Whenever people go and live in another country, they have new experiences and new feelings. They experience culture shock. Many people have a(n)  1  about culture shock; they think that it's just a feeling of sadness and homesickness when a person is in a new country. But this isn't really true. Culture shock is a completely natural  2 , and everybody goes through it in a new culture.

There are four stages, or steps, in culture shock. When people first arrive in a new country, they're usually excited and  3 . Everything is interesting. They notice that a lot of things are  4  their own culture and this surprises them and makes them happy. This is Stage One.

In Stage Two, people notice how different the new culture is from their own culture. They become confused. It seems difficult to do even very simple things. They feel  5 . They spend a lot of time  6  or with other people from their own country. They think, "My problems are all because I'm living in this country."

Then, in Stage Three, they begin to understand the new culture better. They begin to like some new customs. They  7  some people in the new country. They're more comfortable and relaxed.

In Stage Four, they feel very comfortable. They have good friends in the new culture. They understand the new customs. Some customs are similar to their culture, and some are different, but that's OK. They can  8  it.