There are many articles out there where people share how their life changed after travel or living abroad, discussing how their perspectives widened, they learned new skills, or gained confidence. While this article will discuss a similar topic we are going to dive into it a bit differently.
I want to use this time to look at how we can define and understand culture in a globalized world and how novelty affects our psychology in a way that presents the opportunity for change and cultural shift.
Finally, I asked on Twitter if others wanted to share their stories about aspects of their lives that have changed since traveling or living abroad. Everyone shared truly transformative experiences that they had while outside the boundaries of their home.
Table of Contents
Defining culture in a globalized world
Defining culture seems straight forward but to be honest, it isn’t. The simple definition is the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. Although it does not define it by geographical space, the way we discuss it would suggest otherwise. Often it is defined by geopolitical boundaries (e.g. Italian culture, American culture), or be bounded by religion, race, or sex.
This is a disingenuous discussion.
It disregards our individual experiences of culture, or our ability to cross, blur, or change these boundaries. It disregards the experiences of those who are forced to cross these borders or those who simply live along them. And certainly, it disregards culture as a process that is not static.
Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson, who are asking similar questions, suggest looking to the borderlands to complicate the idea of culture being bound by space. It is true that these localities occupy a complex world that negotiates two cultures that are entangled. I lived along the US-Mexico border for 2.5 years and experienced it for myself. Southern New Mexico was attained by the US later than the northern half, and thus the locals in Las Cruces would tell me that the border crossed them. They explained how they are and always have been Mexican. This story can be told countless times around the world again and again.
Political borders are not etched in stone and certainly cannot contain culture. We live in a world that is constantly connected from smartphones in our hands to cheap flights to anywhere in the world. We can now transcend the previous geographical boundaries of culture with a simple click.
For me, that complicates the definition and understanding of culture. I believe there is a lot more influence, personal preferences, and psychological or genetic aspects that we don’t completely understand yet.
How novelty influences our psychology
Research done in 2018 looked into how living abroad might affect one’s sense of self and found that there was an increase in “self-concept clarity” caused by living abroad. This simply means that these individuals have a more confident, stable, and clearly defined self.
The reason? Self-reflection.
If your customs or culture are not challenged in your daily life then what is there to question?
You might not consider it, but many of your daily habits are part of your culture. When you decided to eat, who cooks, what foods do you eat, how do you style your hair or clothes, down to how far away you stand next to a stranger in public? If everyone around you does these things the same, then there is nothing to discuss.
Now imagine you are traveling to a place you’ve never been before and suddenly your daily habits are interrupted and have to be completed a different way. This break in the automated cultural processes you developed presents an opportunity for change.
This opportunity for change can be temporary or permanent and can happen during travel or living abroad. This is due to your environment and location changes. Research shows that the novelty of travel or moving to a different country is exciting for the mind and allows it to “re-wire” old habits. This is so strong that even moving house a mile away can present a new enough environment that habits can be altered with ease. (Source 1 2 3 4)
I have now lived in 5 different countries, in many different cities and homes, and can confirm that these cultural shifts happen even without you noticing. For example, I lived outside of Rome back in 2013, but yet in 2021, I am still using a Moka to make my afternoon espresso just as I learned there. I prefer to have long meals out and socialize rather than the American way of eating and leaving as fast as possible.
I buy so much less of everything. The houses are smaller, the stores aren’t pushing things you don’t really need, and it just isn’t that important here as it was in the US. I also now eat foods that I would never dream of eating back in the states and even my perspectives about health care are being challenged regularly.
Even my language has changed. I lost my American accent and I use a lot of British English words in my day-to-day life due to my time living there. I even learned new languages that I blend into daily use (when appropriate).
The novelty of these new places allowed my mind to reject what it always knew and to try something new. Some of these new habits or customs I hope to keep with me always and others I have already chosen to reject.
The beauty of travel exists in these opportunities to share our ideas and culture and to have conversations about what we consider to be the status quo and challenge it.
Travelers share their experiences after being abroad
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this post. There are a lot of fascinating stories below around how traveling or moving abroad has changed people’s lives. If you find yourself reflecting on this idea for yourself, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Adam from Explordia became a minimalist after traveling to Cambodia
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It was a beautifully warm tropical morning in Siem Reap (Cambodia), and as usual, when I travel, I’d gotten up with the sun to explore the town.
With no destination in mind, I wandered through the streets with nothing but my camera gear and curiosity.
After a few hours of aimless wandering, I came across a coconut vendor. Coconut in hand, I walked over to a nearby bench to sit and enjoy a cool drink. The bench was located in a large courtyard of what was possibly a school or government building, I never did find out.
In the courtyard were three young boys playing a lively game of soccer, but instead of a ball, they were hitting around a styrofoam box with sticks with the courtyard benches substituting as goalposts.
The sheer fun and delight on those kids faces was infectious and I ended up reminiscing about my own privileged childhood full of the latest DVDs, video game consoles, and all manner of “must-have” items cluttering the house, and I couldn’t recall a time when all that “stuff’ had brought me such joy.
I don’t know why, but this thought really hit home and made me start to think a lot more about what possessions I owned VS possessions I required, and I soon after found myself downsizing my life and minimalizing my possessions.
Even now when I contemplate buying an item, I think to myself, do I actually require this item or do I just want it? And most of the time I end up leaving it on the shelf and go back to enjoying my clutter-free, minimalist lifestyle. Inspired by a few kids playing in a Cambodian courtyard many years ago.
Lannie Travels cures homesickness through fast food after living abroad since 2008
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As someone who has lived or worked abroad off and on since 2008, I’ve always loved exploring the local culture. It’s easy to find me off the beaten path, exploring places dubbed as hidden gems, not in any guidebook. This curiosity fuelled exploration extends to my interests and excitement of exploring and tasting local foods. There is nothing more special than sitting with a group of locals, over a big meal or small tastings of their favorite dishes, telling you its stories and how it came to be.
But traveling for long periods of time has its downsides. When I did my graduate studies in Vienna, I can’t even tell you how many wiener schnitzels I ate. There was one night in Vienna when we had a long day at class and everyone was exhausted. And I knew, one of my Brazilian friends would never turn down a McDonald’s for the exact same reason that I wouldn’t. The smiles on our faces after our meals was as if we just finished a feast of epic proportions.
There comes a time when all you want is something familiar – something that reminds you of all the things you love. For me, this homesickness is often cured by global, franchised restaurants.
Now, before any judgment is passed, let me just say, I’d eat haggis in Scotland, street food in Asia, or ika mata in the Cook Islands any day of the week. But when most of your meals are out, sometimes isn’t a McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish a little bit satisfying? A little reminder of home or childhood or some other delightful memory?
Will I change terminals at the Dubai airport just to eat a Shake Shack? Is that what I look forward to during my layover there? Absolutely! Sometimes life is so stressful that the familiar gives you a little smile, with the quality and experience that is been tried and true throughout the years.
For me, I have a few go-to global franchise restaurants – Din Tai Fung (Taiwan’s famous juicy pork buns), Ippudo (Japanese ramen that has never missed the mark), Five Guys or Shake Shack (because American burgers are great),