Culture shock

Sometimes, after a few days or weeks in a new place, a traveller starts to feel stressed about the unfamiliar language and customs, irritated at the people and culture, homesick, and altogether in a bad mood. This is culture shock.

Culture shock is especially likely to happen if you're travelling for a longer period of time or to a place that's very different from where you're used to. An American travelling to English-speaking parts of Canada is not very likely to get culture shock, but an American travelling to India likely will. But don't assume you're immune just because you're going to a country that you don't think is very different — sometimes people experience culture shock even when moving within their own country, which is especially jarring because it's so unexpected.

Long-term travellers may even experience a form of culture shock on returning home after adapting to another culture; various things that always seemed normal before will now seem strange. One study of alcoholism among American university faculty found that anthropology was the discipline with the most drunks, and attributed it to this sort of reverse culture shock.