Two weeks ago, I returned to Finland from Zambia. I was an exchange student for 10 months in Lusaka, the capital. Zambia became my new home, a place where I felt passionate about everything, where I met the most awesome friends, where I finally started to truly like myself. It was the best year of my life so far and I learned more than ever before. I was living my dream.
Unfortunately, my studies in Lusaka were delayed for multiple reasons, and they were also cut short. On the bright side though, I had more time to focus on adapting to the culture even better and learn a lot from it. Leaving my friends and my Zambian home was extremely hard – I honestly did not want to come back.
But here I am, back in Helsinki. Few things feel exactly the same anymore. I have changed, so has the way I see people and the world. I guess this is what they call a reverse culture shock: not really knowing where I belong and not being entirely sure how to behave in this environment that should be the most familiar place for me. It is a mixed mess of feelings: being happy to be with my family and friends again, being super sad and missing my Zambian people and home, being excited to live this new life as a changed person, being more grateful for things such as showers…
So, how to cope with all this is what I need to figure out now. I realize that 10 months is not that big of a deal, I should be fine. However, the effect Zambia had on me during those months and the love I have for that place and culture make readjusting to Finland a bit hard. Also, these two different countries are, well, seriously different. I could assume that living some time in a non-Western country and adapting to the way of life there will have more or less permanent effects on your life.
Some researchers have identified that reverse culture shock follows a U-shaped pattern. When coming back to the home country, one experiences happiness when seeing friends and family, eating the good old favorite foods, and visiting familiar places. Soon after, however, one reaches the bottom of the U, the “newness” of old things wears off, cultural differences are overwhelming, and one experiences culture shock – in their own culture. After the worst part, the last phase of the pattern eventually is the readjustment to the culture you left in the first place.
I hope the bottom of my U-pattern will not get too deep. Right now, I feel the excitement slowly passing, life getting hectic again, and some old, so-very Finnish habits crawling back. However, I will try my best to follow the social and open Zambian way of living. Luckily, I have my Zambian friends and music to remind me of my second home every day.
In the end, the bottom line is that comparing the two cultures just makes it worse. When I went to Zambia, I tried so hard not to compare the countries since I realized that it would not help and would only make the adaptation process harder. Now, I have to remember to do the same the other way as well. I got this amazing chance to learn so much from another culture and now I can bring together the best parts of both Finnish and Zambian ways of life. Even though I really miss Zambia, I should enjoy being in my home country again, appreciate the differences, learn from them, and take one day at a time. Most importantly, no matter where I am, I have learned the importance of doing what makes me happy and following my dreams. After enjoying and appreciating Finland for now, I think I might follow those dreams back to Zambia.