C U T TURE SHOCI(

by Bob Weinstein
from T'lteBoston Globe

Saying Tamara Blackmore experienced culture shock when she

arrived here last September is an understatement. It was more like
culture traumal 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
firsthand2 there is a sea of difference3 between reading about and
experiencing America firsthand. She felt the difference as soon as she
10 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 lifestylea 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
15 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.s
20 "There are only 18 million people in stralia spread out over arr
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 Blaclanore 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.G "Americans are very time-oriented," Blaclcnore says.

I culture trauma extreme form of "culture shock"

2 discovered firsthand learned by directly seeing or
experiencing
3 sea of difference very big difference
a taste a lifestyle experience away of life
5 moving at warp speed traveling very very quickly
6 perpetual-motion machines machines that never stop moving

2 6 Chapter 3 . Culture Shock

 "Everything is done according to a schedule. They're always busy,
which made me feel guilff 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."
.tD It didn't take long for Blackmore to adjust to American rhythms.T "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 s and have a
good time, whereas an American girl would just pick at her food.e"
45 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-backl0 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
55 classroom. It's a formal and depersonalized relationship. CoIIege is a
place you go for a few hours every day and then go home' Your social
life and school Iife 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 we're just a number. We attend
school to get a degree so we can graduate, get a job, and get on with
our lives.ll"

7 a{iust to American rhythms get used to American lifestyles

8 tuck into a good meal enjoy a meal (Australian expression)
e pick at her food eat only a small amount of food on her plate
lo laid-back relaxed
119"t on with our lives move ahead in our lives

, 2 7
 Another pleasant shockerl2 was the close and open relationships
65 American students enjoy with their teachers. It's 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.

Bob Weinstein is a New York journalist who writes Tech Watclz,a

weekly syndicated column. He wrote this article for The Boston
Globe, a major daily newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, in the
United States.

Understan the xt

A. Multiple choice. For each item below, circlethe two answersthat

best completeeach statement.
l. The purpose of the reading is to
a. demonstrate that Americans study hard and exercise a lot
b. show one student's thoughts on cultural differences between
Australia and the United States
c. point out some ways in which foreigners experience culture
shock in the United States
d. argue that everyone should spend a year as a foreign exchange
student

12shoeker surprise

28 Chapter 3 . Culture Shock