The Technobedouin Manual: Culture shock

Culture shock creeps up from behind and hits you with a bat at the back of your knees. It will inevitably happen, sooner or later, in any new place. It will give you intense emotions, from euphoria to the deepest wrath.

However, the most difficult culture shock awaits you in your old homeland or country of ethnic origin. My friend Vikram, a New Yorker with an Indian ethnic background, a hedge fund manager, writes in his own blog that his euphoria was transformed into frustration and anger, at least temporarily. I can share his experience. From time to time, on my trips to Finland, I?m happy as Larry and sometimes I curse the whole country to hell. You will cope best when you prepare yourself for the impending change and accept that the culture shock is coming, just like Vikram has learnt the hard way.

The clash is mostly caused by the different ideological worlds between you and your peers. As an example, I can mention the non-service you receive from some Finnish so-called customer service companies. Your own persona poses another challenge. Gringos and farangs always stand out abroad, they are always a bit strange and don?t fit in, so when you come back home it?s actually quite liberating when there are absolutely no expectations directed at you. Finns in Finland behave in a certain way. In Finland, happiness is received from the pure and beautiful nature, and silence, and the lack of negative stimuli to the senses. These are marketing opportunities Finland should be able to sell better: ?Welcome to Finland to relax?.

Published at 20:18

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