Comm 101- Stoner/Steele Lecture

In Professor Stoners lecture on new media and students study abroad experience, she discussed the potential impact that new media technologies has on students experiences when studying abroad. Though I have never participated in a study abroad experience, I did partake in a trip to Mexico in which we traveled to some of the poorest parts of Country. When she spoke of this idea of Culture shock I was somewhat able to relate to it because I was only in high school and it was my first time traveling to a foreign country and I remember how frustrating it was to travel to locations where everyone spoke only Spanish. Everything from asking for directions, to asking where the nearest bathroom was, and ordering are food was extremely difficult and discomforting. We were even faced with a situation where we were been stalked by a man in Mexico City and being the only male in the group, trying to ask for help when we didn’t know how made things very scary for me. During the trip I had refused to use my cell phone because I wanted to gain the whole experience of being in foreign country, therefore I wasn’t able to use my cell phone (which I didn’t have on me) to get help. In regards to the experience, minus that incident, I believe I had a much more worthwhile experience without the use of my cell phone. I know the rest of my group did use their cell phones, and even used local computers that were in our hotel to keep in touch with family and significant others. They themselves have looked back and agree that this detracted them from having a holistic experience, and they now wish they hadn’t.  

Something that I think would be interesting to research is to combine Professor Steele’s research in cultural studies with Stoners research. It would be interesting to research how Black students experiences are while studying abroad, and if their experience is different due to their race. For example, if they face challenges while studying abroad in regards to their race. Also, to examine how many black students actually participate in study abroad programs and whether or not they have adequate access to study abroad to the usual members of such programs that tend to be upper to middle class white students.

My Culture Shock

The most interesting lecture that I found from Adriane Stoner lecture was culture shock. When I was younger I went to Vietnam with my family. At first I thought it was cool and awesome that I could travel, since it was my first time out of the country. For the first few weeks I enjoyed Vietnam, just like what Adriane Stoner said. When Adriane Stoner talked about culture shock she talked about how people usually enjoy their first few weeks in a new place. That what happen to me. I enjoyed the new sight and sound that I was seeing in my first few weeks in Vietnam. However as Adriane Stoner explain after the “honeymoon stages” is over it goes downhill. After being in Vietnam for a few weeks I started to get home sick. Even though I was with my family I started to miss my friends and my home. Back then I had no way to communicate with my friends since there really wasn’t any internet café in Vietnam. When Adriane Stoner talked about how people would deal with this, she mention that they would go to café bar or use some form of technology to get in contact with people from back home. I did not do these, and it made things worst.

            Part of me wishes that I could experience the full culture shock. What I mean by this is that when I went to Vietnam I was with my family. I wonder what it would have been like if I didn’t have my family with me. Having my family there lessen my culture shock just by a little. I could not imagine what Adriane Stoner when through. Not only do I wish that I did not go with my family, I wish that I stayed a little longer. Adriane Stoner talks about what happen after you downhill. She mention after a while you will go back up hill. I wonder what it would have been like when I would go up hill in my culture shock. Maybe one day I can experience what that feels like.

Professor Stoner's Lecture

Professor Stoner’s lecture was about adjusting to living in a new place.  This could be a trip to a foreign country or even just going up state for your first semester of college.  She told us that one of her key interests that she focuses on while conducting studies is finding two different elements of a subject, idea, or problem, and finding the relationship between the two.  With this said, she discussed studying abroad and asked the class what we thought some of the benefits of studying abroad were.  We offered answers such as “It teaches valuable lessons about other people and the cultures they are a part of,” and “It looks good on a resume.”  Then she introduced the term “new media” and asked if we knew what it meant.  I raised my hand and answered that new media are new technologies like cell phones and the internet, as the name implied.  After this, she explored the relationship between studying abroad and new media.  She said that she thinks that new media makes the study abroad experience less meaningful in a way, because new media is keeping people constantly in touch with their family and friends from back home which is taking away from their learning of the new culture they are a part of.  The last part of her lecture that I took notes on was the cultural adjustment curve.  The cultural adjustment curve is a representation of how much comfort a person experiences after entering a new culture over time.  The first part of the curve is the honeymoon, where enjoyment is pretty high for the first couple of months, but over time, the curve dips extremely low.  This part of the curve is known as culture shock.  Then, the curve begins to go back up, through the adjustment stage, and eventually to the mastery stage, which takes a year or two to reach. 

