Week Nineteen

Cultural

Most of this week has been dedicated to meeting work deadlines, the past few months haven’t really been filled with a lot of work because they were waiting for our last two weeks. After finishing an eight page report about my school practice, a 1000 word essay about global citizenship and a group project on diversity I was very happy to celebrate Darren’s twenty first birthday

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We discovered while searching for stuff for Eimear’s birthday that twenty one isn't a hugely celebrated birthday like it is back home. We could not find a lot of things with twenty one written on them like shot glasses, cups, keys etc. so this for me is a big cultural difference. We managed to pull off a jungle themed party in our kitchen and I used my skills at face painting to make everyone look like a jungle animal. It was a

lot of fun for everyone and it was a strange feeling looking around the diverse group of people how much we know about each other now and how our opinions have all changed from the first meeting, I understand more about each person and where they come from, I have a new respect for everyone and have definitely made friends for life. Any prejudices or stereotypes that I may have had on a conscious or sub-conscious level have disappeared and I can now tell others a little bit about the different cultures that I have met, I know how to greet people in Dutch, Basque Portuguese, Belgium and French and that is something not a lot of people unless they have been on Erasmus can say.

I was researching on-line why I was feeling so strange all the time while being here and it seems that I am experiencing what is known as ‘Culture shock’ it had never really seemed like a real thing to me before but the more I read about it the more I thought that this was something that I was experiencing more than anyone else. I think I have definitely moved out of the ‘honeymoon stage’ When you first arrive in a new culture, differences are intriguing and you may feel excited, stimulated and curious. At this stage you are still protected by the close memory of your home culture. I never thought that this would affect me as much as it did, but it is a huge learning experience and one which I will definitely appreciate in the future.

I got an interesting phone call from home this week where I learned that my sister was getting to go meet president Obama and listen to a speech by both Obama and Michelle. It was very exciting for me and I am immensely proud of her getting to be one of six picked from her school for her academic achievement. I am a

little disheartened that I wasn't there to see the TV coverage but I can see all the pictures when I get home. It seems while I have been away a lot of things have happened and changed both in myself and at home, it will be interesting to catch up with people and adapt back to the old way of life after being in the Netherlands for so long.

Quote found at ; http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/info_sheets/culture_shock.php