Misunderstandings started again. A French guy and a Spanish girl gave her two kisses, a Swedish girl hugged her, an Austrian girl and a German boy shacked her hand, and a Finnish girl just said hello and asked her how was she. My poor friend was really confused, she did not know what to do. As she told me later, she was really surprised, specially when she met the Finnish girl. She though that the way she behaved was really cold. .
When we went back home that night, she told me that next time she will wait to see what was the other person going to do. Following this rule she managed quite well during the rest of her holiday in Sweden.
The day she came back home we were having breakfast with some my kitchen mates, so she had to say goodbye to them. It was surprising, after one week all of them hugged her or gave her two kisses in the "Spanish way" .
Before starting with the analysis of the situation it would be useful to make an schema of the encounter.
Setting: a girl being introduced to several people from different countries in differentes scenario (kitchen, pub, university.).
Participants: Spanish girl, Latvian boy, French boy, Spanish girl, Swedish girl, Austrian girl, German boy and Finnish girl.
Behavior noticed: people from different countries have different ways of behaviuor when they are introduced to a person.
Additional information: we cannot forget the reaction of the Latvian guy and what he said. .
It can be said that what happened to my friend is part of an intercultural phenomenon called "cultural shock" The simplest form of intercultural encounter happens between one foreign individual and a new cultural environment. The foreigner usually experiment some form of cultural shock. Everybody has basic values acquired in the early life, and based upon them rituals, heroes and symbols are developed. The foreigner usually tries to learn about the symbols and rituals of the new situation, but usually is not able to recognize the values of the new environment and he has to start learning these values again.