Re-entry and Reverse Culture Shock
What is Reverse Culture Shock?
Returning home can be as great an adjustment as going abroad. Just as most of you had a period of adjustment upon arrival abroad, many of you may also experience a period of transition and readjustment to the U.S.
Over the course of your time away, you no doubt gradually adopted or accepted many of the ways of your host country, maybe without even realizing it. This new cultural perspective often leaves students feeling somewhat ambivalent about being back in the States; while happy to see family and friends, it may sometimes seem that you were strangely more at home abroad. Such sentiments, often referred to as reverse culture shock or re-entry shock, are common. (Adapted from: Kohls, Robert. (2001). Survival Kit for Overseas Living. Yarmouth, ME: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.)
Like culture shock, which you experienced while abroad, re-entry shock, too, has distinct stages. Stage one: Disengagement may happen before you leave your host country and often times occurs because of the pace of finals, goodbye dinners. As a result, you begin to distance yourself from friends and host country nationals. Stage two: Initial Euphoria may also occur as a result of leaving your host country and returning to the US. This is where you may have formed idealistic views of home, and what will happen upon your return. You are happy to be home! This feeling of euphoria may last a few weeks, but may inevitably give way to feelings of loneliness. This is Stage three: Irritability and Hostility, which is the realization that life at home went on without you, and as you were learning new things and making subtle changes, they were too. You may feel that friends and family don’t understand or want to hear what you experienced abroad.
The Challenges
Back on US soil, you may experience a number of challenges, including:
• Boredom
• Restlessness
• People at home do not appear to think beyond the Oxy/US bubble
• You can’t fully articulate your experience
• Relationships have changed
• Homesickness for your host country
• People misunderstand
• Feelings of alienation
• People don’t want to hear...
(Ibid, Kohls.)
These are all natural reactions to having spent a great deal of time and energy in adapting to a new country, culture, language and way of life, only to pack up and leave four months later. It takes time to process what you have experienced and the sense of loss once you leave.
For many of you it may be months or even years before you can truly express how this experience has shaped your values, beliefs, politics, and goals for the future. But you will come through it and below are a number of tips on staying connected without alienating those around you.
Managing Stage Three: Irritability and Hostility
• Stay connected with host country nationals you befriended as well as the US students you shared this experience with.
• Share your experience with other Oxy students who were abroad at the same time.
• Like you may have done while you were abroad, continue to write in a journal about the new journey you are on at home.
• Try to be patient with friends and family who may appear uninterested or who want to talk about what happened to them while you were abroad.
• Volunteer to help the IPO during orientation or at information meetings.
• Read a book in your host country language or rent a foreign movie.
• Volunteer with the Center for Community Based Learning or Student Life.
• Join an international or intercultural club on campus.
• Start an Off-Campus Study Returnee group.
• Participate in returnee activities like Oxy’s Welcome Back! Reception.
• Contact the IPO to talk about your experience, what you are feeling now, and what we can do to help you work through this transition.
(Adapted from the VT & SFSU website)
Patience and continued reflection will lead to Stage four: Readjustment & Adaptation. You may see the world through a different lens now, but are quick to find that the cultural differences you once thought so great are, in reality, infinitesimal. You have learned to incorporate the changes you’ve made within yourself, into new goals and ideas that don’t negate your own culture’s norms and values. You have attained a balance between both cultures.
We encourage you to continue reading to learn more about how re-entry shock effects study abroad students, and how to recognize the symptoms.
As well we will highlight opportunities available throughout the year for you to share your experience with a variety of different audiences. Have a great semester!!!
Middlebury College Reentry Resource List [top]
Austin, Clyde. “Cross-Cultural Re-entry: A Book of Readings”. Abilene, Texas: Abilene Christian University Press, 1986.
Bruce, A. “Culture Shock at Home: Understanding Your Own Change - The Experience of Return”. Transitions Abroad. January/February, 1997, p. 79-80 ( http://www.transabroad.com ).
Citron, James. “Short-Term Study Abroad: Integration, Third Culture Formation, and Reentry”. NAFSA: Association of International Educators ( http://www.nafsa.org ).
Hogan, John T. “Culture-Shock and Reverse-Culture Shock: Implications for Juniors Abroad and Seniors at Home”. Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American College Personnel Association (Houston, TX, March 13-16, 1983).
Howell, Leah. “Coming Home: Sustaining the Experiences of Studying Abroad”. The Vermont Connection. 1999.
Kauffman, Norman L., Martin, Judith N., and Weaver, Henry D. “Students Abroad: Strangers at Home”. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1992.
Kepets, Dawn. “Back in the USA: Reflecting on Your Study Abroad Experience and Putting it to Work”. NAFSA: Association of International Educators, 1995 ( http://www.nafsa.org ).
Kohls, L. Robert. “Survival Kit for Overseas Living”. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1996.
Martin, Judith N. “Patterns of Communication in Three Types of Reentry Relationships: An Exploratory Study”. Western Journal of Speech Communication. v50 n2 Spring 1986, p.183-99.
Other Useful Articles and Resources [top]