Culture Shock or Lack Thereof

Before going abroad, I was warned about culture shock. I was told that many students have a difficult time adjusting to the culture when they study abroad. Sometimes this shock is just a bit unsettling, while other times it can cause stress and anxiety. However, I was surprised but relieved to find that I experienced no real culture shock. In fact, Ireland is probably the least foreign-feeling foreign country that I’ve been to. It overwhelmingly feels American. Dublin, in particular, feels in most ways just like any other major Western capital city. It’s a big city, very modern, and of course, everyone speaks English. Moreover, Ireland has been inundated with American media and culture. Many younger people that I talked to recalled having grown up watching American TV and movies and listening to American music. All of this has contributed to significantly reducing the gap between American culture and Irish culture and thus effectively eliminating culture shock.
That is not to say, by any means, that Ireland is the same as America, or that it has no distinct culture of its own. While on the surface it may only be the small things, like driving on the left side of the road, using Euros, and printing Irish on many signs, that make it stand out as distinct from America, after having spent a little time there I picked up on other aspects of their culture that may be less immediately prominent but have had great influence. Historically, one of the biggest influences on Irish culture has been the Catholic church. Ireland was traditionally, for centuries, a Catholic nation. It has only been very recently that the Catholic church has begun to lose its grip on culture and Ireland has become more secular. Nevertheless, the influence of Catholicism remains. In some ways, such as the high number of churches, Ireland’s religious heritage isn’t that different from America’s. However, Ireland is different largely because of the amount of influence that Catholicism had over government and other aspects of life, such as education. In America, there is separation between church and state. In Ireland, this has not been the case. This is why, although in some ways Irish people might seem rather liberal in their attitudes, their legislation generally does not reflect this. The biggest example of this is the constitutional ban on abortion, which is still in effect. Additionally, even today the vast majority of schools are run by the Catholic church. As an American, it was initially a bit surprising to see the extent to which religion is engrained in Irish life, particularly in institutions from government to school, regardless of whether the Irish people themselves still maintain their religious beliefs. Overall, though, even the influence of the Catholic church has waned some in recent years, meaning Ireland is starting to feel even more American in this respect. I definitely feel like I could stay in Ireland for an extended period of time without feeling too homesick or out of my element.