Theme 4 Assignments

Please select one of the two options below and write altogether about 2 pages.

1) Describe your own experiences about culture shock, re-entry and/or adaptation. Please reflect your experiences based on the theories of intercultural adaptation. You can use the following questions.

• Where did you go, for how long, and for what purposes?
• What were your first impressions in the foreign country?
• How would you describe the culture shock for yourself? (Maybe you didn't have any visible symptoms of culture shock? Why?)
• How would you describe the adaptation process for yourself?
• What emotions were attached to culture shock and adaptation?
• What was the most difficult in the new culture? And what was easy?
• What did you learn about the experience? Would it be easier for you now to live in a foreign country again?

Remember to link your writing to the theories presented in theme 4.

2) Using the theory and information from the entire course, discuss how the adaptation process might be different for an individual who has relocated to a country with a significantly different culture than his/her own for a short-term versus long-term versus permanent stay, and voluntarily versus involuntarily move. Discuss both the visible and invisible issues that the person might confront, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral adaptations required.