Travel challenges us and helps us understand more about the world and the people in it. That’s why, every year, Greenheart Travel offers First Time Traveler scholarships so that more people have the opportunity to travel. We recently heard from Caleb who won a scholarship to Greenheart Travel’s Teen Summer Language Camp in Spain. Here’s a little bit about his trip!
***
I had the most wonderful week in Salamanca, Spain.
My journey started on Saturday June 11th, 2023. After a week of last minute packing and mini-panic attacks it was all finally happening!
I took SFO (San Francisco airport) to Madrid Airport. The flight was almost 14 hours long, but my airline was surprisingly really awesome. I flew Iberia and they gave everyone on the plane a pillow and a blanket, and their utensils were all recyclable! It was a very comfortable flying experience and being able to see all the time differences we flew through was so cool. After watching 3 different movies and taking too many naps to count I finally landed in Madrid. I brought only carry-ons so I did not have to go through much airport hassle. This was a monumental moment for me as travel is a huge passion of mine, so the fact that I made it, and everything is going smoothly was a big deal for me.
After a 6-hour wait for the rest of the students to land and get their luggage we finally boarded the bus which took us from Madrid, Spain to Salamanca, Spain. It was an almost 3-hour drive but it was well worth the wait. The bus drive allowed all of the students to get to know each other and make first impressions. I met 3 students each from a different area: Phoebe (who I later found out was to be one of my roommates), Axle (another one of my roomies), and Lucy (a very nice French girl who was staying at an apartment). Having already made bonds with my roommates it was a very easy transition from the bus to my home for the week.
My host family was a wonderful woman named Manuella, and in no time at all we were calling each other familia. This is one of the more important aspects of my trip. As me and my host and my roommates became a real family in under 7 days (I feel like that should be a social experiment)! This level of human connection and pure love is something so beautiful to me, and I feel that it highlights my biggest reasons for wanting to travel the world and meet new people.
My days in Salamanca were very different from my days back at home (I loved this)! I had to adapt to a brand new schedule. Wake up at 7am, class from 9-12pm, “siesta” (nap time) and lunch 3-5pm, activity 5:45-7pm, free time 7pm-10pm, dinner 10:30pm, night activities 11-12:30am. I quite enjoyed this schedule and liked how late everything was. I was very worn out by the end of the day but slept amazing!
My week in Salamanca was a life I would commit to again, possibly to study or to write a book. The overall environment of the town is very collegiate, and historical. So it was a perfect place to learn an entirely new language and experience an entirely new culture.
Just when you’ve finally hit your stride and feel confident and happy with the new country you’ve moved to, it’s time to head back to your home country.
By now you’ve probably heard about culture shock, but if you’re planning on traveling abroad, you’ll also need to prepare for reverse culture shock as well. Reverse culture shock is an entirely separate issue from culture shock, sometimes requiring different tools and techniques to help get you through.
Reverse culture shock will rear its ugly head quicker than you would expect, especially if you’ve been in a completely different culture from the culture you grew up in. In my case, I was returning to America, a highly individualistic society, after spending 3 months in Thailand, a collectivist society.
I thought I would have at least a few weeks before I started experiencing reverse culture shock, and thought the phases would be similar to the culture shock phases I went through in Thailand. I was so looking forward to the honeymoon phase where everything seemed perfect and nothing could go wrong.
To my dismay, I felt the effects of reverse culture shock as soon as I landed and went through airport security in the US. I had been fooling myself up until then, thinking that since I was only away for 3 months, the transition would be easy and the negative side effects wouldn’t hit me quite as hard. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I found myself frantically trying to hold on to the lessons and traditions I learned in Thailand, afraid that if I succumbed to my surroundings I would lose all of the progress I made abroad. But it was the aspects of Thai culture that I took with me that helped me reacclimate to American culture.
