Getting Soaked in a New Culture


When you find yourself in a new environment or world, how do you behave? We often visit new places and get stuck in our own world because the environment, people and culture are not what we are familiar with. This totally takes the fun out of what would have been an amazing experience. As you seek to immerse yourself in a new culture on your next trip, this post will help you achieve just that.

Research about the place


Start by finding out bits of useful information about the place online. Reading about the experiences of other people who have been to the city will help you plan and guide your expectations. You can pick up things like common greetings, religious beliefs and delicacies. A good way to prepare and connect with a new culture is through music. Listening to a song like Eyo by Asa for instance, will already give you the vibe and feel of Lagos even before encountering the people. You can start listening to their music to ease yourself into the culture. 


Attend festivals/events




Part of the reasons you should do a research on the city like earlier mentioned is to note important festivals and events that will add colour to your travel experience. The one month long Calabar festival in Calabar or the Eyo Festival in Lagos are definitely a must see when visiting those destinations. Apart from the thrill of the festivals, you actually get to appreciate the uniqueness of the culture and its importance to the people.  


Select Your Perfect Stay



Since you plan to engage with the people and their culture, it will be better to choose your accommodation in areas that will help you achieve this. Different neighbourhoods are likely to mirror the social class and subgroups of the society. For instance, the experience you will get from staying in Lekki, Lagos will be different from that of areas like Agege, Iyana Ipaja in the same city.  Also, hotel prices tend to more affordable in the core places closer to the middle and low class inhabitants.


Taste the food




How can you know a culture without tasting the feel and texture of the food that fuels their spirit? The delicacies in some cities are legendary and it would be a great miss out to visit and not have a taste. When in Ibadan and many other core Yoruba cities, you just have to dip in the hot steaming plate of Amala served with Ewedu.


Tour Guide



It is great to discover places all by yourself but in some cases, to fully explore a new culture you will need an experienced person to guide you. Visiting places with historic and traditional significance, it is best to follow a tour guide who can explain it and show you places you might not have paid attention to otherwise.


Enjoy every moment


Don’t be that person who visits a new environment but holds on tight to your own world. You will hardly discover anything new thing this way. Revel in every passing moment even usual activities like going down the street to get some basic supply. There is bound to be peculiarities in the way things are done in this place that will fascinate you.

http://www.jam4naija.com/2015/07/how-to-get-immersed-in-new-culture.html?m=1

I wish I was the kind of person who tried out new food

I consider this inability to be one of my greatest failings as a human being....
I would seek help for it if I could
My stomach muscles actually contract when "strange food" enters my mouth

My relative's friend and another's wife one recently made me a pasta dish...and eggplant lasagna recently
It was a miracle I didnt barf all over their floors...after 6 ?strands/strings of pasta and a mini bite of lasagna respectively
Very bad
Same with native dishes....I cannot eat some Igbo dishes, how much more "stranger" ones from the other tribes
Tried Gote once, it is a miracle I am still alive
Meanwhile...everyone around me swore by it

SMH, at me

Nice post by the way