When I found out I was going to be part
of the first batch of Global MBA students at Weatherhead School of Management,
I was over the moon. What an exciting opportunity to experience three vastly
different cultures, study at three well-established, top-notch universities and live
in three amazing countries (China, India and US).
So how does one prepare for this
kind of challenge?
First of all, how does one pack? The
international office at Weatherhead told us it would be difficult to find
certain items such as deodorant, shampoo and other hygienic products. While it
is true that you can’t find these things in the smaller supermarket, there is a
surprising number of international supermarkets in Shanghai where you can find
all of these products. So while it does take a little more effort, you can find
all your favorite products here. The challenge is to know exactly what you are
buying, since everything is written in Chinese. In my first week here, I wanted
to buy body lotion but ended up with shower gel. All you can do is laugh about
it.
Before I left, I thought doing
research on the three countries and getting as much information as possible would
best prepare me. I was wrong. Being
informed helps a lot, but it doesn’t avoid certain challenges such as culture
shock. Most of the information that you find online is about the big culture
differences. One could even say that they promote stereotypes, for example that Chinese restaurants are not as hygienic as western ones. While this is true in
some cases, it’s definitely not true as a general statement. We have found some amazing restaurants here!

The Global MBA class consists of
Chinese and Indian students, and the American cohort of which one student
is from Iran and one student is from Belgium. This makes the classroom experience
very interesting since we all have a different perspective on business. It
also makes it challenging at times. We all have different styles of learning
and communicating in class and frustrations can arise. The Indian students are
very outspoken. They tend to raise their hands a lot in class, and they ask a
lot of questions. I can tell that our Chinese professors are not used to that.
They like to get on with the class and finish the slides in a timely manner.
The Chinese students are much less outspoken. They tend to ask questions after
class directly to the professor. What I have heard about the American students
is that we are very polite in asking our questions. So you can see how even a
simple thing such as asking questions in class can cause frustration. I have
found that humor helps in a lot of these situations. We laugh when yet another
Indian raises their hand for the umpteenth time.
Luckily, we had Prof. Tony Lingham’s
leadership class during our first week in Shanghai. We got to know each other
pretty quickly, and he helped us with finding common traits among all of us,
regardless of our culture. That helped us overcome the many cultural
differences. We were divided into groups according to our learning styles.
Learning styles are indicative of how we interpret tasks, how we learn and how
we achieve our goals. For example, just knowing that your Indian classmate
needs a lot of details and information before he will even begin the assignment helps a lot with your tolerance level towards him. It also clarifies that
some frustrations aren’t culture related. In the beginning, I assumed that all of the Indian students had the same learning style since their behavior in class
is so similar to each other's, but the opposite was true. Professor Lingham taught us to work together with
all learning styles regardless of identity and culture.
I started thinking about how one can
prepare for culture shock. After all, I will be facing this all over again when
we go to XLRI in Jamshedpur, India. Will I face the same challenges as here?
Will I have to re-adapt to being in such a multicultural group after spending one month away from them?
What I have learned is that you
can’t avoid culture shock. That doesn’t mean you that can’t learn how to deal with
it. I found that writing down my
frustrations and the different ways of how I dealt with them
helps. I plan on re-reading my notes when I go to India, that way I will remember
what went through my head during my first few weeks in Shanghai, and how I adapted.
Another coping mechanism is talking to my classmates. Dealing with culture
shock is easier when you can talk about it with people that share the same
situation.
A big factor that contributes to
culture shock and being homesick is food. Chinese food is so different from
American food. I found that that was the first thing that I started to miss.
Luckily there are many solutions to this problem. There are websites where you
can order Western food, and there is even a Western restaurant very close
to campus that serves delicious spaghetti!
Our experience in Shanghai has been
amazing so far. It hasn’t been without challenges, but I also see myself
growing as I strive to overcome them. I can also see my classmates grow with
me. I am excited to see where this journey will take us!
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Catherine Van Ryckeghem, Global MBA '15, Global MBA Contributor
Catherine Van Ryckeghem is a first year Global MBA student at Weatherhead School of Management. She is currently studying
in Shanghai China as part of her two-year program.