Jayaraman 1
Krishnamurthy Jayaraman
Debra Jizi
UWRT 1104
10 November 2017
Double Entry Journal
Sanju, Unjore. Excitement or Anxiety? A Case Study of Indian Postgraduate Sojourners at
University of Nottingham. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, vol. 42, no. 5,
2014, pp. 557567.
Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)
The UK is one of the most sought after
destinations for international students
alongside the USA, Australia, Canada and
New Zealand(Unjore 2)
Moving to a new country is often seen as a
disturbing event in a sojourners life which
naturally generates some kind of cultural
shock(Unjore 2)
Several early models of adjustment
proposed by Adler (1975), Gullahom and
Gullahom (1963), Lysgaard (1955), Oberg
(1960), and others, postulate that the
individual is in a state of happiness,
euphoria or fascination at the beginning
phase.(Unjore 2)
Others like Biddle (1979), Furnham (1995)
and Ward (2001) have also offered a
counter discourse by describing the initial
state of mind as necessarily being more
stressful and anxious in order to lead to
Responses
It would make sense that this the case, these
countries are booming in the economic
standard as well as being an amazing place
to study in, so many students are testing their
knowledge in their studies.
I can also agree with this statement, when I
was 4 I moved to the United States, and while
I cant remember the whole event, I definitely
know that I was in sort of a cultural shock
when moving away from the home I lived in
since I was born, well only 4 years.
If you are old enough to feel curious about the
lifestyle in a different country, then this would
likely be emotion you feel. Euphoria, you
have this mix of excitement and curiosity that
cause you to get there quicker. Unless
someone in any case doesnt want to move
away from their home at all you would always
be at least a little bit euphoric.
This is also another argument, that instead of
people being euphoric before getting on a
plane to travel to a different country, they
have anxiety before they go. They have a
stressful time until they get there and then

gradual adjustments till recovery is achieved
in later stages(Unjore 2)
This study tries to gather empirical
evidence through a qualitative approach in
order to understand whether three Indian
postgraduate sojourners studying at the
University of Nottingham experienced
mostly positive feelings or negative feelings
at the beginning phase of their sojourn in the
UK.(Unjore 3)
However, there is little agreement amongst
researchers over how and what constitutes
the adjustment process as different models
and theories have been foregrounded within
the literature to explain this process(Unjore
3)
Yet, most of the models have described the
first stage as an absolute state of
happiness. For instance, Smalley (1963),
Gullahom and Gullarhom (1963),
Richardson (1974), Kohls (1979), Furnham
and Bochner (1982) and Berry (1985a,
1985b) and even recent models proposed
by Torbiorn (1994) and Mohamed (1997)
have used terms like euphoric,
fascination, elation, honeymoon and fascination, elation, honeymoon, and
excitement to describe the first
stage(Unjore 4)
The U-curve model describes the process
of adjustment in a curvilinear trend where
the first stage is characterised by feelings of
optimism which gives way to frustration and
confusion as the individual is unable to
interact meaningfully with the other culture
(cultural shock).(Unjore 4)
The U-curve model has also been extended
by some researchers into a W-shaped curve
to include the home adjustment
process(Unjore 4)
Jayaraman 2
they slowly recover their emotions to put
themselves at a normal feeling.
I dont understand how they would get
empirical evidence in numbers based on the
emotions of the sojourners. I guess Ill learn
soon enough but it strikes me as odd, and if
they had more sojourners then they could
possibly have an even ratio of people who
were euphoric to those who had anxiety.
The adjustment process is the way people
with or maybe without anxiety adjust to the
lifestyle of the foreign country including the
factors of psychological, physiological, and
vocational functions in the new environment.
This makes sense as the majority of people
who leave their home to a foreign country are
doing it for a multiple number of reasons,
whether it be for education, work, or a
vacation and normally the people who
embark on these ventures are happy. The
first stage of most of the adjustment models
shows that the people are happy to be in
some place new, as terms like euphoric,
excitement are used to describe their first
stage, the first stage is around the time when
they first get on to the plane and when they
first arrive and set up in their new abode.
A U-curve is the perfect way to describe the
adjustment period, if someone starts off
happy then they are at the top left side of the
U, when they slowly start to feel the
experiences of culture shock and are
confused about lifestyle, then they move
down to the bottom middle of the U, finally
once they adjust to the country they go back
up to the top right of the U.
The W curve can be used for the home
adjustment process, this would mean that
they have multiple conflicts throughout the
adjustment period, Im guessing by home
adjustment period they would have points of
homesickness.

