CC BY
57
УДК 378.4
N. Pavlushina1, T. R. de S. Romero2
CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION EXPERIENCE OF A RUSSIAN STUDENT IN BRAZIL
The purpose of this study is to explore the barriers and opportunities faced by a Russian origin student experienced while living in Brazil and studying in a Brazilian Federal University's master's program. Using a narrative inquiry approach, a story with a view to intercultural communication and adaptation to the Brazilian culture is focused. The analysis identifies the ways by which cultural shocks were dealt with. The data show evidences of cross-cultural adaptation and how this process is facilitated by fluency in Portuguese. The results of the research may be useful both for international students who go through the process of adaptation in a new culture and for universities' departments which work with international students.
Keywords: autobiographical stories, culture shock, adaptation to foreign culture, education, cross-cultural.
Introduction
Internacionalization programs have become the object of desire for Universities worldwide [27]. As a consequence, in recent years, education abroad has been made more accessible and universities tend to receive growing numbers of foreign students. Moreover, successful intercultural interactions, accompanied by respect and tolerance towards foreign cultures and other people's religion, are deemed essential not just in the context of higher education, but in modern society in general [24].
Studying abroad undoubtedly contributes to the development of communication skills that allow graduates to successfully compete in the modern internalized job market. However, besides benefits, international students may face difficulties in adapting to a new country or culture. Academic success of international students is also directly related to their adaptation. Cultural adaptation, in its turn, is a complex process which includes adjustment to new socio-cultural environment, new climate, new language and new educational system.
During adaptation, expats and international students as well may face the following difficulties: culture shock, language and communication issues, discrimination or misunderstandings about cultural norms, lack of social networks, limited access to employment, poverty and inadequate income support [17]. Few newcomers know how
1 Pavlushina Natalia - Bachelor of Arts, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Brasil.
E-mail: pavlushina94@mail.ru
2 Tania Regina de Souza Romero - Ph. D. in Applied Linguistics, Post-Ph. D. in Education, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Brasil.
E-mail: taniaromero@ufla.br
to deal with these problems and to adapt to the evolving cultural context. This is why research on intercultural communication and international students' adaptation are important and relevant.
In the present study, an autobiographic narrative written by one of the authors, a Russian postgraduate at a Federal university in Brazil, is focused. In her history, she recalls peculiarities of her adaptation process as a Russian student within the Brazilian culture.
It must be noted that partnership between Brazil and Russia has been developed actively after the creation of BRICS. However, despite the mutual interest in cooperation there is still a gap in the relationship between these two countries [32]. According to the Official Chamber of Commerce and Industry Brazil-Russia site (http://www.brasil-russia.com.br/index.htm], approximately 800 thousand of ethnic Russians expats and 1.8 millions of Russian descendants live in Brazil nowadays. However, despite the comparatively large number of Russians in Brazil, there are, to our knowledge, yet no impact studies on the peculiarities of the adaptation process Russians experience in Brazil.
A search in the internet and, inter alia, Google scholar for investigations focused on adaptation of Russian expats in Brazil, however, were not found. For instance, Ru-seishvili [23] and Vorobieff [29] examine such concepts as identity, immigration and memory, but not adaptation process and cultural shock Russians face immigrating to Brazil. Winter and Romero [32] analyze some aspects that may have influenced possible identity transformations in some individuals who have gone through movements between Brazil and Russia. Even though these scholars focus on Russian expats experiences in Brazil, they do not cut across the cultural shock experience. This justifies the significance of this research, although it focuses on a single experience by one of the authors.
Thus, guiding questions of this study are as follows: 1] How does this Russian student perceive her cross-cultural adaptation experience while living and studying in Brazil? 2] How has this Russian student dealt with the cultural shock she went through? 3] What role may the learning of Portuguese have played in the cultural adaptation process according to the narrator?
In order to develop this discussion, this paper is segmented into four sections. The first discusses the theoretical framework used to carry out the investigation, encompassing the role of narratives in teacher and self development, the concepts of cultural shock and the connection between language and culture. The methodology is described in the second section. In the third section the autobiography is discussed in the light of the theory covered. Some considerations are drawn in the final reflective section.
