CULTURAL SHOCK : MY FEELING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CANADA AND FRANCE

I arrived in Canada in August 2022 for four months. I was very happy to come back to Canada, but I felt a culture shock that I didn't expect to have...

This is my experience of differences between Canada and France.

TO BEGIN, WHAT IS CULTURAL SHOCK ?

Defined in 1960 by anthropologist Kalervo OBERG, culture shock is defined as "an experience of stress and disorientation experienced by the person having to learn to live in a new culture."

Culture shock occurs when an individual leaves his or her familiar cocoon and enters the unknown. Thus, people experience disorientation and stress.

It causes the individual to feel anxious that he/she will lose all the familiar signs and symbols of the social relationships he or she knows. It takes place in four main stages (Gullahorn and Gullahorn's theory (1963)): 

• Honeymoon (a period of curiosity and interest in a new country)
  
• Confrontation (the person experiences a cultural disconnection as a sense of lack or of loss) 
  
• Adjustment (the individual moves away from self or adapts, accepts, or rejects his or her new way of life) 
  
• Bicultural fluency (acceptance of social and cultural differences)
  

MY EXEPERIENCE

When I arrived in Canada in August 2022, I did not expect to feel this shock because I had already lived in Canada for a month for a language travel in 2019 in Toronto. For me, the country and its culture were already familiar. 

Less than three weeks after my arrival in Ottawa, I felt this confrontation. All my references were gone. I felt a certain lack, especially psychologically, in my way of life and a big difference, regarding the food here and my way of life. I felt a certain emptiness and a certain nostalgia for my life in France.

Here are the 5 things I felt in Canada that are different from France :

• The food : Everything is in large quantities, a lot of sugary products and I don't see many fruits or vegetables
  
• The way of life : Prices are tax free, you have to give a tip when you buy something, politeness, how to say "bonjour"
  
• Classes : I don't have a lot of classes during the week, there are a lot of papers to do every week, people can eat during the classes, students can arrive late, leave the class or not come: the teachers don't say anything
  
• Clothes : Here, students dress as they want, in tracksuits, caps, crocs... during classes! In France, you have to respect the teachers and dress formally
  
• The dinner : I was invited to eat with some Canadians for one evening and I was invited at 4pm. I didn't understand why but they explained to me that the meal was around 5/6pm, which is quite early for us French because we eat around 7:30/8pm
  

A lot of little things that add up and make you feel this shock.

After two months, I am adapting to the Canadian culture. I'm trying to keep some of my French culture roots thanks to a French friend of mine that I met here when I left and to adapt to the Canadian culture thanks to the people I met. I feel like my lifestyle has changed a lot.

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