The Berlin Effect
The most prominent cultural difference that I experienced while in Berlin was during the time we lived in our first hostel. I experienced this cultural difference because this was the area
in which I personally experienced the largest language barrier. As a group we had talked about the language barrier but it was so prominent in the first area we were placed that some group
members would take the train to other areas to get food. We felt like a large group of annoying, American tourists, constantly asking questions and confused about everything. In addition to the language barrier we experienced copious amounts of street harassment while we were in this area. This harassment made our initial adjustment to Berlin extremely difficult. This was
probably the biggest form of culture shock for myself and my roommates specifically. It was something that we couldn’t avoid and something that we had no power over. We talked about it
as a group but we knew that there was nothing that we could do about it and the most important thing for us to do was to ignore it. Due to the amount of harassment that occurred our professors
offered that we take a self defense course. During the second week of our trip we took our first self defense class which I believe was extremely helpful and honestly made me feel a little more safe. I appreciate the support that I received from my professors and fellow classmates. We all discussed the different ways in which we can move forward and the different ways that we can work through initial culture shock.
My experience with culture shock came to me in a surprising way. Last summer, I did a trip where I traveled to different parts of Europe. I would like to think that I had a good sense of
what major European cities are like due to the fact that I spent such a long time traveling in Europe. When I got to the location of our first hostel, I was shocked. This area was nothing like
what I thought “Berlin” would be like. I wasn’t the only person that was surprised by this. Our whole group seemed slightly confused about the area that we were in. Upon arrival, there was no discussion about the area in which our hostel was going to be. I stepped off the bus assuming that I would be in a major European city and that is not what it felt like at all. I would say that there was only three phases of my culture shock. The first was the initial shock of the neighborhood, due to the fact that I had never seen a European city like this one before. Second, I was surprised at how little the people in our area spoke English but I quickly adjusted to this and learned a few food phrases. Third, I was accepting and processing the different street harassment that occurred. As I mentioned before my classmates and professors made the adjustment to culture shock much easier.