Theoretical and methodological approaches
In order to interpret the Narrative Inquiry (NI) of a Russian student's experience in Brazil, the meaning of language in the context of culture, the stages of cultural shock and NI in educational research is discussed below. As such, the examination of the theory mentioned serve as the basis for the study.
Culture, language and the language teacher identity
Culture is not an easy term to be conceptualized. Hofstede and Minkov [8] define it as "collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." Culture includes such components as history, religion, language, values, common traditions, customs, and more [2]. For intercultural communication and understanding be possible it is necessary for representatives of one ethnic group be tolerant and respectful towards culture, traditions and customs of others.
According to Baier [2], different cultures adhere to different rules that are passed on from previous generations. International students are ones who come from different cultures. So, as we may infer from Lee [15], their historical and cultural backgrounds affect the process of knowledge acquisition and information processing. This would be the reason why students who study abroad face particular difficulties in adapting to a new educational environment and new ways of information presenting [5]. To go through such adapting process successfully they usually should become more flexible and consequently are subject to identity transformations [4].
In spite of sharing some common values and customs, cultural groups consist of individuals and their identities. Thus, in order to understand adaptation process of expats we also need to look at their identities and personal features. Several scholars have examined the concept of identity. For Lee, [15] it refers to the individual's concept of the self, as well as the individual's interpretation of the social definition of the self, within his/her inner group and the larger society. Reichmann and Romero [22] and Barkhuizen [4] focus on the complex dynamic and contextual nature of identity, and see it as the result from experiences and senses constructed by an individual in interaction with others and in accordance with his or her social and historical background.
Another crucial aspect to be taken into account is communication, an essential part of cross-cultural adaptation. Kim [11] points out that communication acts as a mediator which facilitates a culture-to-culture transition. This is especially relevant in the context of adaptation to a new country. Through communication with locals, expats learn more about the culture and its customs and so discover the best patterns of behavior in a new environment.
Language, therefore, is fundamental, since it is an essential tool of communication in helping a newcomer to be involved and integrated in society. Drawing from Vygotsky [30], language is a mediator of transposition of social phenomena to psychological phenomena. Hence, we learn by means of communication and communicate by means of language. Consequently, authors such as Kim [12], Baier [2], Storti [26] and Marsh [17] highlight target language as a key component in the process of adaptation to a new culture and country. Knowledge of the target language helps a newcomer to cope with daily routine and problems in a new place and undoubtedly encourage interactions with locals. Storti [26, P. 97], reinforcing the argument, emphasizes that «One of the greatest allies the expat has in the quest to become culturally adept is the ability to speak the local language». One may understand, therefore, that by being able to com-
municate in the local language an expat is more likely to avoid cultural incidents and pass through the stage of cultural shock with fewer problems.
However, language is not just a tool; it is also a representation of a culture [7]. As Lee [15] puts it, there is an inseparable connection between language and culture, for culture can only be understood and enacted through language, and without culture, language cannot be sustained.
Besides being closely connected with culture, language also influences one's identity. Kramsch [14] highlights the correlation between foreign language acquisition and identity transformation, pointing out that this is especially true for those who are learning a foreign language abroad in a native-speakers' country. Living abroad, becoming acquainted with a new culture and learning a new language effectively transform our identity. In the same path, Norton [19, P. 4] argues that
every time language learners speak, read or write the target language, they are not only exchanging information with members of the target language community, they are also organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world. As such, they are engaged in identity construction and negotiation.
The author also states that institutional practices are defined by language, which, in its turn, also shapes the sense we have of ourselves. In addition, the interconnection between language and identity also finds echo in Storti [26, P. 101], for whom «Language is not simply how people speak; it is who they are».
