Study Abroad Handbook
The shock of returning home can be as powerful as the shock of your first months abroad, but there are several ways to prepare yourself. Furthermore, there are several ways to make your experience last, even years after you return.
The Office of International Programs (OIP) conducts a re-entry workshop for students returning from studying abroad.
Plan ahead…think "job searching" early. Connecting with people in your chosen profession is called "networking." Many people who are successful in obtaining employment immediately after graduation have cultivated good networks while still at the university. Don't wait until graduation to begin your job search. And be sure to emphasize all of the wonderful new skills you have obtained while abroad. They will be very valuable to you in your search for employment.
PLANNING YOUR RETURN HOME
You may have just arrived overseas, but it is not too early to begin thinking about the day you return home. Reflecting on questions such as "Why did I choose an overseas program?" and "What do I want to accomplish during my time here?" can help you clarify how you are going to integrate your overseas experience into your academic, professional, and personal goals for the future. Preparing for the surprises that often greet travelers after an extended period abroad will enable you to turn what can be a very awkward and distressing time into a productive one.
Keeping in Touch with Home
Making Travel Arrangements
Departure Checklist
Preparing for Reverse Culture Shock
Levels of Readjustment
Length of the Readjustment Period
Coping Strategies
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH HOME
Part of the preparation for returning home includes staying in contact with your family and friends, working on any academic or school-related matters that need to be dealt with while you are away, and to some extent, keeping up with social, political, and economical developments at home. For some students, these changes will be minute; for others, they may be very significant.
You should always make sure to send the Office of International Programs (OIP) any address changes, otherwise materials will be sent to your host coordinator and sometimes will not reach you for several days or weeks after they arrive at your host campus.
MAKING TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
If you already have a return plane ticket you should contact the airline and reconfirm your seat at least 72 hours in advance. Airlines notoriously overbook flights back to the United States. You may decide to travel before leaving the country; depending upon any ticket restrictions, changing the date of your return may be possible for a fee. If you want to change the return date,
contact the airline directly or visit a travel agency. They can tell you what - if any - restrictions there are. If you do not have a return ticket, you should book a flight at least 60 days in advance, especially if you are returning in the summer when it is high travel season in the United States.
DEPARTURE CHECKLIST
There are a number of very important things you must do before you leave your host country. Do not leave everything for the last minute!
TRANSCRIPTS
Make sure you check with the International Office or Registrar's Office at your host school about how and when you will be getting your transcript sent back to the U.S. You may want to obtain extra copies of your transcript or any other relevant documents, especially if you plan on applying to graduate schools in the future. You will need to produce official copies of transcripts for applications to most graduate schools, and it could be difficult to obtain them after you have departed. (See the section on Important Academic Matters.)
Note to ISEP Participants: You are required to arrange for an official copy of your transcript to be sent to the ISEP Central Office in Washington, D.C. You also must submit a Participant Evaluation form after your return home.
HOUSING-RELATED ISSUES
If you are living in an apartment and are required to give notice, notify your landlord in writing of your departure at least 30 days before you intend to leave (check any agreements you have signed). Determine how your last month's rent will be paid (ie. can you use your security deposit?) and how your landlord will return to you any money that remains from your security or damage deposits (if any). Notify telephone, electric, and gas companies, or any other service providers, of when you plan to discontinue your service, and make arrangements for any deposits to be refunded.
FORWARDING ADDRESS
Leave your forwarding address with your host coordinator.
OUTSTANDING BILLS
Pay all outstanding bills, including housing, library fines, and any other institutional obligations. Your transcript may not be released until you do so.
PREPARING FOR REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK
The cycle of overseas adjustment begins at the time you start planning to study abroad. You may think that the adjustment ends when you have successfully assimilated into the life of your host country, but in fact, the cycle of cultural adjustment continues through your return to the United States. Culture shock and re-entry shock (more commonly known as "reverse culture shock") are not isolated events but rather part of the total adjustment process that stretches from pre-departure to reintegration at home. The rest of this chapter is meant for you to refer to as you prepare to leave your host country. It is important to read this section now, as well as when you are about to return home.
