Culture shock?
Well, I think the honeymoon phase is starting to wear off. I don't know how many of you know about culture shock, but it usually goes something like this:
honeymoon phase: where everything is wonderful and all the little differences are seen as 'quaint', you can't get enough of the culture and you just want to get out there and see everything there is to see.
deterioration: Suddenly the quaint little differences aren't so fun anymore. Things start to irritate you and you find yourself getting angry over the little things or for no reason at all. Homesickness sets in. Some people get really depressed or want to go home.
Adjustment: Eventually you get past the deterioration phase and start to integrate yourself with the culture and feel happy and adjusted again.
Reverse culture shock: When you get home you sometimes go through culture shock in reverse as you adapt back to life at home.
So, while I don't think it's necessarilyculture shock for me, I think the newness is wearing off. I'm sort of realized that this isn't going to be 5 months of nothing but fun and the best times ever. Don't get me wrong, it will still be mostly that, but there's going to be a lot of hard work and probably some difficult times mixed in. Also, I'm starting to feel the reality that everyone from home is really far away and it's strange to read away messages and see everyone's life going on with you missing. Sort of surreal I guess. So yeah, not really upset that I'min Australia, because I mean, come on, I'm in AUSTRALIA, but the reality is slowly sinking in. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'm going to try and meet up with the Australearn kids this week oncampus and catch up... I think that will help to see some familiar faces and hear some familiar accents. :-) I'll keep everyone posted.
Yesterday was good though. I was definitely feeling out of it, just very disconnected, not necessarily upset... Lauren went to a friend's wedding and I just messed around at home. Then her parents and I went out to the Telstra tower. It's really cool, it actually stands just above the ANU so it's always been the landmark I've looked for in Canberra to get my bearings. It stands about 195 meters above Canberra, for a total of about 900 meters above sea level (Canberra's already really high above sea level). It's one of the main communication towers in Canberra, but also has two viewing galleries and a revolving restaurant. Kayelene, Lauren's mom, is afraid of heights so she stayed on the ground floor, while Lance, Lauren's dad, and I went to up the enclosed viewing gallery. I wasn't sure how I'd do with this because ever since a visit to Chichen Itza plus the stupid 'Eiffel tower' at Kings Dominion I haven't done so well with heights either. But it was so cool! You can see 360 degrees of the city and there's barely any pollution here so you can see for miles and miles! Then I felt brave so we went up to the open gallery, which was freeeeezing and the wind was blowing so fiercely. But I was able to walk right to the edge and really get a good look at the city. You can't really appreciate the beauty of Canberra unless you've seen it, but its gorgeous, even at night.
After the tower we went back down Black Mountain and drove around Lake Burley Griffin to look at the Conservation Point Centre and the High Court and Carillion all by night. There's an American monument type thing (I can't remember what its purpose is) around the lake that the Aussies call "Chook on a stick" because its an eagle sitting on a pole. Hahaha, gotta love Aussie humour ;-)
After this we went to Goodberry's for ice cream. They have something called 'concretes' which are like Blizzardsfrom Dairy Queen except much better and you can pickand choose your toppings! Yum... best news of all- we have a couple of these in the states. I think they're in Chapel Hill, N.C.,but they're quite good!
I've been trying to get some travel plans together for the rest of the time. So far we're looking at Hobart (Tasmania), Adelaide (for her brother's wedding), Sydney for Easter Weekend, Melbourne and possibly the Gold Coast (in Queensland). It's so difficult to try and organize everything, but we really need to get a jump on it to take advantage of good flight prices.
Okay, well I think that's everything I have to report. Hope to hear from some of you soon!
Lo
BTW~ I think all the pictures from the orientation and 80% of the Fadden pics are now online. My camera batteries died so I have to go get new ones before more will be up ;-)
honeymoon phase: where everything is wonderful and all the little differences are seen as 'quaint', you can't get enough of the culture and you just want to get out there and see everything there is to see.
deterioration: Suddenly the quaint little differences aren't so fun anymore. Things start to irritate you and you find yourself getting angry over the little things or for no reason at all. Homesickness sets in. Some people get really depressed or want to go home.
Adjustment: Eventually you get past the deterioration phase and start to integrate yourself with the culture and feel happy and adjusted again.
Reverse culture shock: When you get home you sometimes go through culture shock in reverse as you adapt back to life at home.
So, while I don't think it's necessarilyculture shock for me, I think the newness is wearing off. I'm sort of realized that this isn't going to be 5 months of nothing but fun and the best times ever. Don't get me wrong, it will still be mostly that, but there's going to be a lot of hard work and probably some difficult times mixed in. Also, I'm starting to feel the reality that everyone from home is really far away and it's strange to read away messages and see everyone's life going on with you missing. Sort of surreal I guess. So yeah, not really upset that I'min Australia, because I mean, come on, I'm in AUSTRALIA, but the reality is slowly sinking in. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'm going to try and meet up with the Australearn kids this week oncampus and catch up... I think that will help to see some familiar faces and hear some familiar accents. :-) I'll keep everyone posted.
Yesterday was good though. I was definitely feeling out of it, just very disconnected, not necessarily upset... Lauren went to a friend's wedding and I just messed around at home. Then her parents and I went out to the Telstra tower. It's really cool, it actually stands just above the ANU so it's always been the landmark I've looked for in Canberra to get my bearings. It stands about 195 meters above Canberra, for a total of about 900 meters above sea level (Canberra's already really high above sea level). It's one of the main communication towers in Canberra, but also has two viewing galleries and a revolving restaurant. Kayelene, Lauren's mom, is afraid of heights so she stayed on the ground floor, while Lance, Lauren's dad, and I went to up the enclosed viewing gallery. I wasn't sure how I'd do with this because ever since a visit to Chichen Itza plus the stupid 'Eiffel tower' at Kings Dominion I haven't done so well with heights either. But it was so cool! You can see 360 degrees of the city and there's barely any pollution here so you can see for miles and miles! Then I felt brave so we went up to the open gallery, which was freeeeezing and the wind was blowing so fiercely. But I was able to walk right to the edge and really get a good look at the city. You can't really appreciate the beauty of Canberra unless you've seen it, but its gorgeous, even at night.
After the tower we went back down Black Mountain and drove around Lake Burley Griffin to look at the Conservation Point Centre and the High Court and Carillion all by night. There's an American monument type thing (I can't remember what its purpose is) around the lake that the Aussies call "Chook on a stick" because its an eagle sitting on a pole. Hahaha, gotta love Aussie humour ;-)
After this we went to Goodberry's for ice cream. They have something called 'concretes' which are like Blizzardsfrom Dairy Queen except much better and you can pickand choose your toppings! Yum... best news of all- we have a couple of these in the states. I think they're in Chapel Hill, N.C.,but they're quite good!
I've been trying to get some travel plans together for the rest of the time. So far we're looking at Hobart (Tasmania), Adelaide (for her brother's wedding), Sydney for Easter Weekend, Melbourne and possibly the Gold Coast (in Queensland). It's so difficult to try and organize everything, but we really need to get a jump on it to take advantage of good flight prices.
Okay, well I think that's everything I have to report. Hope to hear from some of you soon!
Lo
BTW~ I think all the pictures from the orientation and 80% of the Fadden pics are now online. My camera batteries died so I have to go get new ones before more will be up ;-)
posted by Lauren @ 2/27/2005 05:13:00 PM
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