coping with the lack of culture shock

in many, many ways, my culture shock/reverse culture shock associated with my trip to the Czech Republic were significantly less consuming or debilitating than what I experienced last year with Ireland.

I find this both fascinating and surprisingly unsurprising. my trip to the Czech Republic was wonderful and relaxing and everything I could have possibly hoped for from the trip and from traveling in general. I met some great people, saw some amazing sights, was generally amazed at how easy it was to get anywhere that I wanted to get (barring the one exception that didn’t turn out so bad in the end), had some spectacular experiences, and very easily could have fallen in love with the country.

but I didn’t. and I’m totally ok with that.

I met many, many people who fell in love with the country and decided to stay, or came back at the first opportunity and I can absolutely understand the attraction. if I were in a different place in my life I can see how I might end up in a similar position. but when it comes down to it, I didn’t have the same intense connection to the history of the places I visited that I did during my three weeks in Ireland. one might argue the tradition of hospitality in Ireland has something to do with my preference for it over the Czech Republic, but I’m not sure my experiences bear that observation out. I had perhaps more ambivalent/neutral hospitality experiences in Ireland than in the Czech Republic. could have been the places I stayed — less conducive to making random friends, or my own anxiety about venturing out on my own in a city that I didn’t know. but perhaps my own understanding of Irish history, as well as how it dovetailed with that of English history, made the historical perspective more intimate to me. as I’ve said before (and will probably say again), my knowledge of Czech history is still limited.

the more I developed a tactile relationship with Irish history, by visiting sites of historical significance, the harder it became for me to reconcile my affinity for English history and culture with the hardships the Empire imposed on it’s closest colony. (am I repeating myself?) it was very hard for me to reconcile these two profound affinities and, eventually, I gave up and tried to disassociate one from the other, to embrace each while ignoring the implications of the other. (there was a rough patch after my trip where I was struggling to reconcile and/or accept all of this). for good or for ill, the Czech Republic did not elicit such strong emotions. there weren’t courses on Czech history in my high school or college; it was only a peripheral mention in comparative politics classes that addressed the Cold War or U.S.S.R., if it came up at all.

and, consequently, there was less baggage available to tag along on my trip to the Czech Republic, fewer layers of complexity, fewer points for affection or contention. more opportunity to simply observe, appreciate, and let go of the unique places and cultural experiences I encountered in the Czech Republic. it was easier to disentangle my sense of self from the way I interacted with Czech culture. and, so, the culture shock was less dramatic in both directions.

I’m not sure yet whether or not I’m glad for those muted reactions.

Author: Erica

born in the midwest with wandering feet.

2 thoughts on “coping with the lack of culture shock”

  1. How do you feel now that you are a ways out from the trip? Do you find yourself recalling the Czech Republic and that culture shock any differently? <br /><br />There are definitive moments I recall from my own culture shock/reverse shock experiences that I still remember and enjoy thinking about. And do you think that your experiences with going and coming had anything to do with how well you

  2. My perspective on the respective culture shocks hasn&#39;t really changed over the last year. I still feel like I know a lot more about Irish history than Czech history, and I think that has a lot to do with the storytelling tradition in Ireland. Of the novels by Irish/Czech writers I&#39;ve read in the last year or two, the Irish ones are often more accessible from a reader&#39;s standpoint.<br

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