Studying abroad, or even visiting a city that you’ve never been to for a few days can produce this same curve, sometimes at a smaller scale though.  Some of the things that connect Professor Stoner’s guest lecture to the other concepts we’ve learned in class are our discussion of language and dialect.  As you travel to different places, the common languages, accents, and dialects change, which can take some getting used to.  Also, we discussed non-verbal cues.  Non-verbal cues can also vary quite significantly from culture to culture.  What might mean “nice job” (thumbs up) here, can mean something totally offensive in other cultures, for example.  Also, stereotypes and controlled prejudice can come into play when entering new cultures.  It is ok to have your own opinion about certain people, but when you overgeneralize too much, or let these generalizations cause you to treat someone negatively, that is where problems can occur.  Also, the cultural adjustment curve can relate closely to cognitive load and cognitive dissonance.  Upon entering a new place, people experience the honeymoon stage.  This stage can be a result of all of the new things they are seeing, without actually knowing much about them.  Simply seeing a new city can be a wonderful experience, but over time, it becomes necessary to learn how to act in these cultures.  If the new culture is very different from the one you’re used to, this can cause a lot of cognitive dissonance, which can be very stressful, and can lead to culture shock.

Adrian Stoner

Adrian Stoner gave an excellent lecture on the impact media has on students when studying abroad. Although I have never studied abroad the concept she discusses is something everyone can relate to.

Her focus is that your experience of leaving your bubble and going somewhere else will have different stages. And after the excitement stage you begin to feel out of place possible or home sick. Although this may not be a positive point in your trip it is a very significant part of the experience and how you handle and cope with the “home sick” feeling builds up who you are and helps you learn more during the study abroad experience. In this day in age that culture shock is much less significant because students are utilizing media technology to stay in contact with everyone back home.

Me, personally, if I studied abroad I am sure I would bring as much as I could to make the trip smoother and less chaotic. However , I wish that if I ever did study abroad I would go through the “old school” experience and only have the capability to contact my family when necessary. I believe this helps build character like I said earlier and makes you stronger. You become more exposed to the new world around you and you are going to do whatever it takes to understand the culture. Ultimately you will have to work for it rather than having all of the comfort and knowledge at your fingertips. Unfortunately we are society that has become extremely reliant on media technology and I do not know many students that would willingly give up those capabilities.

Yet, on the other hand, having this media technology is extremely beneficial for students that are unable to study abroad. The technology is bitter sweet. They are able to research the different countries understand and learn their language. Although the actual experience is something that cannot be replaced with technology, the knowledge is better than nothing.

I mentioned in the beginning that the concept Adrian focuses on can be relative to anyone. Students do not neccessarly have to visit another country but if they are placed in a new environment whether it may be the place or the people for a short or long period of time, people will use their phones or ipads to lessen the “awkwardness” or discomfort they may feel. This then leads to studies of social networks and media making people socially awkward, but that is an entirely different argument.

My Experience of Culture Shock

I really enjoyed Adriane's lecture. Although I have never "studied" abroad, I was able to relate to and understand what she was talking about. At the beginning of May I traveled through Switzerland, Croatia, Italy and France. Adriane showed us a chart of the different phases of culture shock over a long period of time. However, I believe you can experience culture shock in short periods of time as well. In the course of three weeks I felt like being abroad opened my eyes to so many new things and I learned so much about different cultures. There were different things about each country that shocked me, and some were a bigger shock than others. One thing that was a big shock to me was the "Tram" system in Switzerland.  I stayed in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Many people take cable cars for public transportation. Similar to the CTA system patrons are required to to use a pass, however in Basel nobody checks to see if you have a pass. It is a system based on trust, and from I saw everyone was very loyal to the system. It really shocked me because I know that would never work in Chicago. Another thing that shocked me was the way people treated each other. I visited the towns of Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia and all the local people were so friendly to each other and acted as if they were best friends even if they did not really know each other. I understand how in small towns everybody knows everybody but these cities were by no means small. Simply traveling from city to city and country to country was a shock in itself. It was my first time to Europe and just trying to find my way around, getting food and seeing how different cultures live and communicate is a "shock."

In relation to Adriane's study, I found myself to communicate with my family via cell phone or Internet almost everyday. I would use my iPad to send messages and photos, and was frequently on Facebook before bed. I found the concept of Adriane's study to be interesting and I could see myself doing something like that one day. Like I said earlier, although I did not "study" abroad, I feel I gained so much and learned just as much as somebody would who was studying abroad. I think everyone should try to go to Europe at least once in their life. I feel it truly changed my life and views of the world and I would love to go back one day. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience life abroad.

New Media Technology and Studying Abroad

How more important is communicating when with your friends and loved ones when you are in a foreign country than when you are in your home country? I’d say pretty important. With the advances in technology, such as Skype and Face Time, we are now able to have face to face communication although there are great distances between us. The combination of new media technology along with the study abroad experience is what Adrianne Stoner discussed in her lecture. Her focus was on the cultural shock you experience while studying abroad and if your ability to use new media to connect with your family and friends back home would lessen that experience.

