Introduction from Grown-Up Sarah Mack, 11 Years Later
Hello all!
My name is Sarah Mack, and I am the director of the Seoul SPARKS program in Korea. I have been working in international education in Korea for many years now, and I actually came to Korea as a high school exchange student myself back in 2013 when I was fifteen years old! More than anything else, I love helping ambitious high school students study abroad in Korea and have amazing educational experiences here.
A lot of students have asked me how to deal with reverse culture shock after coming back from high school study abroad in Korea. Even now that I am an adult, I think this video actually has some decent points in it! So here is the video in its unfiltered glory, as well as a transcript below.
Enjoy!
From,
Grown-up Sarah Mack
Transcript: Reverse Culture Shock After High School Study Abroad in Korea
Hey there guys, it's me, Sarah from SarahsSeoulSearch, broadcasting to you from my bedroom in America.
So... yeah. My exchange is over, I got back about a week and a half ago. You know, it was really hard, but it's good to be back, for the most part. It's kind of weird.
So today, I'm going to be talking about reverse culture shock, which is something that I think future exchange students should be aware of, because going abroad really makes you aware of the differences between your host country and your home country, and those differences become really obvious when you actually come back to your home country.
THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES STARTED AT THE AIRPORT.
So on the way back, me and Carol were talking to our flight attendants and everyone sitting around us in Korean, because we just wanted to get every single last drop of Korean instruction that we possibly could. And our flight attendant really appreciated that, he thought it was cute.
So then we step off the plane and all of a sudden, we are in America, and it was so weird, because there were all these different faces around me, and no one was talking in Korean. It was really strange.
And for some reason, I kept feeling inclined to talk to Asian people in Korean, whether they were actually Korean or not. It was just kind of my natural response. Like, when I was at the baggage claim waiting for Carol, after we got off our flight, there was this, I guess he was Chinese, man, next to me, and I accidentally said something in Korean, and he was like, what?
And I just realized, look, I really am in America now, not every Asian is Korean, there are people from all over the world at this airport, and it was just very... I don't know. Because in Korea, you're not used to seeing a lot of foreigners around, and when you do, you're like, "hey!"
So yeah, it was kind of weird. Every time someone would answer their phone and say hello, I thought they would be talking to me, because in Korea, chances are, if you hear the word "hello" in English, even spoken from like 10 miles away, they're probably talking to you, because chances are, you're the only English speaking person in that 10 mile radius. So yeah, I kept thinking people were talking to me and swinging my head around like, "What? Were you talking to me? What?" It was really weird.
And the people at the airport... Oh my god, compared to Korea, they were so rude! Everyone in Korea at the airport really wants to help you. They're very courteous, and they speak to you very politely.
And me and Carol were trying to figure out where we were supposed to go after we got out of customs at SFO, this freaking lady came up to us... oh my gosh, it was so rude, I can't believe she even did this. She yelled at us, "Y'all are setting off the alarm, because you're standing still for too long, so y'all need to figure out where you're going."
And I said, "Well, she's getting on a plane..."
And she just interrupts me. That would never happen in Korea, never!
She's just like, "Well, she's supposed to go over there, you're supposed to go over there. Bye. Bye!"
Like, What?! This lady is literally almost pushing us in our respective directions. Me and Carol just spent probably the most life-changing year of our lives together, and I'm trying to figure out how to say goodbye to her, and this lady is just being a total... bad word. Oh my goodness, I was so upset.
Honestly, I had thought a lot about saying goodbye to my friends in Korea, but I hadn't thought about saying goodbye to Carol, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. And that lady certainly did not make things much better.
SEEING MY MOM AFFECTED ME DIFFERENTLY FROM WHAT I HAD THOUGHT
But anyway, so that happens, and I was trying to figure out where my mom was, because she was waiting for me in California.
And I finally saw her, it was so weird. I was looking at my mom, after not seeing her for almost 11 months. I was looking at my mom, and honestly, I was expecting her to cry, but then I started to cry when I met her, and it was really emotional.
I might post that video if you want me to.
So yeah, then after I met with my mom, after about 5 minutes, it almost felt like I hadn't left. It was kind of strange.
It was just like... "Yeah, you're my mom," and "Okay, I'm back," and it just felt like I had never left
It was really strange how quickly Korea became the past. I don't even know how to explain it.
JET LAG SET IN LATER THAN I THOUGHT
Surprisingly, at first, the time difference didn't really kick my butt as much as it probably should have. We actually went back 7 hours in time when we landed in California. Our flight left at 4.30pm, and then we landed on the same day at 9.30am in California, which was strange, because I hadn't really slept a whole lot on the plane. I slept in 30 minute intervals, so that was kind of okay.
I went sightseeing a little bit with my mom, and by the time the, by the time 9 o'clock rolled around, I was exhausted. I was so tired.
AMERICAN PORTION SIZES (AND PRICES) WERE A BIG SHOCK
But before we went back to our hotel for new sleep, we went to this Thai restaurant, and another aspect of culture shock that happened was the portion sizes were humongous. I couldn't even finish half of what I was supposed to eat, it was just too big.
I was like, what am I supposed to do with all this food, and everything was so expensive, and probably because of the enormous portion sizes, but still, like, in Korea you can probably get yourself a pretty decent meal at a halfway decent restaurant for like 5 to 6 dollars, but we were at this Thai restaurant, and I think my meal cost like 12 dollars.
And when we finally got back to my house after two more flights and a 3-hour delay in Texas. I wanted to scream, you probably saw my post on Instagram. I was ready to lose my mind, it was jet lag, and just general disillusionment with the whole American experience was not settling very well with me.