First things first, let’s talk about what reverse culture shock actually is. Reverse culture shock is the psychological and emotional distress people feel when re-entering their home country after spending time abroad. Many definitions out there will only discuss the effects of reverse culture shock for people who have been away from their home country for a year or more, but anyone who has spent more than a few weeks in another country can experience reverse culture shock. The more differences there are between the two cultures, the more intense the effects will be.
Like culture shock, reverse culture shock affects people in different ways, depending on a number of different factors, such as the length of time they spent abroad, how comfortable they became with the foreign culture, and whether they’ve experienced reverse culture shock before. Despite these differences, there are some practices that have been proven to help reduce the stressors of reverse culture shock.
Here are some tips and tricks that helped me reintegrate into American society while keeping aspects of Thai culture I’ve come to know and love.
Hanging out at Art in Paradise, a 3D art museum in Chiang Mai!
Start preparing and educating yourself on reverse culture shock before you get home.
Just because you grew up in your home culture and are “familiar” with it doesn’t mean you are exempt from experiencing reverse culture shock. Unfortunately, reverse culture shock is not as recognized as culture shock, making it difficult for those returning home to get the resources they need to feel comfortable.
Luckily for me, Greenheart provides resources to help with reverse culture shock and makes these resources available at any time. Treat going back home the same way you did going to a new country; do your research! You wouldn’t leave for a foreign country for 3 months without doing a little research, would you? Make sure you do some research about the country you’re going back home to; a lot of things can change in just 3 months, and you’ll want to prepare yourself as best as you can. Trust me, there’s nothing worse than being incredibly jetlagged and having reverse culture shock hit you in the airport when you have 40 minutes in between connecting flights. Imagine if you had to go through all that AND didn’t have the resources you needed?
Remember the “mai bpen rai” no worries attitude you learned about and acquired in Thailand? Take that with you. If you make the decision to work or volunteer in Thailand (and you should!) you’ll hear the words “mai bpen rai” quite a lot. This phrase means “no worries” in Thai, and really encapsulates the energy in Thailand.
In Thailand, you don’t experience the same stress and feeling of having to rush everywhere like you do in the US. When the hustle and bustle of life gets to be too much, just say “mai bpen rai” until you really do have no worries.
Just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
If you read my other blog about experiencing culture shock, then you’re familiar with this phrase. This saying is something that helped me immensely when I was going through culture shock in Thailand, and it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that it would help me when I encountered American culture for the first time in 3 months.
Priorities, values, traditions, and ways of doing things are going to be different from your host country and will seem strange. When adjusting to a new culture, whether it’s a foreign culture or the culture you’ve grown up in, it’s important to remember that just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Try not to compare everything to the country you were just in and assign negative values to your home country’s culture. Keep in mind that at one point, everything about your home culture seemed normal, and even “right”, and that feeling of normalcy will start to come back eventually.
My first ever authentic Chicago dog! Just an example of how many new things I can experience in my home country.
Keep developing your curious mind, and never stop learning.
Even though you are going back to the culture that you grew up in, you don’t know everything about it, and there are always going to be new things to learn and experience.
To keep yourself from feeling like you’re in a rut, be open to trying new things and immerse yourself in the local culture, just as you did when you arrived in the new country.
Use your puak!
In Thailand, the network of people you can rely on is called your puak, and after 3 months, your puak will (hopefully) be pretty big.
Just like every other difficult transition in life, it’s better with support than going it alone. You will meet people abroad that will have to return to their home country as well, so talk to those people about what you’re going through and ask about what they are doing to get through reverse culture shock. It’s nice to know that you aren’t alone, and by talking to people you met while abroad, you’ll keep the memories you made there alive!
A few of the fantastic people that make up my puak.
Above all else, keep a smile on your face.
If there’s one thing I learned during my time in the Land of Smiles, it’s how to keep a positive attitude and keep a smile on despite negative circumstances. Try not to let the stress of reverse culture shock overwhelm you and ruin your positive outlook on things. There’s a cliche saying about having to fake it till you make it, and it actually works in this case.
