Adjusting To A New Culture And Country
A pattern of cultural adjustment often occurs over a period of several weeks or months. Most of you will spend your first days or weeks here settling in. During this initial period you may feel excited, eager, and happy to be in the U.S. The challenges you experience may be exhilarating.

For some of you, however, the novelty may soon wear off, and you may experience difficulty adjusting to your new life in the U.S. Things may not be as easy as you had expected. You may miss your accustomed ways of dealing with school or work, social relationships, and everyday life. If English is not your first language, speaking and listening to English every day and trying to understand how things are done here may seem to require an overwhelming effort. This phase is often referred to as culture shock. You may feel homesick and idealize your life back home, while being highly critical of life in the U.S. You may become frustrated, angry, anxious, and depressed. You may have minor health problems and disruptions in your sleeping and eating patterns. Your motivation may start to disappear, and you may find yourself wanting to withdraw from your new friends. This is a natural reaction to living in a new culture; here are some ways to cope with it.

First, it is important to recognize what is happening and to realize that your reactions are very common. Instead of withdrawing, try reaching out to friends and others for help, even though it may be difficult. Perhaps in your culture it is not acceptable to share your problems with people outside your family. Here, however, you are faced with obstacles unlike those you have faced in your own culture. The family support system upon which you relied at home is not easy to replace.

Adjustment to another culture can be a long and difficult process; at Harvard, you have the additional stress of trying to succeed in a different educational system. Common concerns among international students and scholars may include struggles with thoughts of going home early before completing one's degree or research fellowship, anger at not finding what one had expected, and frustration about having to study for hours longer than one's classmates and colleagues because of language differences. Those of you with families here have the added challenge of helping your spouses and children adjust to life in the U.S. while still trying to adjust yourself. Acknowledging such feelings rather than ignoring them can be helpful in adjusting successfully.

To help yourself get through this period, there are things you can do to feel better. Most people find that contacting other students and scholars from home who are studying here at Harvard is a big help. To speak your own language, share a meal from home, and talk about adjusting to differences in life here will ease some of the difficulties. Please ask at the HIO for contact information of others at Harvard from your country. Joining international student clubs is another good way to meet students from your own or other countries. Consult the HIO website for a list of clubs. Getting out and discovering some of the attractions of Boston can also help you to feel better. Sitting inside and doing nothing when you're feeling depressed can make you feel even more isolated. Athletic activities or other kinds of exercise such as taking walks may also be helpful. It is important to understand that as time passes you will be better able to enjoy your new surroundings. Misunderstandings and mistakes which in the past would have become major obstacles will be more easily understood and solved. You will more become relaxed, you will regain your self-confidence, and you will begin to enjoy your life in the U.S.

You may also choose to use some of the counseling resources at Harvard. These services are found at most U.S. universities; many Harvard students will use one of these counseling services during their stay at Harvard. Some of these organizations work with specific academic or personal concerns while other counseling groups are available to discuss anything you might want to talk about without requiring continued attendance. All of the personal counseling services are totally confidential. If you don't feel comfortable seeking help at a formal counseling center, but would still like to talk to someone, you may want to look into the peer-support services or hotlines (see resources page).