try to work out what they mean from the context Then check your ideas by matching them with their definitions Get over A to praise someone too much and give them a lot of attention Yank somebody/ something away B to pull somebody/ something forcefully with a quick movement Fawn over C laidback D to understand relaxed Task 3: You are going to read an extract retrieved from a weblog – Becoming Unbound Four paragraphs have been removed from the extract Choose from paragraphs 1-6 the one which fits each gap (A-D).There is one extra paragraph which you not need to use CULTURE SHOCK: THE STORY OF A FRENCH EXCHANGE STUDENT During the current semester, spring 1998, I have been studying at The College of New Jersey on exchange from France, where I live as an international student Though I am a citizen of the western African country of Cameroon, I spent the majority of my life in the Central African Republic where I completed my elementary through high school education Classes in France are organized the same way they are here in the U.S., in a semester system The only difference is that students can graduate after three years instead of four I was about to graduate when I resolved to spend some time in America I decided to learn more about English-speaking culture before I move ahead for my master's degree in Translation from English to French Page First of all, I have found that in terms of studies, there is much more work here than in France I had never faced such an amount of work during the three years I had spent at my university I had even studied American literature, but did not have as many books to read as I now I guess the difference between the French educational system and the American system is that in France, the courses cover a particular subject in depth, whereas here the classes embrace a large range of topics, but more superficially However, the interesting point is how the classes are more alive here than in France because the American students are more apt to speak and to express their opinions clearly on a subject The classes here are also smaller, which could make them more interactive But they aren't because most students not try to study together This would allow those who understand quickly to help those who not, but instead each student works alone care a lot for their students, especially for me since they know that it sometimes can be difficult for me to understand everything I really appreciate their attitude because it has helped me a lot What I find fantastic is how the professors are more approachable here than in France The students can easily communicate with them during their office hours without an appointment and through e-mail The professors really Source: Retrieved on May 16th 2011 from http://unbound.intrasun.tcnj.edu/archives/lifestyle/old/lifes98/france /index.html A For example, my Women Writers class website The fact is that they know how hard requires at least six books, not counting the it is for students to access the Internet D I can remember my first days in one of my excerpts I have read many novels, and classes where I was struggling because we written many essays on them, but I think had to work on computers I felt nervous what I have to here is at least five times as because I was not able to use the computer much as what I did in France and listen to my professor teaching at the B When I first came here everything looked so same big: the streets, the buildings and the cars I time It was really difficult and challenging for me, but with the professors was not too surprised because America has help, I can say that I feel more comfortable always been presented to me as the country now of dreams where everything is giant I was excited by the idea that America was no longer just an imaginary country, but a real country in which I had to live for a while I have already been here for a month-and-ahalf (at the time of this writing), and I have noticed some major differences between the countries C The other thing that astonishes me is the difference students in here terms have of technology easier access The to computers, allowing them to go to websites for research In France, some people have computers at home, but the majority does not have access to computers at all At my university, there are two or three computer laboratories, but they not meet the needs of around 6,000 students I have never even heard a professor mention an address for a Page E Eight years ago, I moved to France to study English at the Universite de Saint-Denis (Paris VIII) I decided to come to the United States a year ago when I realized that in order to further my English studies, I needed to live in an English-speaking country Key: Task 1: 1.B 6.B 11.F 2.A 7.D 12.F 3.C/E 8.F 13.D 4.C/E 9.E 14.A 5.C 10.D Task 2: 1–D 2–B 3–A 4–C 2–B 3–A 4–C Task 3: 1–E Page