... in response to Welcome Christine!, posted by Febtember on Jan 10, 2002New arrivals can expect a variety of highs and lows as they adjust to their new environment. From observing various immigrants and visitors I've encountered, here are your basic phases of adjustment:
Phase 1: The Tourist
Everything is new, different, exciting. You look at it all with big eyes, sampling the different foods, delightfully getting dragged along to various tourist sites by the person you're living with who at this point is more of a host than anything else.
Phase 2: The Culture Shock
This starts several weeks after arrival. Everything really IS different. You may begin to realize your English is not as perfect as you thought back home, the way people do even simple chores is so different. You really feel like a fish out of water. Even your body begins to react negatively to the stress of the change.
Phase 3: Settling In
You are no longer a guest. You begin to shape your home to your tastes. You realize that even though your English is not perfect, everyone still understands you fine. Turning on the Closed Captioning on the TV helps you develop your American English conversation skills. You start making friends, find favorite shops and restaurants, a church, maybe a community of similar people. You start to realize you have many options: job part time, job full time, homemaker, school, etc. You develop a comfortable routine.
Phase 4: Homesickness
This can set in around 3 to 6 months after arrival. The differences and burden of having to learn an all new system for doing things and a whole new life begins to weigh heavy. Reality sets in. You begin to long for the familiar: familiar foods, familiar faces, familiar voices. You begin to seriously rack up a phone bill with international charges. The faults in your new life, new family, and new country become more noticeable, maybe even glaringly bright. The people are cold, the system impersonal, the TV loaded with 80 channels of crap, the food is crud, whatever. The disillusionment builds over the next few months.
This is make or break time. Do you endure the challenges for the sake of your future? Or do you break, declare America a land of sh!te-heads, and return home?
Phase 5: This Is My Home
It may take upwards of a year or two (or even more), but you begin to think of this place as Home. Despite some obvious faults, your new country does have its good points (number one hopefully being the person you came here to be with). It may take a trip back home to really notice the stark contrast, but you see your new home as a place where you can build a future. You become part of the system, working with it to build a better life, not just for yourself but also for your new friends and neighbors. You're not just an observer, but you are actually taking part in community activities. With time, you may even begin to think of yourself as American (or at least a hyphenated American). Afterall, America really is just a state of mind.
