Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply transition to another type of life. One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign environment. Culture shock can be described as consisting of at least one of four distinct phases: honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation. - Said Wikipedia

I'll put it this way. Simply, culture shock is a condition where you feel homesick or stress that is triggered by difficulties that you are facing while you are in foreign country. The symptoms of experiencing a culture shock can be vary. One may feel stress while other may feel sad. One can be feeling homesick while others may feel angry. Therefore it really depends on the person and the situation they're facing.

Going to Thailand was my second time going abroad. I had been to Europe once. So if you jump into conclusion that I could face the culture shock better, it's understandable. However, here is the truth. Culture shock hit me harder when I was in Thailand for a month, and it felt weird because I did not feel culture shock this hard when I was in Bulgaria for 5 months. I thought I was prepared, because I have studied this matter in class. I had never been so wrong.

I was curious, so when I felt better, I tried to evaluate myself and my surrounding. "What could've gone wrong? What things had I done differently?".

It turned out, my culture shock was triggered by my activities. I was a lot busier when I was in Thailand. I barely had time to look after myself, to enjoy things and to recharge my energy. So in this case, I believe that exhaustion was the reason why I experienced worse culture shock.

Dealing with culture shock is an easy but tricky thing. You have to find out what triggers it before you can fix it. But here are some common efforts that you can do suggested by Stacie Berdan if, just in case, you experience culture shock:

• Assume differences until similarity is proven.
• Relate to individuals, not a “culture.”
• Work with a culture rather than against it.
• Ask “what do I need to understand?” not “what should I do?”
• Listen and observe, think and then talk.
• Focus on the benefits of differences rather than simply trying to avoid mistakes.

Image source: https://worldreliefdurham.org/culture-shock

Fifth day of August, I woke up and I looked at my phone screen. There were messages in my WhatsApp app. It was Ms. Arry reminding me that we had an agenda on that day. My colleagues and I were asked to meet a student of CMRU. We had to meet her in the 4th floor of the Council Building. The building was enormous and looked so good, but I focused more on the word "4th floor", and I imagined how exhausting it would be. We entered the building and I saw two elevators, and my mind said "Thanks God! They have elevators here".

It was such a relief knowing that I did not have to take the stairs, until I realized that a bunch of students were queuing to get their turn for the elevator. The line was about 20-meter long, and I believe it was going to take time if I had to take the elevator. So I said to myself, "Stairs... Here I come."

The journey of taking the stairs to the 4th floor was not as exhausting as I thought it would be. It was just like small exercise in the morning, but my heart broke a little when I found out that we went upstairs only to go downstairs again the moment we met her. Her name is Tonzon, or so I heard. She took us on tour to see around the university, or at least some parts of the university because it was raining. It had been raining since the day before. We ended the tour at 12 for rainy day was not the best day to have a tour, indeed.

Our next agenda was scheduled on 1 p.m., and there was still an hour left. Instead of going back to the dormitory, we decided to go to the campus' cafeteria, and once we got there, my heart stopped a little. As someone who prefers to be alone and enjoy life by himself, campus' cafeteria would never again be my first choice in selecting place to kill time. Hundreds of students were spilled on the cafeteria's hall. Hundred pairs of eyes stared at me and my anxiety spontaneously kicked in. I had never felt that much attention, and they gave it to me at once when I least expected it. Then everything got better when I ordered food and focused on enjoying it.

My phone showed 12.50 and that was time to leave cafeteria. We went to the council building. Inside the room, there were the president of the university, representatives of school, and the students. By that agenda, the SeaTeacher program batch 8 was officially started.

Discussion with my supervisor, cooperating teacher, director of International Affair Office and the White President of CMRU