CHANGE AND ADAPTATION
You have just had the opportunity to live, study, and travel overseas. During your stay you have probably assimilated some of the host country's culture, you have learned new ways of doing things and, perhaps, you have gained some new views and opinions about certain topics. In short, you have changed. As one returnee explains, "Living abroad has a deep, broadening
effect on a person - an effect that I didn’t realize until my return." For some people living overseas and having those changes occur outside of the U.S. can magnify their experiences, thus causing the return home to be especially unsettling. In addition, some of the experiences you will have had are specific to being overseas and could not have occurred in the U.S.
While overseas you may have experienced a greater amount of independence, both academically and personally, than you previously experienced in the U.S. This independence can help to make you more confident in your abilities to achieve your goals. You may have become increasingly more sure of yourself and possibly have gained a more mature or focused attitude about your future. You may even be more serious and directed. Some of these new views and attitudes may be in conflict with the views and attitudes of family and friends. They may question your new ways of thinking and doing things or even pressure you to be "the same old you." These changes may be unsettling and uncomfortable at first for everyone involved.
NEW SKILLS
Along with new ideas, views, and attitudes that you have developed, you have probably acquired some new skills. These may include discovering a new way to do an old task, a different perspective on your field of study, or increasing your foreign language skills. And, for those of you studying in an English-speaking country, the English language will acquire new meaning
through idioms, lingo, and phrases that are specific to the host country.
These new skills will now become a part of your daily life. Increasing facility with your foreign language will probably have one of the greatest impacts. If you have learned to become dependent on these skills to communicate day to day, it may feel strange for you to revert back to your native language. The degree of "strangeness" is directly connected to the amount of culture from the host country that you have assimilated and will definitely influence your re-adjustment. You may feel frustrated and depressed if you cannot communicate your new ideas, skills, or opinions, and this can be distressing. Again, patience, flexibility, and time will be required as they were at the beginning of your sojourn.
LOSS OF STATUS
In your host country you may have been seen as an informal ambassador from the United States. This gave you a certain status of being "special." When you return home, you are just like everyone else and the loss of feeling a bit "special" can be a factor that you must deal with in your re-adjustment. One returnee describes it this way: "Being in a foreign country as a foreign visitor, you are to a certain extent a 'special person'; your views, accent, lifestyle are all interesting to your hosts. As such, you will receive a lot of attention, make friends easily, and generally be popular. However, when returning 'home,' you become again a 'normal person.' I found it very difficult to make that transition."
FRIENDSHIPS
Now that you have studied abroad, you obviously have a new circle of friends. You most likely saw some or all of these people on a daily basis and they probably became an important part of your life. Leaving your new friends can be, for many people, the most difficult part of re-entry. Having to abandon intense friendships or boy/girlfriends, and cultural supports, frequently causes distressing feelings characteristic of those associated with the grieving process. Although you may seem to make a good surface adjustment once home, that adjustment may, at times, cover contained feelings of uncertainty, alienation, anger, and disappointment.
At first, friends back home will ask about your experiences and appear to be interested. They will often show an interest in your adventures, but this may quickly fade. They will whip through pictures and stories once, but because they have not shared the experience, you should be prepared for their cursory interest. After a while you may find that your friends are more eager to talk
about what has gone on in their lives as opposed to hearing more about your life overseas. If many of your friends have never lived abroad, you may also have to deal with feelings of envy or jealousy. When you talk "too much" about your experience, people may accuse you of being elitist even though that is probably not your intention. People are often threatened by new and
unusual points of view if they themselves have not had a similar experience. As much as you need to talk about your recent time away from home, it is advisable to be sensitive to the attitudes and feelings of others. (Refer to the section on Coping Strategies which discusses other options for support.)
As with your family relationships, your relationships with your friends can alter because of the changes that have occurred in your life and the lives of your friends. Former friends may even have found new friendships and have priorities which are now different from yours. Be patient. If the friendship is worth maintaining, adjustment can and will be made. If not, developing new friendships can be as exhilarating as travelling.
