Culture Shock in China cs en the author reflects on the different stages of the culture shock she experienced when moving to China. Assumption

1.1. Critical Incident: Cultural Shock in China
During my studies of Sinology at the university in Zurich, I have spent one year in Hangzhou/China (1997/98) in order to learn Chinese. We were sent abroad without any information or training. I had a cultural shock without even knowing that it is one! I just realised that nothing is like it was before and I always thought, that I am going to be crazy.
I arrived in China two weeks before university in Hangzhou started. I didn’t go directly to Hangzhou. I wanted to take my time and travel around first. These two weeks were a phenomenal time to me. I was starting a great adventure and I was very enthusiastic about this foreign land. I could handle finding hotels, buying train tickets and so on. These things made me feel good. I remember that people used to be very nice and helpful. It was I wonderful time!
One day before the semester started I arrived in Hangzhou. They gave me a room at the dormitory. The dormitory was a nightmare to me. No more single rooms! In my room, which I was supposed to share with a person I didn’t know, the mildew was hanging from the walls; everything was old, in pieces or both of them. We had 2 toilets, not more than a hole in the ground, in a really bad condition for 200 foreign students. I was shocked and disappointed.
From that moment on, I hated China! I just couldn’t imagine staying here for one whole year. I wanted to go back home as soon as possible. I was not sure anymore whether learning Chinese was a good idea, nor if I will be strong enough to stand it one year.
I was very unhappy. Even the Chinese people seemed to have changed. I didn’t consider them friendly or patient anymore. Also my physics changed. I was always tired. I slept a lot, even during the day, but I didn’t feel better. I spend a lot of time in my room avoiding contact with the Chinese life! All these differences I found so interesting before – I didn’t like and understand them anymore. They just frightened me. I denied them and I was convinced, that in Switzerland everything war much better!
One day I realized that I have to do something to change the situation. I didn’t want to stay in this dormitory anymore. Somehow I managed it to rent an apartment. This was at this time very seldom. Usually foreigners where not allowed to rent an apartment in China but with the help of a teacher it worked. I was very happy about my new privacy und my newfound freedom. The fact that I was able to organize my life also in China gave me back my self- confidence.
Now I was convinced that I can make it und I started again to deal with China and its life. Somehow I discovered again the reasons why I came to China: I wanted to learn more about the Chinese culture and language. It took me about 4 – 5 months to come to this point. From now on it was much easier to life in this culture. I learnt very easily the “rules of the game” and I enjoyed applying them. My humour was back and most of the time I felt very conformable in my “new world”.