I found her subject of research very intriguing because you don’t normally think about the cultural shock you will experience if you decide to study abroad. When you consider studying abroad you usually are in the honeymoon phase before you even arrive in your new country and once you’re there you never think it will end. The U-curve graph that Adrianne showed really highlighted the fluctuations in emotions that you will feel once you experience cultural shock. I also think it highlights the importance between interpersonal communication and impersonal communication.

Through interpersonal communication you continue to develop bonds and closeness and this type of communication usually takes place with people you know, people who you have a close relationship with. You feel more at ease and you’re comfortable and you usually trust the person that you are speaking with. New media technology allows you to maintain that interpersonal communication with your family and friends back at home. Once the honeymoon phase ends and you begin to experience cultural shock, you really start to feel isolated and you begin to thank the high heavens that someone thought of Skype and Face Time so you can connect with you loved ones back home. Due to the fact that you don’t personally know anyone abroad mostly all of the communication you have will be very generic and impersonal.

Impersonal communication is the conversation you have with the cashier at the gas station, a coworker, even a distant relative. These people don’t really know you, you barely speak, and when you do it’s usually serving a purpose to move you from point A to point B. So when you’re abroad, it can be very hard to deal with the fact you don’t have anyone to connect to personally. And if you can only speak and understand a tiny amount of their language, then your impersonal communication is definitely being used for functional purposes.

The last question Adrianne asked is if your constant connection to your family and friends at home thru new media technology takes away from your study abroad experience, especially if your “cultural shock” is lessened? I would love to know what her research proves, but I think that it could possibly take away from your study abroad experience. If you will only be abroad for maybe six months to a year and you spend half of that time home sick and talking with your family on Skype, your experience will definitely be limited. You would be inhibiting yourself from learning the new culture, interacting with the citizens and enjoying your time in another country. However, if your time abroad is longer than a year, as Adrianne’s U-curve model displayed you will eventually adjust to your new surroundings and then master them. Although, I still think any large amount of time spent experiencing cultural shock will have an impact on your experience abroad you will have more time to make up for it because of your longer duration in the country.

Adrienne Stoner

Adrienne Stoner's lecture covered some very interesting topics on culture shock. I would first like to begin with saying that I personally have experienced culture shock while travelling abroad. For twenty days, I traveled up and down France, Italy, and Greece. I have to say, it was probably the best twenty days of my life. I experienced a few different aspects of culture shock throughout my trip. One part being the types of food that made their self available to me. The first meal I ate in France was one of the worst. Travelling through a foreign country makes it hard to adjust to the foods available to you. I had no choice but to force myself to eat things I did not want to, merely because there were no other familiar foods to eat. Another shocker to me was when I spent three days living with an authentic Italian family in Italy. Life in Italy is much different from life in the U.S. People are actually a lot friendlier in Italy than in America, and they happen to adore Americans. That made it easier for me to socialize with the people there. The Italian family I stayed with was much different from my own. Everyone woke up really early (at least early to me). For breakfast, we had a croissant and tea, that was it. Clearly, I was bit more hungry than that but it was difficult for me to muster up the courage to ask for more to eat. I didn't want them to think I was a greedy American! Our days didn't consist of much. The girl my age taught me how to do certain arts and crafts, we took the dog for a walk, and then got ice cream. During the evening we ate dinner with the family, conversed, and then went to sleep. I'm not saying it was awful, I'm just saying it was very different from the types of days I was used to having back home.

With that said, I want apply what Adrienne said to what I've experienced. I was thrown into a culture with little warning of what it was going to be like. The foods were different, the people were different, and so was the lifestyle. It makes me wonder if I had stayed there longer, like Adrienne said, I would've been able to "conquer" the culture shock. I must say, I did enjoy myself very much and I would not have minded staying longer if I had the opportunity. Adrienne said the first couple of days/weeks you emerge yourself into a new culture it should be exciting and new and fun. That's exactly what it was for me. The question I am asking myself is would I experience the rest of the emotions shown on that diagram if I had stayed longer? Would I have felt lonely and confused? I'd like to say no, but there would be no way to really tell unless I actually got the chance to do it. This is why I think Adrienne's research is so interesting. I love Europe and all that it has to offer, but after being there for a certain period of time would I begin to resent it? Would I be able to conquer it, or would I give up and go back to America? These are the kind of questions one must ask themselves. It would be a shame to give up and go home, feeling beaten by a culture that you had no control over. It's actually a risky experiment to do and I applaud Adrienne for taking that risk.