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
These changes - your new independence, new views, and new attitudes, your role as informal ambassador, your newly acquired skills, and your new friends - all have contributed to making you who you are now. The "changed you" will have to re-adjust to life in the United States, and for some, this can be difficult.
It can come as a surprise to realize that you are not the only one affected by your return. After all, you are the one who has been away and had so many new experiences. You may feel that everyone and everything at home should have stayed fairly stable. However, the home you remember is not always going to be exactly the same as when you left. This feeling of "dislocation" occurs for two reasons. One, because you are now looking at what was once familiar with a new perspective. Therefore, you will see everything a bit differently. The new experiences and perspectives gained abroad may mean that home is never the same again. Secondly, like it or not, life at home did carry on while you were away. Things have happened to your family and friends and events have occurred in their lives. These events may have caused changes in their feelings, perceptions, opinions, and attitudes. Granted, these changes may not have as intensely affected your life. However, to the specific individuals their experiences are as important as your experiences are to you. Remember, and be aware, that people at home change too, so expect things to be different and entirely the same as they were when you left.
It is normal for you to desire to hold onto the person who you have become. Your overseas experience and life are now a part of you. The "new" you cannot be discarded or forgotten for the "old" you. However, you and your host family must come to terms with that "new" you and continue to build upon your existing relationship from this point forward. It will require commitment to work toward mutual respect and understanding of each other's views. You may find that you have a totally different relationship with your family.
UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE LIFE
For those of you who eventually return to a university setting after a break spent at home, you may feel that you have been able to re-adjust during the few months or weeks at home. However, if you return directly to The University of Montana without time at home (or limited time at home) you may face a new set of re-adjustment issues upon return to academic life. If you
have become very accustomed to a different type of academic system while overseas, you will have to deal with re-adjusting to the academic system at The University of Montana. For example, some students, while overseas, experience a greater amount of academic independence than they had previously experienced. If you found that academic freedom is particularly gratifying and challenging then the re-adjustment to a system that is a bit more structured can be difficult. Returning to university life you may feel a bit "removed" from The University of Montana and the people around you.
LEVELS OF READJUSTMENT
As stated earlier, no experience is the same for everyone. You will go through re-entry much differently than someone else. Research on readjustment to life in the United States after a prolonged stay abroad suggests that there are several variables that may affect the degree of difficulty faced by individuals during the re-entry. Some of these variables include:
GENDER
Female returnees may experience more difficulty and conflicts upon returning home if the home environment is one with a patriarchal tradition. This does not assume that they preferred the host country environment, simply that they may have to cope with more differences than men.
AGE AND ACADEMIC LEVEL
Older students or professionals who were well-established in their field before their sojourn sometimes experience a less troubled re-entry than younger students. Those who left home as teenagers, ready to discover new attitudes and explore new ways of living, may likely adopt the "host culture's way" rather than selectively integrating it with their own cultural or personal beliefs. Once home they may constantly compare home country traditions and practices unfavorably with their host country experience, increasing the feelings of alienation.
PREVIOUS CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
Students who have previously been away from the U.S. have less trouble adjusting. A student who expects to experience some difficulties on return is better able to manage re-acculturation problems. As with the "culture shock" experienced upon arriving in your host country, knowing what to expect ahead of time may make your experience easier to deal with.
LENGTH OF STAY IN AND DEGREE OF INTERACTION WITH THE HOST CULTURE
The longer a student stays in the host country and the greater the degree of interaction and empathy with the host culture he or she experiences, the more difficult re-entry to the home culture environment may be. Some observers have noted that students who are able to afford vacation visits home during their sojourn seem to experience fewer problems upon returning home for good. It is thought that exposure to the home environment during visits results in more realistic expectations upon your eventual return from the study program.
READINESS TO RETURN HOME
It has been hypothesized that students who strongly desire to return home at the end of their study sojourn are most likely to return home with a high motivation to "re-socialize," while those who strongly desire to stay on in the host country will seem "alienated" upon re-entry. Those who are moderately looking forward to returning home are expected to have the healthiest reentry.
