culture shock

The past couple days in sociology class we have been learning about different cultures all over the world. One of the terms we learned was called culture shock, culture shock is when a person from a different culture is shocked by the ways and norms of another culture because it isn't their own. I can relate to this perfectly. For past couple years, every spring break me my mom and my aunt go visit my cousin in The Netherlands. The first time I ever went was a whole new world to be. The term culture shock is perfect because I was truly shocked stepping into a new country. When we talked about different toilets in class I could totally relate. In my cousins house the bathroom are so small and are not in the same room as the bath tubs or showers also the toilets are also constructed differently. When we went out in some places you actually had to pay to go to the bathroom. In the Netherlands biking is huge part of transportation I was shocked to see how many bike riders are all along the side walks and roads. Another thing that is much different from America is how the Dutch people in the city of Amsterdam view smoking Marijuana. When I walked in a local coffee shop everybody was smoking Marijuana like it was no big deal, compared to in America if you were smoking Marijuana in a coffee shop you would get arrested. Its their norm to be able to legally buy Marijuana and smoke it in a coffee shop.