Culture shock

(Photo by © Brandon Elijah Scott / Eye & Pen)

The streets are aligned with little makeshift stalls of shops and fruit wagons, and there are tens of thousands of people going here and there, and every which way. Everyone is speaking a different language, and some with a different dialect, and you begin to feel alone. You stick out like a sore-thumb, the shop keepers yell and taunt and tease, trying to entice you on their product – no, his product, or theirs, what about this one or his?! “My friend, my friend, cheap price, best price for you, my friend!” You continue forward and each step is labored, as it requires 100% concentration or else one mistaken step could send you falling to the ground or vice versa, tripping someone else. One step over a stack of wood boxes, another step off balanced, around a child, then a pause for a group of people who are crossing your path – and you’re inadvertently pushed into the middle of the stone path, and WOAH! STOP! A motorbike comes whizzing by, barely missing you.

There are certain parts of the world that will completely blindside you with culture shock if you’re used to a ‘Western’ lifestyle (for example: Turkey, China, and various parts of Africa and South America). You may have watched a few movies and read a couple of books ahead of time, but there’s truly nothing that will completely prepare you for each and every place of the world that you will experience throughout traveling. I’m writing to you from Marrakech, Morocco. This is my first time in Africa, and is coincidentally the first time I’ve experienced such a large cultural change. I’ve toured large parts of Europe, North America and the Caribbean, and while parts of the Caribbean are similar in some ways, it didn’t prepare me for what I experienced the moment I wandered from my taxi into the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, and finally wandered aimlessly, lost, through the chaotic alleyways of the souks.

While nothing will truly prepare you for major cultural changes, it’s important to take a breath and gather your wits about you, because without, you may not survive the experience, let alone, with positive memories. Be sure to find accommodations, perhaps far away from the serious madness, like a place of refuge. In very busy and loud places around the world, it’s near impossible to take some time, where you can gather your thoughts and get in touch with yourself. Throw out your predetermined expectations and take things as they are. The first hour for me in Morocco was a bit dramatic, but after some time to let the experience sink in, I learned to quite enjoy myself in this new culture. One of the best parts of getting to know and feeling relaxed in a crazy atmosphere like this is to understand the locals and why they do the things that they do – I spent hours watching the locals, I watched them eat and drink and buy and sell and pray and interact together. With such introspection, I realized many things that made my time easier, and I knew what was happening and why. My time here in Morocco is beautiful, and I will be sure to come back again, to spend more time living in this different lifestyle.

(This piece was written by Brandon Elijah Scott and originally published on HostelsClub.com)