DEGREE OF SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE HOME AND HOST CULTURES
The greater the differences between the host culture and the home culture, the greater the re-acculturation difficulty for the student. An Australian or British student returning home from the United States might expect an easier transition than a Thai or Saudi Arabian student. However, the more a returnee expects to experience reverse culture shock, the less likely it is that
the difficulties will cause harm.
CHANGES (OR LACK OF) IN THE HOME ENVIRONMENT
This variable can work in several ways. A returnee may expect everything to be the same at work as it was when he or she left. During the student's absence, there may have been subtle or dramatic changes in political, economic, environmental, or social factors on a national scale. Family relationships or the standard of living may have altered in ways not anticipated. Such unexpected changes may be stressful psychologically. Conversely, a student may return home to find that nothing seems to have changed. This can intensify the feeling that there is no one who can understand what he or she is going through.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES UPON RETURN
Graduates who have difficulty finding an appropriate job, or any job, upon their return can be expected to experience more stressful re-entry than those who return to a past position, or to a promotion, or who are able to make a new start at an appropriate level. Sometimes, those returning to previously held positions feel that they have outgrown them or that their contributions are not appreciated by their colleagues. Others may find that their host country program of study did not prepare them to deal with real conditions and resources in the home environment.
INDIVIDUAL AWARENESS
Even the most aware individual is not immune from reverse culture shock or re-acculturation bumps. But the returnee should be able to understand what is happening and why. Ideally, the student will be calm and capable of focusing on what he or she can do to ease the transition process, will look for ways to use the best of the (host cultural) experience, and will translate it so
that family and colleagues or friends can understand and share the benefits.
AVAILABILITY OF (OR LACK OF) SUPPORT GROUP
Being able to share concerns or coping strategies with other recent or more established returnees can help to reduce the panic, depression, frustration, and sense of helplessness that can accompany re-entry. Students who return to places where very few people have studied or traveled abroad or in their particular host country may feel very alone since there is no one with whom
they can discuss their concerns and experiences. It helps to locate even one other person who has done what you have to discuss your common experiences with.
LENGTH OF THE READJUSTMENT PERIOD
The length of time that the re-adjustment phase lasts will, of course, vary from person to person, but it will also depend on the level of intensity you experience. If you experience a very high level of intensity your adjustment will most likely take longer than if you experience a very low level of intensity. One returning student said: "I have been back four months and I still find it hard to communicate about my experiences and often I feel I must hide many of the new attitudes or knowledge I may have gained that seems so at odds with my old life." In addition, the length of time the re-adjustment lasts depends on your personality and how you cope with the situations that occur in your life.
COPING STRATEGIES
The good news is that this phase of re-adjustment to life in the U.S. does not last forever! Here are some suggestions of ways to make this phase a bit easier on you and your family and friends:
ACKNOWLEDGE THE ADJUSTMENT PHASE
First and foremost, acknowledge the re-entry phase as part of the overseas experience. Just as you had to give yourself time while going through the culture shock phase (if you did experience culture shock), so too must you give yourself time to go through the re-entry phase. Acknowledging that reverse cultural adjustment is real may help you to avoid feelings of guilt that
might occur if you are feeling depressed or unhappy about being home. As one returnee put it, "Don’t blame yourself, give yourself time.…I'd have felt less guilty and peculiar if I'd realized it was a common phenomenon."
SHARE YOUR ADJUSTMENT PROCESS
Educate your family and friends about this phase of your experience. Many people have never heard of, let alone experienced reverse cultural adjustment. If the people around you know a little more about what you are experiencing, then hopefully, they will be a bit more patient and understanding towards you and better able to help you adjust. If you have difficulty communication your feelings, try sharing this manual with your family and friends. Remind those around you that you can not unlearn what you have learned, and that you need time to re-integrate the often conflicting components within yourself.
