Language Isn't the Only Cultural Barrier

My expectations going into my trip to Ireland were that I wouldn’t have too much of a hard time adjusting to the culture mostly because their primary language is English. I think one of the biggest challenges when traveling abroad is overcoming the language barrier, but that was not an issue for us on our trip. Yes, some Irish people have thick accents that take paying extra attention to understand, but there weren’t many difficulties when it came to communication. Navigating a new city is always intimidating, but after living there for just a couple days, we began to get the hang of it, and it becomes less of a challenge. It was cool when we began to recognizing streets or knowing which way to turn without the help of a GPS.
The biggest challenge we faced was adjusting to the Irish lifestyle, particularly at restaurants. Like many European cultures, the dining experience is much more laid back and a time to get together, socialize, and spend time drinking and eating. In the U.S. we are more used to grabbing a quick bite out and having the server guide you through your time at the restaurant. The first time we ate out, after we were seated, we waited for our server to come and take our order, but it seemed to be taking a long time. We eventually realized that we had to grab their attention to let them know we were ready to place an order. The same went for getting the check.
How did we overcome this confusion and slight challenge? We adapted our own styles. The next time we went out to eat, we understood more of the culture and what was expected of us. We became more comfortable with calling the server over (even though it felt like we were bothering them) to place our order to let them know we were done with our meal and ready for the check. We learned to spend more time conversing and making our meal an experience rather than something we had to do.
A lot of the study abroad experience involves adapting. Whether it was adapting to any itinerary changes or to the culture as a whole, it was a valuable lesson to learn that sometimes you have to change the way you normally do things in order to respect and fit in with another culture. It is key to go into the trip knowing that plans will change, you will feel uncomfortable at times in a new environment, and that you may do things different than how you normally would. The study abroad experience is not just about the academics of the trip. In fact, it is more important to learn about how to interact with people different from you and learn how to compromise when it comes to spending time with someone from another culture.