There are generally two approaches to
investigating the cultural shock phenomena:
one is the psychological approach and the
other is the sociocultural approach(Unjore
5)
Okorocha (1996) associated the physical
illness that sojourners may experience from
the UK weather with an increase in
homesickness as well as their ability to
concentrate. Similarly, it can be seen that
Tarun has had problems adapting with the
UK wind speed and he even had ear
infections which subsequently affected his
ability to concentrate in the
classroom(Unjore 8)
Snow seems to be a fascination for
sojourners who come from tropical or
warmer parts of the globe. However, the
excessive amount of snow and the problems
associated with snow fall subsequently
made Shreya sceptic about her initial
fascination about snow. She explains that
she had to wear warmer clothes,
appropriate footwear and she could not go
out often when it snowed. She summed up
her feeling for snow as: and even when you
go out, when you return inside, it gets
messy and wet. A parallel can be drawn
between Shreyas feelings towards snow
and the U-curve model. At the start,
Shreyas feelings were filled with excitement
and expectations to see snow which
supports the euphoric state of mind
described in the first phase of adjustment in
the U-curve model. And after having
experienced snow, her feelings changed
drastically echoing the second phase of
adjustment termed as crisis or conflict as
per the U-curve model.(Unjore 8-9)
The findings of this study revealed that the
first stage of the sojourn is not categorised
exclusively by only either euphoria or
anxiety but it is rather a mixture of both
Jayaraman 3
The psychological approached is treated
more like a medical disease then it is a
culture shock, and possible provides
medication to help the individual get over the
feeling of cultural shock.. The sociocultural on
the other hand gives the individual a stimulus
to help them cope with the different situations,
so they would help them fit into the culture
and society.
The weather is another factor which can
increase your anxiety or homesickness. In the
case of Tarun he had ear infections due to
the increase of wind speed in the UK and it
affected his ability to concentrate in the
classroom. This makes sense, because if you
are in a foreign country and you start to
become sick with no one to help you from
your family then you do start to become
homesick.
When thinking about something that doesnt
happen in your country you feel curious about
it. You can see many pictures and videos
about the certain topic that your country
doesnt have, but only when you go to a
different country and experience that
mysterious topic yourself you only know. In
Shreyas case she never knew about snow so
she was excited to finally see it for the first
time, but even this scenario falls into the U
curve as her perception of snow slowly
changed from being amazing to being a
hassle saying when you return inside, it gets
messy and wet..
The results are something I expected, there is
no feeling of anxiety or euphoria before going
to a foreign country, there is a mix of both that
gets changed when you arrive to when you
 Jayaraman 4

emotions in varying degrees. Tarun and get adjusted.

Vivek experienced mostly positive feelings
when travelling to the UK while Shreya was
really anxious. Similarly Tarun suffered
more from the UK weather as he had
serious ear infections while Vivek was
prepared mentally to face the weather and
Shreya was looking forward to seeing snow
for the first time in her life(Unjore 9)

Another factor to consider is when does the
first phase of the sojourn really start? This
study revealed that the first phase starts
way before the sojourners have even set
foot in the UK.(Unjore 9)
This is true! When you think about it, people
state that the first phase begins when you
leave the country, but what about the
preparation that people take before going to a
different country? What if people research
before they leave compared to those that
didnt. Wouldnt their first stage start the
minute they get the opportunity to go a
foreign country?