Considering the above, it is especially relevant to consider the concept of identity. For Barcelos [3] it is through identity that people are recognized, indicate their ideological affiliation, feel secure and safe, and this is associated with material resources provided by the society they are in interaction with. The scholar also highlights the correlation between identity, emotions and language learning, by stating that:
Identities and emotions are closely related either as part of the selves or as aspects of identities. We are shaped by the emotions we feel (fear, desire, joy, love], and these in turn shape the kinds of identities we construct of ourselves. [3, P. 312].
Thus, identity construction and professional development occur in a social - cultural context, through interaction with other people and adaptation in the world around us, with its cultural peculiarities and influences of the given historical period.
Another crucial aspect to take into account is the adaptation process to other cultures, since an expat while adapting to a new culture passes through very emotional phases of cultural shock. This is, then, to what we turn next.
Adaptation to foreign culture, cultural shock
During the integration into the new culture, an expat goes through the process of cross-cultural adaptation, which Kim [12, P. 31] defines as a:
dynamic process by which individuals, upon relocating to new, unfamiliar, or changed cultural environments, establish (or reestablish] and maintain relatively stable, reciprocal, and functional relationships with those environments.
The time necessary for adaptation differs for each expat. Marsh [17] identifies the following factors influencing the timeline of adaptation: gender, language ability, education, ethnicity, socio-economic and citizenship status. For the author, gender-based discrimination as well as family responsibilities influence women's process of adaptation and language learning not in favor, since household chores may take a lot of time from women's language learning and social interaction. Ethnicity and racial discrimination also influences expats' adaptation. Minority racial groups, as also pointed out by Norton [19], may suffer from unequal opportunities in access to job market, education, language courses and social interactions with local people. This makes their adaptation process slower and more difficult. Financial capabilities of expats also play a significant role in how fast their adaptation and the phase of cultural shock flow, considering that immigrants with better financial capability have access to better housing conditions and higher quality of life. They also have more opportunities to attend target language courses or even pay private classes with a tutor. Such opportunities obviously facilitate the stage of cultural and country shock. Natural abilities in language learning and adaptation, level of education, whether or not citizenship or residence permit are also important factors in the immigrants' adaptation process. Natural abilities in language learning make language acquisition easier and social interactions more accessible.
A frequent component of cross-cultural adaptation expats and international students go through is the cultural shock. The term cultural shock was introduced by the American anthropologist and ethnologist Kalervo Oberg in 1954. The scholar [20, P. 142] states that «cultural shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse». In other words, the essence of the cultural shock is the conflict between native cultural cues and social rules and new ones. Any person entering a new culture to some degree suffers from cultural shock. It is related to the fact that an expat entering a new country faces the loss of friends and his or her social status, the feeling of isolation and rejection that may come with cultural incidents and identity transformations. Thus, the essence of cultural shock is the conflict between the expat's native culture values, native language, daily routine and the life he or she has always known, with the values, the language and the routine of the new country. The severity of cultural shock depends on how different the new culture from the native one is found to be.
Adding to the theme, Lysgaard [16] described the process of adaptation to a new culture as a U-shape continuum with three main stages, which starts with an initial honeymoon stage, then the impact of culture shock, located at the bottom of the U-shaped curve is felt; the overcoming of the cultural shock and adjusting to the new culture is when a person reaches the last stage in the top of the U-curve. Going further, Stefanenko [25] suggests four possible stages of cultural shock:
1. Honeymoon. This phase is marked by enthusiasm, big expectations and very good mood. Changes seem to be positive. A person enjoys new environment, architecture, food etc.
2. Cultural shock. This is the period of crisis. Cultural differences start to bring discomfort and a person can even feel frustrated and depressed. In this phase one may often have difficulties in communication and in day by day life. A person perceives things inadequately with a tendency to negative thinking. Another characteristic of this phase is homesickness. All these cause psychological and health problems such as drowsiness, stress, increased appetite, irritability, incapacity for work, depression and psychosomatic diseases.
3. Reconciliation. This is the stage of the integration to a new society and the way out of the crisis. One begins to comprehend the new culture's social rules and cultural cues. Communication with native becomes more and more comfortable. Depression goes away and a person feels adapted to the new country.
