Reflection on My Culture Shock in Canada

Before my application got approved, I already have a lot of worries in mind. Without hesitance, I spent the last two months with my family and friends and started packing and making the final preparations before moving to Canada. Only one thing that I’m afraid about is leaving my beloved family behind, I will be expecting the first or two months of my stay in Canada will be worst and full of loneliness. Because I was not used to live alone. I didn’t know how to cook, my sense of direction was poor, and the language barrier was a bit tough. Every single day, my mom keeps telling me some advices about how’s the life in abroad and to be aware of everything might happen, because they were not here for me to solve the problem that I might be encounter. Especially not to trust people so easily.

Everyone reacts to culture change differently, some people’s reaction could be positive, and others might see it as negative but still depends on how the individuals would deal with change. And for myself, I knew that I was not mentally prepared for the culture shock in the beginning. I have struggled with the idea of adapting to a new environment, whether, unfamiliar clothes, food, schools, and also the values of people as well, for me it will take some time to adjust maybe a year to be fully settled in this culture. The first month of my stay here in Canada was the hardest part because that stage where I have to learn everything about the places, because I don’t have any accommodation yet when I came here and it took me a week before I found a place to stay. I didn’t have friends and relatives here, every single person who’s passing by I have to ask questions about where can buy some groceries and stuff and most important thing are those places that I need to visit that is required us to provide as an international students.

I could describe culture shock as the physical and emotional discomfort when I first came here, and I’m trying too hard to absorb everything in this culture or country. Culture Shock has many stages. At first, I was kind a like the incubation stage or “honeymoon stage” which means everything I’ve encountered is new and I was excited about getting out with the city. Afterwards, the second stage presents itself that means the excitement has turned to disappointment and I’m at this certain point of stage in my adjustment. I must say, I’m still encountering some difficulties and crisis in my daily life. In this stage there may be a feeling of sadness, longing for family, unwillingness to interact with others, feel tired or I really didn’t want to go out much and feeling incompetence. Communication difficulties always occur because its not my first language and I am having a huge adjustments with the language because Canadian accents are sometimes very slang and a bit complicated to understand specially my classmates that I used to talk every day, majority of them are Indians and I’m also having a hard time interacting with them because of their accents too there are times that they mispronounce some words that leads to misunderstanding and a bit confusing.

The act of immigrating is a process, I knew that it is going to take some time and I find ways to live with the things that don’t satisfy me like depression, sadness and loneliness. To overcome this, I include regular form of physical activity in my routine like taking a yoga and dance class every weekend, because relaxation is proven to be very positive meditation for those people who are experiencing stress. I also learn the language, by gaining some friends that I can hang out with and allows to practice my English communication skills with them, this will help me to lessen the difficulties in communicating and useful at the same time. To maintain my self-confidence, I will continue to grow and follow my ambitions, plans, dreams in the future.

Spending more time or getting to know myself in this environment was a big change for me. I’ve learned enough how to stand up on my own because, I’ve been always looking for something that reminds me back home, my home that is 12 hours away, but right now I realized I need to keep moving and start to enjoy the reality. Because being away isn’t so bad at all, I’ve learned a lot of things so far that I’ve never thought of learning and never imagine of having a lots of friends that I’ve never thought of having in the first place and this is sounds interesting for me because I’m not used to have a lots of friends back home. When I feel so lonely, I know that I have someone to call for help a person will motivates me and inspires by sharing our own experience in life. Most important thing is I discovered myself more who I’m really are at the end it’s the wonderful experiences that I want to remember not the times that I’m homesick.

I have been experiencing stress in both social and academic life and these are factors that negatively affected my adjustments here in Canada. My academic condition in my current college surprises me because it is totally different from the academic life in the educational institutions, I have in my home country. Everything is different; educational system, curriculum, and evaluation. I suffered so much stressed, anxiety, and frustrations it was like everything is weird to me in the class. My major problem is language I’m the only one from the Philippines and rest of them are from India, I speak English, but everyone speaks Hindi either Punjabi. It was hard to understand and be socialized with them sometimes specially during group activities they used to discuss the topic in their native language and explained to me after. I was so confused every time, I’m so frustrated in the first two weeks, I feel alone and helpless. Although there Is a problem in communication, teachers are always helpful and can be able also contact thru mail course. I tried to be in contact with my classmates and other sections to get some help with our homework and asked them to include me in their group study. I also get in touched with other international students from other schools in social media and asked them about their experiences and strategies to overcome difficulties, I made friendships with co-Filipino students because we share the same language, I could easily communicate with them. Lastly, I always called my family in the Philippines when boredom strikes to get some motivations, strengths and emotional support from them.

The main tip to get over this phenomenon is to try to be realistic and defeat the confusion, start communicating with others that you think will help you. Always think positive and keep in mind that nothing is impossible, yes, it is hard to live in a foreign country without family or usual friends but we should not worry too much about the distance we can text and call them back home or even see them through Facebook remember they were the strong source of support and inspiration. About school, we don’t have to be stressed and spend too much time in studying everyone needs some time to relax and get enough sleep. Explore outside and meet new people it will also help to decrease the negative effect of being away from your love ones.