Kalvero Oberg describes four stages that people go through when they experience situations that are very different from those to which they are accustomed. Stage one is a honeymoon phase, during which the new experience is perceived to be interesting, picturesque, entertaining, and charming. You may notice several superficial differences such as music, food and clothing, and the fresh appeal of the new experience keeps you feeling interested and positive.

When you stay in a new environment for a while, you move to stage two—the crisis stage—in which the shine wears off and the day-to-day realities sink in. In a relationship, you notice annoying habits; in a new country, you find barriers to establishing connections or to learning the language beyond a few polite phrases. Suddenly, your new major includes a class or a professor you dislike. The difficulties and unpleasantness of realities replace the charming and picturesque "honeymoon". However, if you stick with the experience and try to deal with it realistically, you will probably move to the third phase of culture shock: recovery.

In recovery, you learn the systems, procedures, language, or nonverbal behaviors of the new environment so that you can cope with it on the basis of some mastery, competence, and comfort. After about two weeks in London, I began to feel familiar with traveling by "tube", paying in the correct currency, and using some phrases that are unique to English people. You had the advantage of speaking the same basic language and of sharing a great deal with the English in some broad, cultural aspects. In a country that was very different from my own, it would probably have taken me longer to move into the recovery phase.

Finally, the fourth, or adjustment, phase occurs when you feel that you function well and almost automatically in the new culture. You no longer need to make mental conversions of the country's money; you know where services are located and how to use them; you understand some of the customs that accompany ordinary life, and it is relatively easy for you to adjust to them. A greater enjoyment of the new experience is now possible, and you may regain some of the initial positive regard you had in the honeymoon stage. If you stay long enough on a visit from a big city to a small town, or, the other way round, you may become so well-adapted to the new environment that when you return to your original home, you will again experience culture shock.