Even if you aren’t happy or feeling positive, smile through it anyway. At first, it’ll feel ridiculous, and sure people may look at you like you’re crazy because you have a smile plastered on your face at 6 in the morning in the midst of the mayhem that is airport security. But that smile will center you and bring your energy up, that fake feeling will go away, and the smile will start to feel genuine. Then before you know it, you’ll have other people smiling back at you, and you’ll have brought a little piece of Thai culture home.
One of the best ways to honor the country and the culture you just spent 3 months living in is to take a piece of it with you home and integrate it into your everyday life. Educate those around you about your experience and the things you learned. You don’t need to fall into the trap of completely abandoning everything about the other culture you experienced. So when you find yourself worrying about having to go back home after being abroad, stop, take a deep breath, put a smile on your face, and know that everything is going to be just fine.
Hey y’all! My name is Amanda Voyles, and I am currently completing a marketing internship in beautiful Khao Tao Thailand! I am a first time traveler, and thanks to Greenheart’s First Time Traveler Scholarship, I get to live out my dreams of traveling the world, all while getting real work experience. Whether you have already booked your trip or are considering taking the leap, if you are a first-time traveler, this post is for you!
When you are planning on traveling abroad, one phrase you will hear a lot is “culture shock.” No matter how seasoned the traveler, everyone goes through some degree of culture shock when traveling for long periods of time. For first time traveler’s though, the effects of culture shock can be stronger, and the “typical timeline” is usually different than for those who have traveled before. While it may take someone else a few weeks to start experiencing culture shock, a first time traveler might go through a few different stages of shock all within the span of a week.
To me, the phases of culture shock kind of felt like the phases of dating, and experiencing a new culture felt similar to starting a new relationship. First, there’s the honeymoon phase, where everything is new, exciting, and wonderful. You want to be with this culture forever, nothing could ever go wrong, and you never want to go back home. The food is amazing, everyone is always smiling, and things move at a slower and more leisurely pace.
As we all know, the honeymoon phase doesn’t last forever, and the stage that quickly follows it is frustration. Everything that you used to love is now the source of your anger and sadness. You can’t find the food you want on the menu because it’s all in another language, you feel like you are always running late, and no one ever seems to express how they are really feeling. The smallest thing could trigger you, and all you want to do is go home to where not being able to find your sunglasses doesn’t ruin your entire day.
Luckily this stage doesn’t last forever either, and things start looking up in the adjustment phase. You start to feel more familiar with your surroundings, and you begin to establish friends and feel part of a community. You start getting used to the things that made you frustrated or uncomfortable and learn new ways to cope with your emotions.
The final phase is acceptance, where you feel like you can thrive and survive. This phase doesn’t mean that you completely understand and love everything about the culture, but you stop questioning or trying to change things, and you have the necessary resources to face challenges.
This can be a confusing and highly emotional process, so to help you cope, I compiled a list of tips, tricks, and mantras to help you through!
This was taken my first day in Bangkok as I roamed the streets in search of food. I quickly realized that most things were written in Thai, and little shops and markets lined the streets everywhere. This used to overwhelm me, but now I love it!
Tip #1: Repeat this phrase over and over. “Just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
This is something that a fellow intern told me my first day at Rescue P.A.W.S., the amazing nonprofit I work for. You are going to experience and see a lot of things that are very different from your culture. My best advice is to embrace it; purposefully put yourself in situations where you experience the things that are frustrating you. The easiest way to get trapped in the frustration stage of culture shock is to pass judgment and assign right or wrong values to things that are different. If you repeat this phrase enough, not only will you believe it, but you will start celebrating the differences instead of dreading them.
Tip #2: Your support system is there for a reason. Use it!
If you are anything like me, you are stubborn to accept help from people, even when you really need it. You don’t want to feel like a burden or as though you’re complaining about things, and you think you can handle everything on your own.
