Culture shock
Many people who travel or live overseas experience what is commonly referred to as “culture shock.”
During the first stage, often described as the "honeymoon," everything you see and do in the country you are visiting is exciting and positive. But in the second stage, known as "culture shock," you can feel a sense of dislocation and general unease. In 2020 I made the decision to move with my partner to italy from London uk to be with his family (which I never met before) at the time I was 7 months pregnant with my first child and never left London before “sounds crazy right “ well that’s what all my friends was saying when I told them my plans to go to italy at the time we wasn’t aware their was going to be a pandemic either so I suppose you can say my situation was a little different but the culture shock hit me hard. When I first arrived in italy I didn’t speak a word of Italian other then “ ciao and “scusa” (scusa meaning sorry) and me and my partner had a lot of things to organise and plan hospital appointment,scans, paper work , residency documents. It was a lot to take in but after only two weeks I wanted to return to London but couldn’t just after only two weeks we was all on quarantine and I was heavily pregnant. I started to really miss the foods I ate at home specially a full English breakfast and my morning costa coffee, I started missing places and family members I wasn’t really even that close to I felt a little low in mood from it all. Once the baby arrived I was little bit distracted but the feeling of missing home didn’t go away I couldn’t understand why I felt this way when I wanted to leave London for so long the feeling kept getting worse I kept filling that empty hole with sugary foods and snacks I ate so much of unhealthy stuff and just wanted to be alone. Couldn’t watch a movie or do any activities I would just feel so distracted. It was a very low moment for me in my life.