4. Adaptation. This is the final phase of the adaptation process. One is no longer fascinated or devastated but perceives the reality of a new country objectively accepting its positive and negative peculiarities. A person integrates to the new culture as his or her own and may even adopt new habits and social rules. A foreigner achieving this stage makes new friends and easily deals with day by day problems.
Storti [26], distinguishes between cultural shock and cultural incidents. For him, cultural shock happens due to the clash with a new culture and loads of new information, while cultural incidents are often the result of ethnocentrism. The scholar also sets apart country and culture shock. According to the author, country shock is connected with new climate, the lack of comfort an expat used to have in her/his own country, the change in ordinary routines such as driving a car, taking a bus, going shopping which were easy before and turn to be a sophisticated task in the new country. In the same sphere are social actions like communicating with strangers, adapting to a new city and a new job. However, Storti mentions that adjusting to the new culture is even harder. An expat gradually gets used to new conditions and in a matter of weeks adapts to a new routine. Adapting to a new culture and passing through stages of cultural shock takes longer.
The researcher points out that cultural incidents occur because of cultural differences and misunderstanding while communicating. Still, despite the possibility of cultural incidents, Oberg [20], Baier [2], Storti [2] and Marsh [17] highlight that avoiding communication with locals by an expat is a mistake. Often after some experience of misunderstanding and unpleasant cultural incidents with natives, newcomers choose to isolate themselves at home and to avoid social events. However, communication and social life are important components of well-being. Norton [19] advocates that learners and expats should be active members of social and historical collectives and not isolated individuals. So, such a strategy of isolation together with cultural shock just lead to negative consequences, such as depression, weakness, extensive sleeping and even some health problems.
Based on the above, Storti [26] recommends expats to bond with local people, but taking the responsibility for avoiding cultural incidents. Obviously, locals will not change their customs and patterns of behavior because of one newcomer, but successful com-
munication and avoiding cultural incidents are beneficial to expats. Taking responsibility for intercultural interactions and avoiding misunderstanding leads an expat to decrease the level of his or her anxiety and frustration. For Storti [26, P. 84], expats usually go through the following phases: (a] start expecting others to behave the same as they do, which obviously does not happen; (b) as a consequence, a cultural incident takes place; (c) this leads to a reaction (anger, worry etc); (d) then they come to realize that the cultural incident is caused by their own inadequate behavior; (e) thus, they are motivated to learn about the culture they are presently in; (f) and find it understandable that locals behave according to their culture, (g) which finally leads to less cultural incidents.
Consequently, for international students to adapt rapidly it is advisable to explore the new culture even before arriving to the new country. Arriving to a new country with the knowledge of local values, customs and patterns of behavior facilitates the process of adaptation and the stage of cultural shock. Another key aspect which helps a student to succeed in both adaptation and academic goals is a good command of the target language.
Ignatova and Burykina [9] state that university can help its international students in overcoming cultural shock by providing information about traditions, values and customs of the new country. University can do this by offering international students courses of the target language and lectures about local culture. Another important challenge of a university is to perceive cultural differences of the international students not as a problem, but as an advantage.
It should be observed that cultural shock besides its negative effects also has a positive side. Ignatova and Burykina [9] state that by overcoming difficulties international students can broaden their minds and transform their identities by learning new values and patterns of behavior. This is an important aspect of self-development. Kim [11] also underlines that the result of cross - cultural adaptation is marked with such positive aspects as increased security, mobility and a sense of belonging. As expats become fluent in the target language and adapt to the host community's cultural norms, values, and customs, they gain intercultural mindset. Kim [12] stresses, however, that the new culture does not replace the old one. While observing elements of the new culture individuals retain some of their original cultural identity. Thus, expats develop their identities gaining valuable intercultural experience. In other words, building cultural knowledge and experience results in positive intercultural growth and identity transformation.
Taking the above concepts into consideration, the next item specifies how the present study was carried out.
