I Have "Language Shock"

Preparing myself to go abroad included a lot of things. Something huge that my home university stressed about was the evolution of the honeymoon phase of being abroad to the culture shock phase. Of course, we all rolled our eyes at that, but it is a real thing. It was about week two when I had my mental breakdown, along with other friends who I met. 

I am at the University of Lausanne, studying French. All of the courses I am taking are in French, so it can be mentally exhausting or positively challenging. Depending on how you look at it. I choose to see it as a positive challenge. I engage in class, I try to make myself talk, I listen intently, and try to translate quickly. Staying curious is my anchor.

I have lived in Europe (Poland) before, so I knew my culture shock would not be as severe, but the fact is, I didn’t really have “culture” shock. I was quite used to how people live in Switzerland, because it is somewhat similar to how people live in Poland, along with their attitudes and particularities. I arrived in Lausanne by night by simply getting on a train from Geneva Airport with no problems. I arrived at my residence, got my key from an outdoor safe, and passed out immediately. I had been traveling for two days at that point, with a 12-hour layover in New York City. I was exhausted.

When I got up the next morning, I did what anyone would do, find a store in order to go grocery shopping because I was STARVING. I also ran errands, because there is a shit ton of paperwork you have to do when you arrive to live in a new country. I made a few new friends, and things seemed fairly easy for me. My first two weeks consisted of running around with immediate needs, like a SIM card, but combating the stress with new friends and strolls through the park by Lac Leman. There were not a lot of people in my hall at this time, because the regular students were on vacation, so I didn’t have a problem speaking English with the three other people who were on my floor. One was from Canada, the other was from India, the third was from France, but he wanted to practice English, so it all worked out for me. It was a honeymoon.

I started panicking at the end of week two, the weekend going into the start of school. I could kind of get around with my French skills because I could understand most people, but I didn’t feel like I was able to answer any questions or hold a conversation. That was really difficult for me, because I have some social anxiety anyways, even in my maternal (Polish) and school (English) language. Feeling left out was something that overtook my life for the first few weeks I was in Switzerland, especially when more students began to move back into their rooms in my residence. Most of the students on my floor in my apartment building are Francophone, so when it was time to make dinner at night, or hang out in the living room, they were all having rapid-fire conversations and I could not keep up. It can be quite frustrating at times.

My uni is also very hands-off. The registration process for courses is something I never thought could even work. Instead of registering for classes before the semester starts, you just show up to the classes that seem interesting to you. You are not obligated to stay if you don’t feel like taking that class. For the first four weeks, you familiarize yourself with a schedule that will work for you, and take courses that you feel are at your level and beneficial to your degree. THAT is insane to me. So during the first week of school, I had my mental breakdown.

I thought I was at a much higher level of French than I really am, and that comes from my home universities system of teaching. Basically, it’s shit. All we do at my home uni is repeat stuff and regurgitate phrases and words, rather than speaking in real situations and holding conversations with true Francophone vocabulary. I was shocked when I got to high-level classes and I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. I also walked into classes that were not French-learning, they were like anthropology classes… in French. Not my goal here. But thats the thing about the system in Switzerland. If you chose the wrong class on accident, its no problem, you have time to recover and still be successful.

So I got knocked down a peg in week one of school. Mainly because no one knew what was happening, the class registration situation is super confusing to new students (all one hundred eighty something of us)… and I couldn’t speak the language that I have been studying for eight years. I felt kind of embarrassed by that.

I’m fine with how it’s a struggle to find peanut butter. It’s cool that I take the bus or walk to school because driving is exhausting. It’s weird that I’m trying things like Swiss wine, chocolate and cheese because I have been vegan for so long (no hate, please). It’s great that so many people here are into sports and being active, I actually really LOVE that. I don’t feel that at home people are that interested in going outside, taking a run, going climbing, or taking a ski trip on the weekend. I feel like I have to really convince people to just go do shit at home. Here, it’s easy. Everyone is down for anything.

But the language. It’s still a struggle. I am doing way better than week one, but I am still worried that I won’t be conversationally fluent by the time I leave. But, I have to remember that I have three months left. I am writing down every word I hear that is new. I ask people to explain phrases to me. I am actively trying to pick up conversations with Francophones. I guess the frustrating thing about that, is that some people will hear that I am struggling with French, so they automatically switch to English. NO. I DON’T WANT THAT. I hope it all comes with time.

So I guess you could say language shock is a kind of culture shock? Depends how you look at it. At least I know that I am not alone, and if I work hard, I can get French under my belt as a third language. THEN, I can move on to a fourth language. I wonder what should be next… German, Spanish, Italian, Czech…? Who knows?