Take it from someone who has been there, culture shock is not something you can get through alone. If I didn’t have my support system to vent to and get advice from, I would have booked the next flight home. Your coworkers, friends, and other people you meet during this experience have all gone through or are going through culture shock as well. They will be your sounding board, your voice of reason, and the people who will help you get through the tough phases of culture shock. Developing friendships and getting out in the community is the main way you get out of the frustration stage and into the adjustment period.
Tip #3: Give yourself a break!
You decided to leave everything you know behind and embark on an incredible adventure. You are challenging yourself in a way that most people never dare to. Don’t expect to be perfect the entire time you are traveling.
Try not to set impossible expectations for yourself; you are allowed to have days where you contemplate why you travelled in the first place and want to go home. Travelling to another country, especially one with a completely different culture, is a huge undertaking and requires a lot of courage. Remember to be kind to yourself. The only way you will grow and learn from this experience is if you allow yourself to.
A few of my friends and I at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. A great way to get through culture shock is to experience the history and culture with friends!
Tip #4: Don’t compare yourself to others. Just don’t.
All too often we find ourselves comparing every aspect of our lives to others. Whether you’re comparing yourself to someone you follow on social media, or someone you know in real life, this practice is dangerous. I’m guilty of it too. During this experience, I compared how I was handling culture shock to how others were. I asked myself things like “why can’t you be as positive as this person?” or “that person has gone through more than you and they aren’t struggling, so why are you?”
I started to think of myself as a lesser person because I wasn’t handling things as well as other people, but instead of motivating me to do better, it only made me bitter and want to give up. I only started making progress when I accepted my feelings as normal and focused on how I could make myself better than I already was, and not better than anyone else. This experience made me realize that comparison to others is the enemy of growth.
The most important tip I can give you as a first time traveler is to continue to challenge yourself while traveling. We all need days to relax in bed and watch Netflix, but don’t let this become a normal day for you. You didn’t come all this way to give up now, so don’t let culture shock get the best of you.
Hi! My name is Madison and I am a part of the teen summer language camp to Fukuoka, Japan. I am 17 years old and staying in Japan for two weeks. My experience here, so far, has been truly amazing and I have seen some amazing things.
When I first arrived on Sunday I was quite worried for Monday because it was my first day of school. I had to take the subway to get there and the thought of traveling alone terrified me. Taking a subway period was new to me, taking a subway in Japan was super scary, by myself … I was facing a challenge. My host family showed me the way on Sunday and tried to make sure I was comfortable. When I was still nervous on Monday, they escorted me. I paid attention and, now, I’m definitely a pro at taking the subway.
Waiting for the subway
Once I had mastered that impressive hurdle. It was time to face school. I was going to be the new kid, but I also realized there would be a bunch of other new kids. When I first walked in, I was extremely nervous. I didn’t know what to expect and my imagination had gone rather wild with its own ideas. I watched what the others did and took my shoes off, revealing bright pink socks and sat down at a small table. Some of the other kids were already in groups, so I worried a bit that I wouldn’t fit in or find a friend, but … that’s when someone sat next to me. And then another, and viola! We started talking and I had my first friends.
I am very shy naturally and felt pretty awkward at the beginning, but rather soon I found it easier and easier to introduce myself. Everyone else was just as nervous and the feeling didn’t last long. All I had to do was say hi. Before any of us knew it, it was time for class to begin.
My very first class was a bit crazy. I am still considered a beginner in Japanese, so it was a bit startling when I walked in and discovered there was no English in the classrooms. My teacher who spoke Japanese quite quickly did speak a bit faster than my brain could process. At first, I considered moving down a level, but then thought, “No. I am here for a challenge. I’ve got this.” I’m glad I did. It didn’t take long before things started clicking. My brain rewired and the teacher began making sense. My classmates are amazing and my teachers are absolutely wonderful. All of them are very patient with us and understanding when we don’t know something. They are happy to help us work through our challenges together. We do have homework every day but my host family helps me with it and makes it fun.
