Take Me Back

     Now that the term is nearing the end, I feel that it is important for me to return to the questions I wanted to ask myself at the beginning of term. I wondered how people, like myself cope with culture shock. Before heading out here to London, we were all prepped by an advisor about the four stages of culture shock: Honeymoon phase, Hostility, Humor, and Home. Everyone’s experience with culture shock is different some people get it really bad while other’s barely feel affected. I may be one of those who are barely affected. I think that surrounding myself with other people helped me cope with whatever culture shock I had encountered (I don’t really remember). Perhaps London, is just too similar to the US that it wasn’t as big as a shock to me as it would have been for someone studying abroad in Japan. From my time here the only thing that made me feel remotely stunned was the food. It contributes greatly to culture shock, realizing everything that you were comfortable with digesting has disappeared and now you have to let something abnormal to you sit within your stomach. The constant comparing that was done while we were eating and trying different things just refers to our need of comfort. Along the way we were constantly comparing things to something else only because we are exposed to similar situations back home.

     Living in Hawai’i is so simple compared to living in London. The only thing to adjust to is the pace. Hawai’i has what they like to call “Hawaiian Time” meaning we get there when we get there, we do things when we do things. There is no need to rush. Living in a giant city, I constantly felt like I was forced to move in fast-paced manners, however, I no longer care. Everyone has their own pace, mine is just a lot slower than here. Just as Hawai’i’s food culture is heavily influenced by the multitude of different ethnicities that make up the communities, London’s food culture has dishes from all over the world. The only place that London needs on their food map is a Hawaiian place.

Title of the post was taken from this song:

Work Cited

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Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. New York: Puffin Books, 1998. Digital File.

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist or the Parish Boy’s Progress. Tustin: Xist, 2014. Kindle.

“Ehukai… “Moloka’i Slide””  YouTube. YouTube. n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

Ephron, Nora. Heartburn. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1996. Kindle.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Arthur A. Levine, 1999.     Print.

Wallace, Sam. “The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, 1594, 1597.” The Good   Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, 1594, 1597. N.p. n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2015