An Analysis of Cultural Shocks

An analysis of cultural shocks"

Coming to America was one of my dreams, so I started

working on it and after completing collage, I received the

visa for the States and bought the ticket to come to

America. I was a little bit confused because I had been

hearing about America since my childhood. There is a huge

cultural difference between my society and the modern

society of the States, and because of these differences, my

friends and I faced some problems after coming here. These

problems are commonly called cultural shocks. By analyzing

the differences between America and my own country of

Pakistan, in the areas of gender roles, family, marriage

and celebrations, one can see how cultural shocks occur.

Since my birth, I have been living in a society where the

men and women are not all to interact with each other as

over here. It is one of the biggest differences in my

culture and the culture here. There are usually separate

classes for girls and boys in my society, but over here,

there is no concept of this. In addition, I know you will

surprise to earn that having a boyfriend for a girl or a

girlfriend for a boy is a difficult achievement.

In my society there is a joint family system, the children

live together with their parents whether they are under 18

or not. Over here, there is a concept of "individualism".

Every one has an individual life, making their own

decisions for every thing. Here, a person over 18 living

with his parents is considered an immature person. In my

culture, a person not living with his parents doesn't have

a respectable place in the society, because it is our

social and religious custom to take care of our parents.

Divorce is common here, but in my society it's not good to

even think about it. People are divorced, but not as

commonly as over here. For example, among every 100 married

people, perhaps just one is divorced, but over here out of

hundred, about fifty are divorced or separated. Also, some

couples live together without a legal marriage.

One day, I went to a wedding ceremony with my uncle .It was

one of his friends' weddings. I just sat there, wondering

when the people would sing songs and when the lunch would

start, but after kissing each other, my uncle's friend and

his wife went on a long drive in their car with a poster on

the