Suzanne Swartz's Blog

Posted by Suzanne Swartz

When traveling for the first time to a country that speaks a foreign language, you may encounter a few aspects of the language that your university course or intensive language class may or may not have covered:

• Slang
• Idioms
• Local dialects
• People talking much faster than your professors and classmates ever did
• Cultural references you may not quite understand

I recently returned from a week-long trip to Italy, and my limited knowledge of Italian was put to the test. I had traveled to Italy once before and had just enough Italian language skills under my belt to get from Point A to Point B. But this trip was a bit different: I knew that I would not be able to communicate in English with many of the people I was visiting. (No pressure!)

On this trip I was able to re-confirm what I already knew: Even if you think you have a basic enough grasp of a language (from a few phrases to a few years of instruction), total immersion + limited knowledge = headache. Needless to say, I took a few afternoon naps.

Advice? Bring a dictionary that can fit into a small travel bag, try to learn a few phrases or sounds common to the local dialect, and, if possible, communicate in the foreign language with native speakers from that region before you leave.

Posted by Suzanne Swartz

Combine a long flight (or flights) with almost no sleep and a fear that you will miss a connecting flight or a train. Add in some major suitcase lugging, reading signs in another language, and not knowing where to go. And, oh yeah, there's the fact that you don't know...anyone. At all.

And that is when you ask yourself the question:

"What am I doing here?"

A few things to remember if you find yourself in this situation:

• You are embarking on an incredibly cool experience. Quit freaking out.
• At least lugging heavy suitcases through an airport terminal is good exercise. Sometimes.
• Even if you miss a train, there will be another one, and you will get to your destination eventually.
• Chances are you will meet new people very soon, be it at your new apartment or dorm, in a class, at your study abroad program office, or at your new job.

Don't know anybody in whichever new city you've stumbled into? Go for a walk and try smiling at a few people, even striking up a conversation with the person behind the counter in a cafe where you are grabbing a much needed, jet lag-fighting coffee.

It will do you a lot of good to sit down for a while after a long trip, in a place other than the bare room or apartment where you've left your luggage. Going for a walk in your new city (and getting yourself some caffeine) once you've dropped off all of your stuff is one of the best remedies for any feelings of apprehension after arriving in a new place.

Posted by Suzanne Swartz

The German language has some great travel-related words: Wanderlust, Heimweh, Schadenfreude...oh, wait. That last one's only applicable when you're watching some poor guy loaded down with suitcases at the airport miss his flight, and you think, "Tee hee, I'm glad that's not me."

Anyway. Heimweh (pronounced "hi-mvay") is a curious concept because it's a weird combination of homesickness and nostalgia. It happens to most people who spend an extended period of time in a foreign country, and really, there's no shame in it.

Potential symptoms of Heimweh include:

• talking about people and places from home more than you probably intended to, with particular emphasis on what you are looking forward to when you return
• buying product brands you also have in your home country, for familiarity's sake
• becoming irritated by some aspects of the foreign culture you're living in
• feeling really, really excited about the day you're supposed to hop on a plane and go home...a couple months before it is actually going to happen
• getting a silly, dreamy grin on your face when a Viennese street performer starts up a saxophone rendition of Sinatra's "New York, New York" on the main shopping thoroughfare Mariahilferstrasse...yeah.

Believe me, if I did not experience any of the above signs, even to the smallest degree, while I lived overseas, I would have stayed in Europe pretty much indefinitely.

Granted, it's important to have an appreciation for home while you're away, and of course it's totally normal to miss the people you care about. But when that appreciation for home starts to overshadow appreciation for where you actually are, when homesickness and nostalgia start to distract you from your everyday surroundings, it's a sure sign of Heimweh.

Posted by Suzanne Swartz

At supermarkets in Germany and Austria, customers must bag their own groceries...fast. And with not much counter space to accomplish the task. Basically, grocery shopping in Germany or Austria is kind of like a fire drill...once you buy your stuff, you need to get out of there as fast as you can.

When I got back to the United States, went grocery shopping, and started to stuff my purchases into those flimsy plastic bags, the cashier raised an eyebrow and said, "Uh, what are you doing? I'll get that for you."

Huh?

Reverse culture shockinstances like this can happen after returning from a stint in another country. In addition to thinking it's weird to hear English spoken all around you, you may experience symptoms such as something I'll call automatic replies. Here's a scenario to illustrate: A waiter brings you your drink and you respond with some sort of verbal mess that is a weird mix between thank you and danke. Oops.

These "automatic replies" occur when you have to say something in your native language that you've become extremely accustomed to saying in another language, i.e. simple requests and responses like "please," and "thank you." Little things like that may take some getting used to. Also be ready to look at your home country's currency like it's play money, think road signs and license plates are unfamiliar, and be clueless as to whether the price of toothpaste is reasonable or ridiculous.

So prepare yourself for those sorts of things when returning from a foreign country. And when people stare at you like you're crazy, be ready to have a sense of humor about it and laugh it off! That's the best advice about culture shock that I can give. Appreciate the fact that you know a different way to say or do something, and be open to other cultures' habits, too.

Posted by Suzanne Swartz

Wanderlust!

It's a great word. A German word, in fact, with no English equivalent, which makes it even more near and dear to my heart. Back in college, I spent seven months studying in southwest Germany. I loved it so much, I decided I wasn't done with Europe yet. Austria, a country I'd visited a few times and fallen in love with, was at the top of the list.

And okay, going to Austria was not exactly the biggest culture shock ever after having lived in Germany, but my experience teaching there was markedly different from my experience as a student overseas. That's usually the case the second time around.

Most of the time when you decide to work abroad, even if you are returning overseas on a program such as the Fulbright, you don't have as much support as you would on a study abroad program in finding housing and securing a visa, among other things. And the type of visa required to work in the destination country will be different from a student visa.

A few other notable differences:

• Making friends requires more effort. When I was in Austria, I wasn't taking classes with the same people and participating in study abroad program events all the time. Get to know your coworkers, and consider pursuing an activity you love by joining a local sports team or a community organization.
• You're on your own for keeping your language proficiency on the same level as when you finished your study abroad program. If you're in a country where the native language is not English, I'd recommend communicating with native speakers as much as possible, or even taking a refresher class.
• You do need to maintain a certain level of professionalism, as you would in your home country. Remember, you're not a college student anymore...
• You're actually making some money.

So if you decide to listen to your Wanderlust after returning from a fantastic semester or year studying abroad, go for it. But just remember you're in for a different type of experience, and you'll have much more independence!