Walking to school on Monday
The subway is fun, my host family is spectacular, and my phone memory is running low from all the pictures. I look forward to classes every day and enjoy meeting with my new friends from all over the world. If you’re undecided about traveling to Fukuoka, Japan, I encourage you to take that big step. This is truly amazing!
It’s a beautiful summer evening in the small city of Tarbes, France, where I’ve been living with my host family for the past two weeks. I’m a music teacher from Washington, D.C, and decided to use my summer to stay with a family for a month and teach them English. Despite the late hour, there’s still a good deal of sun left as enjoy our apperitif outside. Good friends come in through the gate, and we exchange kisses and greetings before gathering at the table. Though I’ve only lived here a short while, I’m more comfortable with the way of life and customs that are different from back home.
Before arriving, we search for the best flight deals, brush up on some key phrases on Duolingo, and maybe pack a suitcase with enough room for some delicacies. But what is everyday life in France REALLY like? Here are a couple of things to expect during your stay in this beautiful country!
What I was worried about the most before coming to France was how to greet people. The number of kisses usually depends on where you are in the country – my region did one on each cheek. It went something like this: say “Bonjour”, kiss one cheek, say your name, kiss the other, and ask “ça va?” or, “How’s it going?”. My host family would do this at the beginning of the day upon waking up, and again in the evening returning home. It’s impolite not to greet someone you don’t know, no matter what the social setting. Don’t forget to say goodbye when you leave, too.
To me, the biggest difference between France and America is the speed of everyday life. Stores open late in the morning, close usually about 2 hours for lunch, and close in the early evening, between 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Plan your shopping for the day accordingly! Meals are eaten much later, too. At my homestay, the earliest we ate was around 8:30 pm, some meals going until 11:00! The relaxed atmosphere of meals in France made them some of my favorite parts of the day.
Enjoying an apéritif with my host parents and some new friends!
Meals in France are an experience to be savored; they go with the French pace of life! Lunch and dinner might start off with a beverage (flavored syrup mixed with water, juice, or an adult beverage). Look around in the middle of the day and you’ll see most people carrying a baguette for lunch (the only sandwiches worth getting are those on baguettes).
If eating out or dining at home, you’ll usually start with an apéritif. At my homestay, this looked like selections of meat paired with chips or crackers on a charcuterie board, anywhere between 20-60 minutes before the main meal. Afterward, the French love their desserts with a coffee or tea. Besides the delicious food, something else I liked about meals with my host family was that every family member was present. I looked forward to that daily time together.
On the whole, everyone I met or interacted with in many parts of France were friendly and helpful. While maybe having a more serious demeanor, the French are accepting of and eager to help travelers. Most schools teach English for a small part of the week, so many people I met could say a few things to me in English. Many clothing lines, songs, TV shows, and movies from the US are popular in France, so will always be something to talk about.
The people of Tarbes gather at City Hall for it’s Bastille Day celebration
I was surprised to find that, in comparison, Americans are very animated people who tend to exaggerate in conversation. Once at lunch, I explained to my host mom that while I wasn’t in a romantic relationship with it, it made sense in English that I “loved” my salad.
I’m grateful to Greenheart Travel and my homestay family for this incredible experience. I know that when I will return to France, it will feel like coming home. Soak up all you can and enjoy yourself on this amazing journey. Bon voyage!
Travelling to Thailand was the first time I had ever travelled on my own, and I was nervous. I was travelling to a new country with a completely different culture, where I wouldn’t know anyone at all. I was separating myself from my friends, my mom, my boyfriend – my entire support system. I made the decision to travel to Thailand quite impulsively, and the reality of how alone I would be quickly started to weigh on me as my departure date neared. I felt like I was back in primary school: what if I don’t make any friends?
Within one hour of landing, I realized that I had been worried for nothing. Immediately upon arriving at my Bangkok hotel and meeting another participant, I made my first friend. Within minutes, I had a new friend group to spend the day with, lounging by the pool and wandering around the famous Chatuchak market. You will not be the only person traveling alone, or the only worried about being lonely. Everyone is nervous, and everyone around you is eagerly looking to forge new relationships in such unknown territory.
