People move to other places for various reasons, and most of them want to obtain more opportunities, such as jobs, and better education. However, moving out of one’s hometown means moving out of the life that one used to live. It would be difficult to adapt to a new environment since each place has its own culture, and there would be a lot of challenges that one needs to face while getting used to a new culture, and especially getting used to a different country.
As a first generation immigrant, I have faced many challenges while getting adapted to this new environment during the past three and a half years. In 2012, I moved to Portland with my family, and I did not realize that there would be tremendous challenges that I needed to face until I physically came to the United States. I turned a page of my life once I left my hometown, and I have experienced different degrees of stress since I came here.
I was born and raised in Shenzhen, a coastal urban city, which is located in Southern China. In fact, getting adapted to new things was not that hard for me because my hometown is a diverse and migrant city in which the major population came from other places across the country, and there are many people from other countries living there as well. Living in a metropolis gave me more chances to explore a
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The likelihood of experiencing stressful events is significantly high for returnees, and these stressful events can lead to disorientation, depression, or loneliness. (Jordan, 53) While getting adapted to a new culture, the place where one came from is changing simultaneously. Typically, most people will be prepared for foreign culture shock before leaving their home, but not many of them will be prepared for reentry shock before returning to their
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
At first, the idea of my family and me moving to the United States was fun and exciting. I couldn’t wait for the time for my family and me to leave, get to ride an airplane, eat stateside food such as spam, corned beef, apples, and oranges, and experience the different seasons, especially winter. Because of the excitement of coming to America, I didn’t have the time to think and realize the effects of moving away from home such as missing everything, adopting a different culture, and being independent.
Furthermore, people have the urge to better themselves by becoming educated. In doing so they tend to move from one place of residence to another for a variety of reasons. Such as for greener pastures, a sense of adventure, and in the case of some African nations it is because of frustration, as a result of deliberating economy, and others just want to change their lifestyle. However, people tend to struggle when it comes to being culturally fit. Everyone wants to fit in and look the part when it comes to how we dress, look, act, talk and even walk. Culture defines us and defines who you are as a person. Those characteristics are the way people are perceived when it comes to their culture and personality.
Have you imagined leaving your homeland behind and settling in a different country? As a kid I always enjoyed the idea of traveling the world, and discovering new things, but never had thought it would be very hard to let go everything and leave. Growing up, I was always eager to meet new people, learn new languages, and make my own adventures in life. Soon, that dream turned into reality when my family decided to move to the United States of America in hopes of having a better future and new opportunities. I had mixed feelings and was confused about what to expect in the future. However, this was the biggest fear I have ever faced in my life. It was difficult to get adjusted to a new culture challenging because change brings the unknown and unfamiliar with it.
There are many challenges that one must face as we go through life. I have faced a few myself, however, none proved more challenging than moving from my country; Jamaica, to the United States and subsequently moving to the state of Wisconsin. Deciding to leave behind family and friends is the hardest decision to make, however, there are a few things that I was not prepared for that made the transition more challenging than expected. Moving away from all that is familiar culturally, socially and economically can be even more of a daunting task than imagined. There are things that are taught to us by our parents and others that are more dictated by our environment than anything else, so when I immigrated to the United States I had three major challenges to overcome.
In conclusion, the lives of immigrants have had an all over transformation over the last century and will continue to change throughout the years. Through the hardships of being accepted into America and being invaded by personal means, immigrants are given a chance to succeed. Then to the family life of the immigrants, which tended to be split and torn, it built an inner strength in each individual immigrant. Lastly, to the living conditions and job opportunities that put the immigrants to the ultimate test, they were the make or break point for the better half of the new citizens. The transformation of immigration over the years has been incredible and should be widely recognized.
Coming to a foreign country is a daunting experience. When I first moved to America, I had to leave everything behind such as, - my family,friends, and life back home. Although I welcomed the change, I was also afraid. This fear hovered over me for a long time before I had the courage to let it go. My experiences, both good and bad, allowed me to break out of my shell, become a leader for my family, and strive against all the odds to achieve my goals.
Envision your family, compelled to escape your nation out of dread for your freedom and life. At the same time, you abandon all belongings, and experience serious emotional issues and you maybe have to separate from your family. In the midst of it all you finally at last settle down in another area, you battle to coordinate into another nation, confronting communication obstructions and an insufficient comprehension of the new nation's way of life and traditions. While a large portion of us and our families are sufficiently fortunate to go to rest every night not stressing over roughness or mistreatment, a few of us are most certainly not.
Affected by my family, my background, and everything around me, I was born in a family who is the first generation to get here. My grandmother, and my parents, along with some other relatives, moved here in search of better opportunities, like those from other countries for the same idea. They started out fresh but had a hard time to get started, when I was little, I assumed it had to be somewhat easy, but for people who do not know English it is like starting from scratch, but they did well, they’ve made it.
Moving from a house, neighborhood, city or state is often difficult for a number of personal reasons. A piece of a person’s history, family, or memories are going to become extremely precious because of the transition of moving. Now imagine moving to another country without knowing the language, customs and life pace, among other considerations. This is a situation that occurs very frequently for some individuals that find moving the better option. The reasons for such a drastic move are numerous but no less difficult. Refugees seeking political asylum or more work opportunities are only two reasons for moving, however, there a hundreds more.
Expatriates are defined as individuals who relocate from one country to the other for at least one year (Littrell, Salas, Hess, Paley, & Riedel, 2006). Expatriate definition is different with short term visits because during a short term visit, individual is mentally aware that he or she is going back to home country, and is aware that it does not require as much adjustment as long term expatriation (Joshua-Gojer, 2012). Past researches have different views about adjustment and they have defined adjustment in terms of subjective wellbeing (Campbell, 1981) or unhappy feelings of expatriates about their circumstances (Munton & West, 1995). However, the most acceptable definition for adjustment was from Black (1988), he said that adjustment refers to psychological discomfort which can be categorised as work, general and interaction adjustment.
The difficulty of moving to a new culture is that a lot of people would feel fear because they are so use to their own culture, so now they leave what they are used to a new way and it will be hard for them to adapt. Some may like the new food and the pace of life, then later on in the month’s people may feel like the new life and culture is unpleasant life for instance: public hygiene, the language barriers, traffic safety, and food accessibility. Still the most part in relocating to a different culture is the communication because they might not understand the language or might say the wrong word thinking it means the same in the other countries. People adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet used to the new environment and meet people with whom they are not familiar every day.
... in the new environment and fully embrace the socio-economic and political aspects of the new environment. Nevertheless, this paper has refuted the fact that one may completely forget the social conditions of their home country by permanently living in another country. In conclusion, living in another country involves change. However, the change is never permanent and is only oriented towards the interest that made one move into another country.
Even before arriving to the United States, the fear I felt was not having the familiarity of home (St. Lucia). Moving to the U.S meant that I had to start my life all over again. This time it would be without the unwavering support of my family and friends. Whether I succeeded or failed in school was entirely up to me. It wa...
Befus, C. P. (1988), “A multilevel treatment approach for culture shock experience by sojourners”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol.12, pp.381-400.