Why do we act and sound like someone else after a trip?

Instead of bringing back souvenirs, some travellers return home from holiday with an entirely different accent, look and mannerisms. But why?

When I was in my 20s, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but like many recent American college grads, I had a yen for travel and adventure, so I settled in Prague. Three years and hundreds of pints of Czech pilsner later, I moved back to the US. Rather than returning with physical souvenirs, I brought back something different: a new look and accent.

Out was my long, dark-blonde hair and my utilitarian jean-and-T-shirt style of dress; and in was my cropped bleach-blond hair, an androgynous fashion sense and a new affectation that sounded somewhere between central Bohemian and pretentious.

My family hated this new me. And looking back, I would have hated me, too.

Many people just back from holiday show friends and family photos to convey how transformative their trip was. But there's a whole other subsection of travellers who physically transform by bringing home the accent, dress or customs of a place and incorporating them into their daily lives.

Remember Madonna's widely mocked British lilt during her time in England? That's just the tip of the iceberg.

The internet is filled with viral videos poking fun of people who start chain-smoking and wearing all black after three days in Berlin, saying "bollocks" on their first day in London and pronouncing "Airbnb" with a Gallic flourish after five days in Paris. But while it's easy to mock these "semester abroad accents" and seemingly forced newfound mannerisms, I was curious to know why some of us are susceptible to this.

It turns out that it's not that difficult to pick up an accent – especially if we spend enough time in a place. Studies have suggested that we even unconsciously imitate other accents, since human beings frequently adjust to each other's ways of speaking. Travelling somewhere new may bring this out.

For many people, travel can be both influential and addictive. Learning about other cultures and experiencing how people around the world live can have a profound, lasting effect on us in ways both big and small.

According to Dr Charlotte Russell, a clinical psychologist and the founder of The Travel Psychologist these revelations can quickly become personal rituals. "The most obvious motivation [why some people incorporate foreign customs or speech] is that someone has really connected with a part of their experience in a particular place, and want to 'hold' onto their experiences and their sense of connection," she said.

• Why do we dress like someone else when we go on holiday?

• How easy is it to change your accent?

• The tiny US island with a British accent

Russell gave a personal example of "the quieter kinds of things we might bring back with us" from travelling abroad. She loves the Greek word parakalo, which translates to "please", but has a much deeper function in........

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