Analyzing the Phases of Culture Shock in Emily in Paris

Culture shock can be explained as an inevitable reaction to a new environment. It commonly occurs when someone is visiting or moving to another place that has different customs and habits. Going through a culture shock is normal because that person has no control over the new place. There are several phases of culture shock, namely, the honeymoon phase, negotiation phase, adjustment phase, and adaptation phase. Culture shock is shown in a TV series called Emily in Paris. In the series, the main character, Emily Cooper, has to stay in Paris for a year. In the first place, the one that had to stay in Paris was her boss. But, something happened to her boss and the opportunity goes to Emily. Emily experiences the phases of culture shock and I will explain the phases that she has gone through.

The first phase is the honeymoon phase. It happens when Emily first arrived in Paris. She was sitting in the car while taking some pictures of the scenery with her phone. Looking at the street, she was smiling widely. Even at the moment she knew her apartment did not have an elevator, she was still smiling. The next moment is when she first went to her office, Savoir, she was smiling all along the way. Onto the next day, she had a shock while eating a pain au chocolat, her expression says it all. She was amazed by the taste of her first bite.

The next one is the negotiation phase. In this phase, Emily learnt the floor numbering in France. She did not know that the first floor is counted as the ground floor, and the second floor is the first floor. She often made mistakes about this and ended up opening someone else’s apartment, which later she became friends with that person. Emily’s next mistake is not learning French before she left for Paris. Therefore, when she arrived at her office, she had to use Google Translate while talking to her co-worker. Fortunately, her boss at Savoir understands English and is able to communicate well. Though, Emily’s inability in speaking French did give her problems. Other than that, in Luc’s opinion (Emily’s co-worker), while having their first meeting, Luc told Emily that she was speaking too loud. This makes Emily tone her voice down and learn that French people are not speaking too loudly. Her next experience was when she was buying a pain au chocolat. She did speak a little bit of French but had some errors. Luckily, the seller was kind and taught her the correct one. Lastly, she came to work so early that the door was not opened yet. The office opened at 10:30, but she came 2 hours earlier. Emily also seems too workaholic according to her fellow co-worker. Even Sylvie (Emily’s boss at Savoir) told her to calm down a little bit and not to talk about work at a party.

The third phase is the adjustment phase. First, Emily started to adjust by responding to her friend’s joke towards Emily with her sassiness. Second, she handled Parisian’s rudeness and insolent behaviour excellently. Also, she can go to the market and buy some things by herself. Another thing that excites her and made her be accepted by her co-workers is when Brigitte Macron reposted her Instagram post. By the time the news spread to her co-workers, she was right away getting asked to have lunch together. In this way, Emily had just started to adjust her life in Paris.

The last stage is the adaptation phase. During her time in Paris, she can communicate with French people with a wider knowledge of French vocabulary and she begins to understand French. In one scene, she can do a food order using French, but she made a fatal mistake that is so funny. However, she still speaks English with her French friends. Emily also starts to understand and can tame Sylvie’s attitude towards her. Sylvie begins to be more gentle towards Emily. She proves that she can attract more customers for Savoir, even the big ones. Aside from her job in Savoir, she is also a social media influencer. Her followers in her social media account grow bigger each time when she is in Paris. It was not surprising that she was invited to a social-media-influencer gathering. With her creativity in marketing, she opens a window of opportunity and it brings her to a lot of places like knowing important people.

To conclude, Emily has an amazing time in Paris. She had ups and downs while adjusting to her new life there. Since this is a TV series and it is not reality, Emily often had luck. She does not encounter some rough phases while adapting to her new life in Paris.

Taken from Clara Nathania’s Medium, originally published in March, 6 2021