Methodological approach: narrative inquiry
In the given study we adopted narrative inquiry (NI), which views stories as data [18]. Josselson [10] and defines NI as a qualitative method of research that involves the gathering of narratives focused on people's experience. In the case of this research, NI
is focused on one of the authors' own experience of cross-cultural adaptation as a Russian student in Brazil. Thus, the autobiographical narrative, written for a period of two months, act as the data for the present investigation.
Aiming at contextualizing the reader, here is some information about the narrator. She is a twenty-four-year-old student of Russian origin studying in a master's program in a Brazilian Federal University. At the time of writing the present study she had been living in Brazil for two years, the past year and a half of which she was a graduate student. Her initial reason for coming to Brazil was her marriage to a Brazilian. All of the time living in Brazil, she lived with her husband and family. So, in her NI her experience of being an expat in Brazil, the way she went through country and culture shock, coped with stress and adapted to both Brazilian university and daily life is thematized.
It is our understanding that NI focused on cross-cultural adaptation is a way to elicit and listen to the stories of expats, who usually belong to the minority in the host society and, as such, usually keep silenced. To our view, expats' narratives express a unique kind of knowledge that allows the investigation of immigrants' experiences previously inaccessible.
After writing the autobiography, stages of cultural shock based on Stefanenko's classification were identified and categorized. Then, these excerpts were analyzed, aiming at reflecting on how this intercultural experience may have influenced her professional and personal identity, especificaly her own way of teaching.
In support to this type of study, Barkhuizen [4, P. 47] argues that
experiences become narratives when we tell them to an audience and narratives become part of narrative inquiry when they are examined for research purposes or generated to report the findings of an inquiry.
In similar perspective, Webster [31, P. 3] identifies NI as
set in human stories of experience. It provides researchers with a rich framework through which they can investigate the ways humans experience the world depicted through their stories.
With the above in mind, NI is focused on human being's life and experience. That makes NI ideal for examining how international students experience adaptation to a new culture and culture shocks.
Most narrative researchers emphasize that experiences occur in continuous interaction of a person with social environments [18, 27]. Thus, this NI is influenced by aspects such as social environment, socio-economic, political, and cultural constraints [6]. Within this social context, a specific cross-cultural experience, namely the periods of initial cultural shock, reconciliation and re-establishment of identity in Brazil are considered.
Discussion on the Data
In this section the process of adaptation in Brazil as a student of Russian origin is examined. The excerpts analyzed were selected from the autobiographical NI and catego-
rized in accordance with Stefanenko's [25] cultural shock phases' classification. Based on Stefanenko's classification specified before, the phases identified in the autobiography were honeymoon, cultural shock and reconciliation.
The following excerpts from my autobiography may be interpreted as the Honeymoon phase:
[...]Everything seemed so new and even breathtaking for me [...] [...]After my arrival to Lavras I continued to wear my pink-colored glasses and to keep a positive outlook on everything [...]
[...]I was struck by the beauty of Brazilian nature. I was very happy to see the ocean for the first time in my life in Recife. It was really nice to visit beaches in the suburb of Recife as well. However, I especially enjoyed Lavras, as I had never seen such a green place before. Also, I was rather fascinated with the camping by the waterfalls [...]
[...]While one and half year in Brazil I moved three times from one state to another. I arrived in Pernambuco, spent two months there, and then I moved to Sao Paulo for three months and finally went to Minas for one year. As all these states are rather different and even have different cultural peculiarities every time we moved everything seemed new and exciting for me. Thus, my honeymoon stage in Brazil lasted half a year [...]
All excerpts mentioned above represent the honey-moon stage, as described in Stefanenko's (2008] classification, since only positive points were highlighted, showing the enthusiam and excitement of the immigrant with the new environment. Then, some cultural shocks were experienced:
[...]Every simple action which I used to do unconsciously in Russia such as daily routine turned into a complicated mission in Brazil [... ]
This excerpt represents the first country shock while dealing with daily routine in a new environment. This experience confirms Storti's [26] scheme, according to which country shock and getting used to new routines are rather easier and faster than culture shock. Together with difficulties in dealing with ordinary tasks, feelings of not belonging and loneliness came along.
