• Our cultures influence most elements of our lives.homeless native australian image by Xavier MARCHANT from Fotolia.com
  
  Culture is one of the most important elements of what makes us human. Our culture is our beliefs, values, ideals. It affects how we live our everyday lives. When we enter another culture, there is a period of shock followed by a process of adaptation to the new culture.
  
  

Initial Contact

• Some refer to the period of initial contact as the honeymoon phase or period of euphoria. The individual entering the new culture "falls in love" with the unfamiliar culture---the food, customs, ideals, points of view and new sites. Everything is new, exciting and wonderful. The individual is likely to overlook concerns or stressful elements, seeing only the positive of their new environment.
  
  

Culture Shock

• The culture shock period, also known as the crisis period, comes into play when the individual experiencing the new culture begins to be disappointed with the new culture. He feels surrounded by the new and now strange cultural practices and begins to miss the familiar and comforting elements of his home culture. To protect himself, he may begin to make insensitive comments or jokes about the new culture. This phase may last for a few weeks or months.
  
  

Anomie

• The anomie phase occurs when the individual begins the process of acknowledging and accepting the differences of her home culture and the new culture. She begins to truly appreciate the new culture. Any negative feelings or impressions she had about the new culture will often evolve into positive feelings and attitudes.
  
  

Adaptation

• If the individual stays in a new culture long enough, he will progress to the adaptation phase, where he will learn to fully appreciate and enjoy the new culture, learning to efficiently navigate it. He may begin to feel at home in his new environment. Some individuals may acculturate or assimilate.
  
  Most individuals will acculturate, finding increased value in the new culture while appreciating their home culture. They may even begin to identify with both cultures. Some individuals may, instead, assimilate. When individuals go through the assimilation process, they adopt the new culture as their own, replacing their old cultural beliefs, attitudes and behaviors with the new culture's beliefs, attitudes and behaviors.