Hi, I am a student at University Laval and this semester I have a Pedagogy course concerning culture. While I did my readings, I came to ask myself a few questions. One of these concerns the cultural shock when you either go study abroad / go teach abroad. I think that any Canadian who goes study/teach somewhere in Europe lives a cultural shock. This said, an individual eventually learns about the culture and starts living like in his own country, but if the shock is bigger, doesn't the individual have a greater outcome concerning the culture of the place where he studies?

Hello, I am also a students at Laval University, and I do think that cultural chock is good regarding enlarging knowledge about other cultures and our own. This past summer I was backpacking in Europe for a month, and indeed, I did come to acquire the European culture. However, I was also relating to my own culture while I was there. I think that having the possibility to travel and learn about different cultures is a way of enlarging your own values and allows to be open-minded towards different cultural groups. A teacher that has travelled the world can share his/her experiences with students, which will allow class discussion and reflection.

Indeed, I believe that when a person goes aboard to study/teach, he adapts his attitudes to better integrate the place s/he is living in. Sometimes, it is easier to stick to the new way of life because it may be similar to the person's own culture. However, this doesn't produce the same outcome as if the cultural shock was of a greater extent. The greater the cultural shock is, the better outcomes are. I think that when an individual faces a totally different culture, he has to push his limits and make greater efforts to adapt himself. This way, he doesn’t only learn about himself and arouses his consciousness about his own culture but he also explores a new lifestyle and new customs or attitudes. Once he experienced the new culture, he is more aware of everything that underlie it and how people living in this culture think, and who they really are.