[...]I had no more job, no more friends near me, no more possibility to practice sport I liked, no comfortable and cozy home with my library. Generally all things which used to make my life full and me feeling happy just vanished from my life [... ]
[...]One of the hardest things I passed through while adapting in Brazil was social isolation. In Russia I used to be a very active person. I spent out seven days a week going to work, to the gym, to university classes and to Spanish course. When I had some free time I neither stayed at home. I preferred to go out with friends, to go to some social events, to meet new people with the same interest. But when I came to Brazil it seemed to me that I was all alone in the whole world. It frustrated me a lot. When I arrived I did not still know Portuguese very well, almost nobody knew English or even Spanish. So for the first time in my life I just stayed with myself with nothing to do, with no friends or family near and communicating just with my boyfriend [...]
Social isolation and spending too much time alone, made the new immigrant realize she was away from home, detached from her roots and habits, which contributed greatly to her depression. One may infer, then, that this experience converges to Oberg's [20], Baier's [2], Storti's [26] and Marsh's [17] theory about the importance of social interactions with locals for expats' well-being. To counteract, local and involving activities were searched.
[...]To improve my life in Brazil I started to look for a master's program and for a job. After half a year I achieved both goals. I entered a Federal University and got a job as a teacher in a local language school. However, the new job just made me more frustrated. In Russia I really enjoyed teaching school age students, I got along with them very easily and due to this they had good results. In Brazil, due to big cultural differences, I had a lot of cultural incidents with my students. For example, I had one student who brought homework made by her elder sister. In Russia, it is proper for a teacher to ask the student to do his or her homework again in such a case. In Brazil a student felt offended in this situation. Another big disappointment in my job experience was the schools' politics. The head of the school gave absolute priority to getting money rather than to the knowledge of students. I could not agree with this. So I was fired and felt myself even more depressed than before [...] As may be noticed, some attempts to fit in the new society were not successful. This may have happened, in accordance with Storti's [26] elaborations, because the foreign teacher expected her Brazilian students to behave like the Russian ones, and, in acting as she would do in her own culture, did not know how to deal with her students in the new country. This led to her dismissal from her job, making her feel unfit even more. Even now, with the knowledge in Brazilian customs, relationships in a work place and environment continue to be challenging for the Russian immigrant, she recognizes. This is due, to her view, due to big differences in Russian and Brazilian work ethics and patterns of behavior.
[...]In Russia I worked since I was eighteen teaching private classes of English language and I used to have my own money and some kind of independence. When I came to Brazil, I become fanatically dependent on my boyfriend. I should say it is not a very pleasant experience to pass through. It makes you to feel down [...]
[...]I was afraid of getting sick in Brazil. I had no money to pay a doctor or health security. So I worried what I would I do if something happened to me. Also, even if I could go to a free hospital, I could not explain what is with me in Portuguese. I needed to ask my boyfriend to go with me. This made me feel vulnerable and it was embarrassing [...]
Her socio-economic status as an unemployed immigrant and financial difficulties were factors that made her phase of cultural shock harder, as Marsh [17] and Norton [19] pointed out. Besides losing the comfort she used to have in Russia, she could not afford even basic things like a medical appointment or public transportation.
[...]Many times I wanted to give up all even my master's course and just return home. Also, while being depressed, I often thought that getting married to a foreigner and going to Brazil so far away from home was a big mistake [...]
This expat, then, makes evident her signs of depression, which usually accompanies the crisis of cultural shock. However, as mentioned before in the theoretical remarks, even such negative emotions may bring benefits and reconstruct our identity. In her case, she became more tolerant and empathetic with her own students. A reconciliation phase may be identified through these lines:
[...]To be able to talk with locals, I studied Portuguese by myself every single day. I studied grammar, watched Portuguese lessons on YouTube, read books in Portuguese and tried to communicate as much as possible [...]
This report supports Oberg's [20], Baier's [2], Storti's [26] and Marsh's [17] remark on the importance of communication and social interactions with locals. Fortunately, she had never had fear of communicating and making mistakes in a foreign language, as she always remembered that we learn just if we practice. After all, she pondered, Portuguese was the fifth foreign language she was engaged in learning.
