Cultural Encounters:
From the Sand to the Snow

June 11, 2006

Culture Shock

I had an incredible week meeting many students. It is amazing to be able to help them in this new life stage. The sessions we had were informal in the sense of transmitting the message in the students' language. We also presented a skit showing the students what it means to make the most out of college.

I have been in America for 3 years now, and I thought I was already over the culture shock period. I thought I knew everything about Americans and how they interact with each other but last week I realized that I do not know as much as I thought I did. In every freshmen session, we take the students to the WRC to hang out and play sports.

Last Thursday I was there and I decided to play volleyball. Actually that was my first time playing volleyball with Americans. We were playing and I would use my feet whenever I could not get the ball. You know…like you do when you play soccer. This was a very ordinary thing for me to do since I am a Brazilian, but clearly not to Americans. I could see by their reaction that they were thinking something like: “what are you doing?” I noticed that some people did not like the idea of mixing soccer with volleyball but it is extremely hard for me not to use my feet when I cannot react using my hands. I have played volleyball with international students before, most of them from South America, where soccer is the main sport. Probably it is why it looked so normal for them when I used my feet while playing.

My concern about this issue is that I do not want people to think I am weird or even that I do not have a clue of what is going on, but to think that there is a culture gap between us. For some people to see things in a new perspective is extremely hard. It isn't because they do not want see, but because culture shock is not part of their daily lives.