Cross-cultural understanding and culture shock

cross-cultural

From Wikipedia:

Culture shock refers to the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment after leaving everything familiar behind and they have to find their way in a new culture that has a different way of life and a different mindset.

Good post by Jan Chipchase on When Professionals Get Culture Shock.

And remeber, there is also the reverse culture shock:

Also, Reverse Culture Shock (a.k.a. Re-entry Shock, or own culture shock) may take place — returning to one’s home culture after growing accustomed to a new one can produce the same effects as described above. This results from the psychosomatic and psychological consequences of the readjustment process to the primary culture.[9] The affected person often finds this more surprising and difficult to deal with than the original culture shock.