She tried to talk to local people as much as she could in Brazil. This definitely contributed to her knowledge of Brazilian customs and culture, and thus helped her to pass through the stage of frustration and cultural shock. Her cross-cultural adaptation was facilitated by intercultural communication competence and engagement in host communication activities. Such intercultural communication in the context of Brazil was possible just with the command of Portuguese language.
[...]However, I am not that kind of person who is waiting for problems to be solved by themselves. In spite of being depressed I tried to find a way to feel better. Even if there was no company I went out alone not to stay at home all the time. I had no money so when I lived in Recife I went to walk on the beach. In Sao Paulo I went to parks or I chose free entrance day in museums to go there [...]
[...]Now passing through difficulties and hard situations caused by cultural differences I try to remind myself all the benefits which brought this intercultural experience to me [...]
[...]Later I attended an intensive course of Portuguese and a course of Brazilian culture at the University I went to. This gave me the opportunity to better understand Brazilian customs and patterns of behavior [...]
The excerpts from this NI correlates with Storti's [26] phases for passing through cultural shock. In accordance with it, by attending the course of Brazilian culture and by learning more about Brazilian customs she took responsibility for her own adaptation and for avoiding cultural incidents with locals. She also took responsibility for her well-being and forced herself to go out. Knowing the new language and new customs not just helped her in adaptation, but also transformed her identity and made her a more tolerant and broad-minded person. This confirms Kim's [11] and Ignatova and Burykina's [9] statement that, besides negative sides, passing through cultural shock also has positive impacts on expats.
[...]I reached the phase there I neither idealize Brazil nor see everything in a negative light. I realized that Brazil, Russia and any other country have their positive and negative sides [... ]
All these actions mentioned here helped the Russian living in Brazil overcome the stage of cultural shock and achieve a reconciliation stage, as she sees it now.
Later on, one may observe the adaptation phase is a continuous process:
[...] Right now after two years spent in Brazil I have not reached total adaptation in the country. I believe that due to big differences between Russian and Brazilian cultures I am still on the reconciliation phase. I certainly need more time to reach the final adaptation phase and feel myself in Brazil like at home.
Final remarks
By observing the narrative in question, it becomes evident that in order to fit in a different country, it is not enough for a foreigner just to know the target language, but it is also necessary to adapt to a new culture.
The Russian immigrant understands that the experience of learning Portuguese language among natives was positive because Brazilians like to communicate with foreigners. So native speakers were rather patient with the narrator's attempts at communicating, which encouraged her to talk and practice more. Such safe and supported environment facilitated the phases of cultural shock and made the process of her adaptation to Brazil faster and easier. Learning the Portuguese language also made her adaptation process faster and easier, since the acquisition of the native language enabled her to successfully communicate with natives.
It should be emphasized that, in spite of studying cultural shock at university before going to Brazil, she realizes she was not ready for experiencing it. As it was also her very first trip abroad, she was full of positive expectations and not rather conscious of the difficulties to be faced. Her main mistake, she evaluates, was not searching for information about Brazilian culture and going to live in a country without even basic knowledge of its cultural peculiarities, values, history, customs and behavior patterns. She understands that if she had be aware of Storti's [26] scheme and had learned about the local culture earlier, probably many of cultural incidents would not have happened and she would have gone through cultural shock more easily and faster. But this would be a different story.
Russian students coming to Brazil are essential to build links and partnership between Brazil and Russia. Such cultural and educational exchange brings benefits to both countries. Student exchange between Brazil and Russia contribute to the development of science, research and economy in both countries and graduate specialists fluent in both Portuguese and Russian. Such specialists play an important role in successful interactions between Russian and Brazilian universities, companies and even diplomacy.
A further research that could be interesting would be examining this autobiography under the perspective of emotions, as Barcelos [3] recommends, especially because the author stresses the close relationship between learning and emotion in language learning. And we understand this goes hand in hand with cultural adaptation as well.
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