Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
are practising the second point, cross-cultural training. To
i nd them contact:
Society For International Educational, Training
and Research (SIETAR)
www.sietar.org
They have an international network of offices and
organisations, from which you can find your own
national resources.
GOING HOME... IT IS HARDER
THAN YOU THINK
Experienced cross-culturalists will tell you that the hardest
part of the international experience is usually the return
home. Though you never can totally integrate into another
culture and you may not have even enjoyed the effort of
trying, you will almost certainly i nd re-integrating into your
i rst culture a difi cult transition.
We adapt to other cultures in both conscious and
subconscious ways. Re-adapting to our former cultural
'norms' takes a surprising amount of conscious effort. The
changes we have made to adjust to something different are
not instantly reversible, like switching languages.
Even if you conscientiously resist another culture, you
pick up new habits in spite of yourself. We human beings
can't help being conformists, and in the case of France,
the temptation to conform to French ways is subtle
and seductive.
Going home is another complex cultural transition, a new
'you' in an old cultural setting. It can take up to a year to adjust
back. I have met many people doing business internationally
who i nd going home the most difi cult transition of all. They
call it a kind of reverse homesickness.
The closer the culture is to your own, the more likely you
are to be caught unawares. France, for another Westerner,
ought to be an easy adjustment but it isn't. Going home
ought to be easiest of all. Surprise! It is the hardest. When
you examine them, the problems of going home are obvious.
You are out of touch with local news and gossip. Yet it isn't
so interesting now, in your new context.
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