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Returning Home
Study abroad students carefully prepare for their time overseas, aware that they can expect stress and difficulty as well as excitement when living in an unfamiliar culture. However, returning study abroad students also often experience difficulty re-adjusting to life in the United States and at Warren Wilson. Your attitudes, outlooks, and relationships may have changed during your time abroad. Experiencing this "reverse culture shock" is an entirely normal reaction. Below are some suggestions to ease your re-entry.
- Avoid quick judgments. Think of specific, positive ways you can integrate your international experiences into your life.
- Select courses which allow you to build on or reflect upon your experiences; for example, courses in language, religious studies, international relations, or Global Studies.
- Keep in touch with your friends and host family abroad.
- Be patient with your friends and family who are trying to understand your recent experiences. Recognize that they may not want to hear as much as you want to tell them. Listen to them, too, about the changes they underwent during the time you were away.
- Involvement with international students is a great way to return the hospitality you experienced while abroad. Befriend an international student at Warren Wilson, so that you can continue to think about and share your international experiences.
- Plan your return visit or other international experiences. Contact the International Programs Office for more study options and the Career Center for volunteer or vocational opportunities around the world.
- Contact the Counseling Center for further assistance.
Reverse Culture Shock
While every individual undergoes re-entry in his or her own way, the experience may follow a predictable pattern. There are four general stages of readjustment, but the length and intensity of each stage will vary for each person. Like many transitions, these stages may occur several times in different settings and at different phases in your life.
- Stage One: Leave-taking and Departure
- Begins some time before you actually leave the country and culture of your program
- Ideally, includes intentional farewells and closure with people important to you during your study abroad experience
- May combine feelings of anticipation, excitement, and ambivalence about your return home or to Warren Wilson, looking forward to reconnecting, but unsure of how it may go
- Stage Two: The Honeymoon
- Feels exhilarating during the first few weeks, because you are the center of attention and you can do/eat/smell all the things you've missed while away. This can occur first at home, then again when you return to Warren Wilson.
- You may not see home or school "so much for what it is, but for what you need it to be."
- Stage Three: Reverse Culture Shock
- Usually sets in when you have made your rounds of initial visits and connections and must settle down to "normal life."
- You may feel judgmental about the United States and/or Warren Wilson, overwhelmed by the attitudes about time, schedules, and expectations in classes, and doubtful about the wisdom of returning, majoring in a certain field, living on campus, etc.
- You may want to resist the pressures of family, work, and/or school, may not want to let go of your study abroad experience, may feel the urge to escape or withdraw, or may feel downright depressed.
- Stage Four: Readjustment
- You recognize that re-entry shock is not permanent.
- You begin put your international experience and views of the United States into perspective to achieve a more balanced point of view.
- You feel less anxious and doubtful as you become more relaxed and familiar with your surroundings.
- You recognize that your cross-cultural awareness does not require an either/or approach, that you can integrate your study experience into your own US/Warren Wilson life.
- You find that your friends and family become more understanding as they slowly hear more stories and comprehend the complexity and richness of your experience.