The Office of International Programs (OIP) arranges a re-entry workshop for students who have returned from Study Abroad programs. Check with the Study Abroad Coordinator upon your return. This is a great opportunity to share your adjustment experiences with other study abroad returnees.
STAY IN CONTACT WITH YOUR HOST CULTURE
Keep in contact through letters (and if possible through phone calls or email) with the friends you made in the host country. It will help you to feel that what you experienced was real and not one big dream. Some returnees have the feeling of never having been overseas after their return to their home country. Also, if some of your friends are returning to the U.S. as well, they will possibly be experiencing similar adjustment problems. You are an obvious support system for each other as you each know how the other is feeling and what the other is missing.
SEEK OUT OTHERS AND GET INVOLVED
If possible, seek out other returnees. The fact that they have gone through, or are going through re-entry and can offer support and advice about how to cope will be helpful. Other returnees may be more eager than your family and friends to hear about your overseas adventures because they also have a multicultural and international perspective. Joining the International Student Association (ISA) and becoming active in the events they sponsor offers you an outlet to share your concerns and also your experiences. The ISA sponsors a wide variety of activities. The Office of Foreign Student and Scholar Services (FSSS) looks for returnees who would like to be Peer Assistants for incoming foreign students. As a Peer Assistant, you are matched with a foreign student at the beginning of the semester. You serve as a resource person and friend for that student, helping them during their first semester on campus, which is often confusing and frustrating for foreign students. You might give a campus tour, show the student how to register, help him or her to get settled in the dormitory, answer basic questions about life in Missoula and at The University of Montana, or just provide a friendly ear to ease their culture shock and introduce them to American culture.
If you want to keep using your foreign language skills there are a couple of things you can do. One is obvious: take an advanced level course in the language. However, if you cannot fit this into your class schedule, or such a course is not offered at UM, then think about contacting the English Language Institute (ELI) to see about becoming a Speaking Partner for an incoming
foreign student. ELI matches each of their foreign students with a UM student for conversation practice and cultural exchange; partners are selected during the first two weeks of the semester. Think about starting a "language table," where a group of student interested in improving skills in a specific foreign language can meet one to three times a week at a meal time and only speak that language. The topics of discussion are irrelevant; the purpose is to get together and practice language skills.
Seek out other "captive audiences" who would have a natural interest in your overseas experience. Part of re-adjusting is being able to tell your story and describe the experiences that you have lived through. Such audiences include cultural organizations (you may want to consider becoming a member) or civic groups that have an interest in the part of the world where you lived, school groups studying that part of the world, and most importantly, prospective study abroad candidates. If you are returning to The University of Montana, offer your services to the Office of International Programs (OIP) . You are the perfect person to be a resource for other students considering study in your host country.
SET GOALS FOR YOUR FUTURE
Now is the time to look towards your future. You have finished one phase of your life and are ready to move ahead to another. Think about the next challenge or goal you want to pursue. Begin making plans for that goal and put those plans into action. Even if you have to return to The University of Montana to finish a year or two of a degree, you can develop goals for that period of time so that you will feel you are moving ahead rather than regressing. It is common for students who do return to the university to feel they have gone "ten steps forward (their overseas experience), and are now going eleven steps backward
(the return to university)." It is up to you to get the most out of your time by giving yourself new goals and challenges. Take the influence of your overseas experience and use it positively to help plan this next phase of your life.
Here is some advice from other returnees:
"I think one of the best steps to take is to give yourself and your family and friends time. It was good to visit with people and catch up on their news and listen to them. Listening is important."
"Try to reflect on the positive aspects of your stay away and the positive aspects of your here and now and how they compare and contrast.”
“Don’t be surprised - it will take time to re-adjust, but you’ll feel 'at home' again in time. Don't expect to view/see people or things as you did when you left. Try to look for the positive things in returning home, not the negative."
"First of all, realize it is very natural to experience these things. Secondly, …try not to take yourself too seriously (if possible)…Keep up your ties with your friends in the 'foreign' country by letters and phone calls."
"Be patient with yourself and your mood swings. Keep in touch with friends you've met, but don’t forget to build new bridges at home."