Everything is a cycle or a circle if one looks at the sky as a metaphor for life, unlike "time is money" which implies that time is something that can be lost or spent like money. Question

Have you ever experienced culture shock? Why do you think this happens? What does it tell us about the influence of culture on human beings?

Culture shock occurs because being in a new culture challenges so many assumptions of what it means to live, and to live in the correct fashion. Going away to university is frightening, no matter how far or how near one is from home, but this is even more striking when one leaves one's homeland, as I have, to come to America from Korea. For example, American student's attitudes towards their parents were very different. While in Korea, even adults will pay careful attention to their parents and respect the advice and wisdom of the older people in their families, American students are more likely to talk to their parents as if their parents were equals or friends. In American classes, I struck at once by how much more dialogue there was between students and their teachers. Students were more inclined to challenge what their professors were saying or ask questions of teachers than in Korea. I felt as though different demands were being made of me as a student. Socially, I noticed that men and women were more likely to be casual friends than in Korea, which was different than what I was used to before.

Before I came to America, I was familiar with American...

I had eaten at American fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Pizza Hut and listened to American popular music like Britany Spears. But this is what made the cultural clash so surprising. I felt that I knew America well, but after living in America, I realized I knew America less well than I thought I did. I knew, coming here, that American culture was different than my own. But I was still surprised how little Americans, even highly educated students, knew about the culture of different countries, including my own, because I felt I knew America well. American students seem less politically active than Korean students, and less aware of what is going on abroad internationally. Perhaps this is because America influences so much of the world through its media and political influence.
Culture shock is the shock of being in a place that looks familiar, like a university, or a country that you study about before you arrive, but is not really familiar in terms of the casual customs and ways that people relate to one another. At least an anthropologist studying Native Americans like Farrer expected the culture to be very different than her own, while travelers to America do not always have the same expectation, because American movies, music, and images are so popular abroad. Even someone who speaks English still needs a translator for American culture.

Works Cited

Farrer, Claire R. (1996). Thunder Rides a Black Horse: Mescalero Apaches and the Mythic Present. Waveland Press.