As a real estate investor, while travelling abroad to explore new ventures can seem exciting, it can also present challenges that you’re not quite prepared for. Even those who are well-prepared for a foreign living experience may be hit with a certain degree of culture shock.

Each traveller will experience a different kind of culture shock depending on how long the assignment is, the degree of difference between home and the host culture, how much experience a person has had with the specific culture, and what expectations a person has going into a particular culture or foreign environment.

Symptoms of culture shock may include:

• Physical and emotional longing for home (homesickness)
• Depression
• Feeling of being lost and not fitting in
• Grouchiness and quick-tempered
• Fatigue

According to the U.S. Department of State, there are three phases of culture shock. Some work through the process faster than others. 

Phase 1: The honeymoon phase

This phase is aptly named. This is usually a traveller’s first response to being in their new environment. They’re excited about the experience they’re about to have, the people they’re about to meet and the process of investing in a property somewhere far from home. This is the phase where people try new things and explore their environment and host country.

Phase 2: Rejection and withdrawal

Some never reach this stage, but some get through the initial excitement over their journey and fall into rejection of the culture around them and withdraw from it.

You may realize that you miss your normal way of working, eating, communicating despite all the new opportunities awaiting you. Perhaps you’re struggling with the language or certain cultural traditions that, despite your hours of preparation, are just hard to understand. A change in the standard of living may also make travellers and their families feel frustrated, angry, anxious. Some may experience health issues or the very common challenge of adjusting to new time zones, cultural schedules and noises that may make it hard to sleep. All these can contribute to depression.

Phase 3: Recovery and re-engaging

Fortunately, for most travellers, phase 2 does eventually graduate to phase 3. To help yourself and your family reach this phase of re-engaging with your new community and its cultures and opportunities, remind yourself that feeling anxious about such a big life step is normal and it will take time to adjust and learn the new culture.

One of the biggest steps you need to take is to just keep an open mind. Many times the frustration that leads someone from phase 1 to phase 2 is due to preconceived ideas about what you’re going to see, where you’re going to live, how your transportation will work out which may not happen precisely as you hope.

Be patient with yourself. Resist the urge to withdraw from the people and culture around you. Push yourself to participate in a few things. As you get more comfortable with a few things, you will gain more self-confidence, and venture to try other things like investing or even taking up a realty franchise in the host country.

Learning and understanding only comes once you’re open to what your new country and city and its citizens have to teach you. As you relax, you will begin to enjoy your surroundings and get your journey back on track.