MY ROOM FELT HUGE AFTER A YEAR IN KOREA
But, I got back to my house, and it was just so weird, because I actually only lived in this house for about 2 weeks before I left, and my room got changed while I was abroad, so I got to see my room for the first time. So, you guys are seeing it basically 10 days after I got to see it for the first time, so congratulations.
But yeah, everything seemed really big, I was used to living in an apartment for my entire exchange, and all of a sudden I'm in this huge house.
I COULDN'T USE THE TIME DIFFERENCE AS AN EXCUSE ANYMORE
Another kind of random thing that I wasn't used to was replying to my American friends' text messages immediately, because in Korea, if I got a message, I could just kind of not reply to it for a while and be like, "Oh, you know, the time difference, it messed me up, I didn't see that until recently!"
Honestly, I just didn't have time to reply to it, but nowadays I don't have an excuse, so I have to reply to my friends' messages immediately. Which... I mean, it's not terrible, I'm not crying over it, but it is just one random thing that I have to get used to.
But now the same things happen to me now when I text my Korean friends. Sometimes I won't get a reply for like two days, which is kind of sad, but I'm just glad to at least have KakaoTalk and Facebook and everything so that I can still talk to them at all. But, yeah, it's kind of a bummer.
I CAN'T TRAVEL ON MY OWN WITHOUT A CAR
Another random thing, I have to ask my parents now to go places, which, of course when you're abroad, you don't have to ask your birth parents to go basically anywhere, as long as it's not like an overnight trip or something that you need a lot of money for.
And in Korea, my host parents were pretty lax, they basically let me go anywhere that I wanted, as long as I was back by a normal hour and I was hanging out with reputable people. It wasn't really an issue for them if I wanted to go somewhere, because I could always just take the bus or get a taxi if I wanted to go anywhere within the city.
But in my town in America, there's no bus system and there's no taxi system, so if I want to go anywhere, I have to get a ride from my parents, which makes my life and my parents' lives a little bit more difficult. They're busy people, they have four kids, and I can't expect them to be able to drive me all the time to the places and people that I want to see. But I will be getting my license pretty soon, so hopefully that won't be a problem for very long.
BUT I HAVE LOTS OF THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO, TOO!
But trust me, it's not all gloom and doom for me right now.
I have a lot of things to look forward to. Like, just this week I started college, so yay! It's exciting!
I GOT RECOGNIZED AT THE COLLEGE BOOKSTORE?!
Here's a little story to keep you entertained on my long rant. Just yesterday, I was walking into the bookstore to find a French textbook that I was looking for, and while I'm putting my backpack in the little cubby by the door, the door monitor actually stops me and he says, "Have you been to Korea?"
And I was like, "Yes...?" thinking, How does he know that about me?
And he says, "Are you SarahsSeoulSearch?"
And I was like, "....Yes?"
And he was like, "Oh my gosh! I know you from YouTube!"
It was just so weird, because, I mean, like, you see all these humongous YouTube channels such as, you know, Nigahiga, Jenna Marbles, PewDiePie - how do you even say that? - and I understand if they get recognized just on the street.
I've only been back for like a week, and someone has recognized me from my YouTube channel, which is just.... it just blows my mind that people around me, obviously not a whole lot of people, but there are people who have seen my videos and paid attention to them enough to recognize my face when I'm just walking into the store.
So that was a really, really cool thing that happened since I got back.
MY MOM TOOK ME TO A KOREAN GROCERY STORE
My mom also took me to a Korean grocery store a couple days ago, which I really, really appreciated.
It was really neat to get some of the Korean foods that I was really craving, and to talk to the store owner in Korean. It felt really good. I was almost afraid that I'd forgotten all my Korean. It was a little bit reassuring to know that I hadn't completely forgotten everything.
I SAW MY OLD TAEKWONDO INSTRUCTOR
And then, today I also got to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with my old Taekwondo instructor from before I moved in.
Honestly, without this guy, I don't think that I would have wanted to come to Korea at all.
I used to live in a tiny, tiny, tiny town of about a thousand people, and out of those one thousand people, there was not a single Asian person, let alone a Korean.
So he was basically my only exposure to Korean culture. So I'm really, really thankful to have had him in my life, and to have had this amazing experience because of him and the other people at the studio. He also introduced me to some new interns from Korea, so we were all talking in Korean.
It was actually kind of weird. We were, like, gnawing on chicken wings and watching football and talking in Korean. It was a little bit random, but it was a really, really good time, and I'm so glad that I got to go.
And I will be starting up Taekwondo soon in my new town, which I'm really excited about because I love the sport, and I just love the whole philosophy of Taekwondo. It really changed my life. It changed everything about me, so I'm definitely looking into getting involved in that here.
I'M GOING TO UNIVERSITY SOON
Next year, I'll hopefully be transferring to a university. I'm not going to tell you until I find out where I'm going to go, but hopefully I'll be majoring in international relations. I definitely want to go back to Korea in the professional realm.
I WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH LINK
I'm also looking to get involved with an awesome organization called LiNK, or Liberty in North Korea.
I think they're an amazing organization because they focus on the people of North Korea instead of the politics, which I believe is something that is so important for us Americans to understand. In North Korea, you've got a tiny ring of people who are doing all the political work and the military, who are ordering the military to do what they do.
And then you've got the entire population of North Korea, which is something like 23 million people, who we don't hear about at all on the news, but they make up 99.99999% of the population of that country. We as individuals and we as a country should definitely be focusing more on these people instead of getting ourselves all worked up about the activities of Kim Jong-un and his military. But I digress.
Hopefully I haven't bored you with that schpiel.
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