They said it would happen,
but we never believed them. They said it happens to everyone, but we knew it
would never happen to us. And then all of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere,
it hit us: The second phase of culture shock.
When you first get to a
foreign country, absolutely everything is wonderful. The novelty of the accents
and terminology, the exotic food, the excitement of a new city and sights, and
the anxious rush from experiencing the unknown. Everything seems so much better
than everything you’re used to. And then one day, you wake up and suddenly,
those things you once found so interesting and exciting really. Piss. You. Off.
The accents you once found charming suddenly make your blood boil. I thought I
was going to lose it if I heard one more person add an R to then end of “so,
no, oh, America, Sarah, etc.” I suddenly unreasonably hated such small, petty
things, and found myself craving good old American culture. We were all pretty
taken back by our abrupt animosity towards the things we once found so novel,
and discussing it with each other would only get us all fired up and on a role
about the differences.
We all felt this way pretty
strongly until we left for the weekend to go to the Great Ocean Road. To be
honest, I was deeply bothered by the fact that I was suddenly so homesick and
so over being in Australia at the moment. I was expecting it to be constant
highs and thrills. I didn’t stop to think at how unrealistic that ways. But all
of the anger, and irritation and general want for our old ways vanished the
moment I walked up a path away from the Great Ocean Road, around a corner to be
standing on a cliff overlooking one of the Twelve Apostles. At the risk of
sounding cliché I will say that it felt like somebody punched me in the gut. I
was stopped in pure admiration. I have never seen anything quite like these
tall rock formations sticking out of the rough ocean from the years and years
of erosion.
For hours we drove along
the long, winding, isolated road, the ocean so close alongside of us the entire
way. There is something about being in and near the water that puts me
completely 
at ease. We spent the day surfing next to one of the most famous
surfing beaches in the world, Bells beach, and not a single one of us could
stop ourselves from turning to each other and admitting casually that it was
the best day of our life.
That night we all sat
around outside in the crisp early fall evening and barbequed, drank cheap wine,
and talked about ourselves and our lives and became as what we now refer to as
our family. There was this odd, heavy, self-reflecting and deep thinking vibe that
lingered over everyone the entire trip that no one could shake. It wasn’t in a
bad way, but more in a self-searching, revelation sort of way. The next day we
saw the London Bridge rock formation, wild koalas in trees on the side of the Great
Ocean Road, the unbelievably serene rainforest, and the gorges which all seemed
to get progressively more beautiful. We swam in the ocean between the gorges
and climbed up into their natural caves and experienced such unbelievable
sights and adventures together.
This weekend was hands down
one of the most amazing, memorable weekends of my life. I walked away with a
clear mind, feeling lighter, with the excitement of living in Australia back in
full strength. Our group was stronger, closer and more supportive of each other
than ever. This weekend put us all at ease and was the perfect weekend with
absolute impeccable timing. It was crucial that we had such a wonderful weekend
to shake us of our unreasonable irritation.
I guess you could say we are now in phase three of culture shock: realization and acceptance of our new lives, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
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