Some of the participants I arrived with with the owners of the family restaurant we ate at almost every night.
Later that day, I was grouped with a large number of foreigners who had come to Thailand to teach English. We were a group of around 40 participants and only three of us were there for the internship program, so, naturally, those there for the internship became particularly close. I feel lucky to be able to say that the other interns I arrived with, or that I met during my time at Rescue P.A.W.S., have become lifelong friends.
We honestly became like a little family.
I arrived at Rescue P.A.W.S. and was immediately welcomed with excitement. There is a constant influx of new volunteers at RP, so you are always meeting new people. This can be bittersweet as it means that you form many connections with others who soon depart for their next destination – but this also means that you will probably have new friends all over the globe and that you can plan your next trips to go visit them!
Walking through Hua Hin with Aimée.
If you are ready to immerse yourself into Thai culture, it is hard to be lonely. Nearly everyone around you is willing to be your friend. You will be invited to strangers’ birthday parties, you will be asked to sit down for guitar singalongs at the local family restaurant, or you will be asked to come to dinner by someone you met only a few minutes earlier because that is how Thailand works. It is not an individualist society like most of us are used to – it is a community more than I’ve ever seen one. I am grateful to have been welcomed into such a loving world, and it is a world that I will strive to bring back with me upon returning home.
How can you be lonely with pups like this in your arms?
Around one year ago, I impulsively decided to sign up for Greenheart’s Marketing Internship in Thailand. Now, my departure date is two weeks away and it feels pretty unreal. While all my friends are getting ready for exam period, I’m going to be missing the last couple of weeks of school and hopping on a plane to Thailand to live there for three months and intern at a dog rescue!
I knew why I wanted to travel before I knew where I wanted to travel.
Last year, a few weeks after a pretty terrible breakup, I was brooding on my couch when I decided I needed some hardcore animal therapy, and I decided that it needed to be far, far away. I picked up my laptop and began searching for animal-related volunteering or work opportunities around the world. Within 24 hours, I had found and applied for the internship at Rescue Paws, and after a couple of interviews, I learned that I had been accepted! My family thought I was losing my mind, and quite a few of my friends didn’t understand why I would want to put my graduation off by a semester to go work on the other side of the world in a field completely unrelated to my studies (I’m a photography major).
During a photoshoot for a school assignment.From my final project this semester!
I picked up a second job in the summer, and in the fall I became a part-time student in order to be able to work enough to fund my trip, including the travels around Asia I’m planning to do after the internship. I also applied for Greenheart’s First Time Traveler Scholarship and was awarded $1000 towards my program, which was a massive help.
Part of my application for the First Time Traveler Scholarship – a photo essay about my city!
To be honest, the closer the trip got, the more I started to wonder if I had been a little too rash in deciding to put my life on hold to go work in Thailand.
I worried because I felt like a completely different person than the person I was when I booked the trip. The people around me were all graduating and seemingly getting their futures in order, and I was putting off my studies to go hang out with dogs on the other side of the world. I spoke about it with a friend, and she said to me: “You’re not putting your life on hold – this is your life!” She was right, and I stopped doubting my decision. I think this kind of experience can only enrich your life, and I honestly don’t mind graduating late to do it. I’m also pretty psyched to be missing the -35° Canadian winters and to be getting some of the best photography locations in the world. Now I’m counting down the days, and I’m beyond excited to go!
What I get to skip this year – it’s beautiful, but I’m looking forward to not freezing my butt off every time I leave my house!
I’ve never really traveled before, but I’ve always dreamed of being the kind of traveler who could completely immerse myself in different cultures rather than just pass through them. It’s why I decided to live and work in Thailand instead of just visiting for a couple of weeks. I’m going to be working 9:00-5:00 every weekday, and exploring the country on my days off. After my internship, I’m hoping to travel to Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Japan.
As I write this, I’ve only got a couple days to go. See you soon, Thailand!
