We all experience culture shock when we move to a new country, particularly with a radically different lifestyle from ours. While it may take you some time to get over the culture shock, it’s very important to learn how to fit in. Only then you will get a full taste of the lifestyle and culture of the host land. But all this is not easy for a newcomer.
Lifestyle is made up of complex factors, including people’s overall thought processes, values, norms, culture, and habits. Certain external factors also have a role in it like the climate and governmental laws. People have to live by a set code and know what they are allowed to do and what’s considered illegal in the land.
Our 5 tips will help you merge into any host land’s lifestyle smoothly. No matter how different a culture you hail from, if you work on our suggested tips, you’ll soon adopt the lifestyle of the land’s native people. They include:
- Learning the host land’s language.
- Socializing with the locals.
- Watching movies of the local cinema.
- Visiting historic places and tourist attractions in the host land.
- Making choices like the locals.
Language Is the Key to Adopting Host Land’s Lifestyle
“Will I need to write my paper in the foreign language?” Well, you may be required to fill up an address field or write a letter to a government official, or an email to a friend. You can’t go very far unless you learn the language of the host country. This is the most time-taking, yet the most powerful step towards cultural assimilation. You can’t even begin to get over your culture shock unless you learn the language spoken by the native people. You can get yourself an online tutor using popular language websites or take a proper language learning program.
Don’t Stay Reserved – Open Up
Once you are in the host land, try to socialize with the local population. A very big mistake that travelers commonly make while they are in a new country is that they try to find and make friends with people from their own home-countries. We’ll suggest you otherwise.
An individual is inclined to think and behave like the people he/she sits among most of the time. That’s human nature and a natural process of learning and acting. When you try to make friends with the local people, you get opportunities to observe the culture deeply. That’s what sets the foundations of your concepts and plays a big role in the adoption of the host land’s lifestyle.
Watch Movies – Learn the Culture
Cinema conveys the lifestyle of a nation to the foreigners. You get so much information of all kinds just by watching one movie. From what kind of clothes people wear to what kind of foods they consume and how they talk and behave in different situations – you learn it all.
Visit Monuments – Get a Flavor of the Nation’s Past
It’s important to take a good look at the nation’s past to get a comprehensive understanding of the lifestyle. Find out and visit places of historic significance – old buildings, monuments, cemeteries, and museums. You’d learn if the country was freed by a previously dominating country and how its laws and cultures set the foundations of this country’s culture. Not only will this information add to your general knowledge, but you’ll also learn the reasons why people think about social issues in a certain way.
See What the Locals Do to Get Through
Education, marriage, and family are the key aspects of any nation’s lifestyle. If you consider, you’ll realize that different nations have different patterns concerning these life choices. Since you want to assimilate into the lifestyle of a host nation, you should pay attention to the popular subjects of major, well-paying occupations, and generally prevalent trends like age at marriage and size of a family. This will help you make choices that bring you closer to the locals.
That’s a Comprehensive Yet Concise Way to Grip the Lifestyle
These tips will get you started along the correct direction. You’ll soon assimilate into the culture and lifestyle of the host land’s native population. Just start learning the language, and watching as many dramas and other movies produced by the land’s cinema as possible from today. Once you get to the host country, make friends with the local population, travel frequently, and observe what’s needed to fit in and do accordingly.
