Culture Shock

Chapter 3

CULTURE SHOCK

by Bob Weinstein

from The Boston Globe

Saying Tamara Blackmore experienced culture shock when she arrived here last September is an understatement. It was more like culture trauma for this adventurous student who left Melbourne’s Monash University to spend her junior year at Boston College (BC).

Blackmore, 20, was joined at BC by 50 other exchange students from around the world. Like the thousands of exchange students who enroll in American colleges each year, Blackmore discovered

firsthand there is a sea of difference between reading about and experiencing America firsthand. She felt the difference as soon as she stepped off the plane.

As soon as she landed in Boston, Blackmore could feel the tension in the air. She was about to taste a lifestyle far more hectic than the one she left. “Driving in Boston is crazy,” says Blackmore. ‘‘It took me a while to get used to the roads and the driving style here. I was always afraid someone was going to hit me. It was particularly tricky since the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. In Australia, it’s on the right side.” Beyond the cars and traffic jams, Blackmore said it took a while to get used to so many people in one place, all of whom seemed like they were moving at warp speed.5 “There are only 18 million people in Australia spread out over an entire country,” she says, “compared to more than six million people in the state of Massachusetts alone. We don’t have the kind of congestion you have in Boston. There is a whole different perception of space.” The pressing problem for Blackmore was making a quick adjustment to the American lifestyle that felt like it was run by a stopwatch. For this easygoing Australian, Americans seemed like perpetual—motion machines.5 “Americans are very time-oriented,” Blackmore says.

“Everything is done according to a schedule. They’re always busy, which made me feel guilty about wanting to just sit around and occasionally watch television. Australians, on the other hand, value their leisure time. The pace there is a lot slower because we don’t feel the need to always be busy. It’s not that Australians are lazy, it’s just that they have a different concept of how time should be spent. Back home, I used to spend a lot more time just talking to my friends.”

It didn’t take long for Blackmore to adjust to American rhythms.7 “I felt the pressure to work harder and do more because everyone was running around doing so much,” she says. When BC students weren’t huddled over books, Blackmore found it odd that they were

compulsively jogging, running, biking, or doing aerobics in order to be thin. “Compared to home, the girls here are very skinny,” she says.

“Before I got here, I heard a lot of stories about the pressure to be thin and that many young American women have eating disorders.

I’ll go out with a friend and just tuck into a good meal 8 and have a good time, whereas an American girl would just pick at her food.9” When it comes to drinking, Blackmore says Australians have a lot more freedom. “We’re more casual about drinking at home,” she says, “whereas there are many rules and regulations attached to when and where you can drink in the United States,” not to mention a legal drinking age of 21 compared with Australia’s legal drinking age of 18.

But it’s BC’s laid-back“) and friendly learning environment that sets it apart from her Melbourne college experience. “Generally speaking, learning facilities are a lot better in Boston,” she says. “In Australia, students and teachers have little contact outside the classroom. It’s a formal and depersonalized relationship. College is a place you go for a few hours every day and then go home. Your social life and school life are separate.”

It’s just the opposite at BC, according to Blackmore. “BC students and faculty are like one big happy family,” she says. “There is a real sense of team spirit. It’s like we’re all in this together. Going to school here is a lifestyle, whereas at home were just a number. We attend school to get a degree so we can graduate, get a job, and get on with our lives.

Another pleasant shocker Was the close and open relationships American students enjoy with their teachers. Its a sharp contrast to Australia, where college students keep a discreet but respectful distance from their teachers. “I Was surprised When I learned students go out to dinner with their lecturers,” she says. “We just don’t do that back home. Professors deal with hundreds of students and you’re lucky if they remember your name.”

When Blackmore returns to Australia at the end of the school year, she’ll have plenty of memories, most of them good ones. BC, like most American colleges, has gone out of its Way to create a memorable experience for Blackmore and its other exchange students.