My first time ever experiencing culture shock was in high school during my exchange year in the United States. I was sixteen, my exchange program was eleven months long and I was living in not even a town but a so-called census-designated place, Heathsville, in a rural Virginia… That is when I have learned the simple exercise of finding a quiet place, closing my eyes for a second and repeating the “mantra” that every Future Leaders Exchange Program student knows so well, “Not better. Not worse. Just different.”
I must be honest with you and say that after my exchange year I have never again experienced culture shock. Most likely because all of my prolonged stays after Heathsville were in relatively big cities; and it is quite easy to fight culture shock on the very early stages when you live in a big cosmopolitan city, thanks to globalization. You can not only find a store or a restaurant that serves your country’s cuisine, but most likely you will be able to get it delivered right to your door. For my dear Americans, for example. You can go to the restaurant called Breakfast in America (which in fact has three different locations around the city) where you can freely speak English and get your favorite big American breakfast all day long; or hang out at Shakespeare and Co. and meet some fellow ex-pats.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to attend the international student orientation at Sciences Po. You will have a chance to meet amazing people and someone to share your thoughts about your new home. It is easier to fight culture shock when you realize that you are not the only one feeling this way. Believe me, all of us came to the point when they felt so done with the French bureaucracy or that horribly confusing and not-at-all generous grading system that they have. I was very surprised to notice that my “little frustrations” were often similar to those that American students had and not, for example, Serbians whose culture is technically more similar to that of my home country.
“The swiftest hours, observed as they flew” wrote Shakespeare in A Lover’s Complaint. Those words seem to gain even richer meaning when you are in Paris. Sciences Po semester is only twelve weeks long and it WILL fly by so fast you won’t even notice, and that fairly simple fact is important to remember. Whenever I felt down in Paris, I would grab my magic Sciences Po student card and go to one of the nearby museums or explore a new arrondissement. There were times when I had to force myself to get out of my house because it was cold and rainy outside, and of course there was also a piece of homework to do and many many other reasons to be lazy and a little sad… Now, when I look back on my Parisian experience, however, I realize that those were some of the most precious moments. The moments when I felt as if I was on an intimate date with Paris and it was ready to share with me some of its most beautiful secrets.
