Returning Home: Preparing to Re-Enter Your Home Country

Coping Suggestions While you Are Still in the U.S. 1.) Have Nice Goodbyes Having a closure to your life in the U.S. is necessary to return to your new life in your home country. If you leave the U.S. with a feeling that you are leaving something behind, you might have or difficulty re adjusting to your home country. Make a list of your friends, teachers and anyone whom you would like to spend time with to say goodbye and start contacting them. Make sure you have their contact information such as their email address and phone numbers so that you can keep in touch with them. 2.) Reflect on Your Experiences in the U.S. Take time to look back on your experiences in the U.S. and identify the changes that have occurred in yourself. It is a good idea to discuss these changes with other international students and to share your thoughts with them. After you take a good amount of time to reflect on your experiences, try to create a short snapshot of your experiences in the U.S., which you will share with your family and friends back in your home country. Try to make it brief but make sure to include the important parts of your experiences in the U.S. 3.) Plan Your Life Ahead Start thinking of what your life will be like after your return to your country. Look for possible job opportunities and get connected with people in the field. Start getting connected with family members and friends at home, especially if you were not in frequent touch with them. Read the Other Chapters to Help You Cope The more information you have, the better off you will be. Please take a look at the other handouts that we have given you. Preparing to Return Home: Quick Tips By Bruce LoBrack Re-entry into your home culture can be both challenging and as frustrating as living overseas, mostly because our attitude toward going "home" is that it should be a simple matter of getting resettled, resuming your earlier routines and reestablishing your relationships. However, re-entry has its own set of special social and psychological adjustments. The following lists is compiled from many sources, but all the tips come from returnees who offer these ideas in the hope of making your re-entry easier for you and for those at home. 1. Prepare for Adjustment Process The more you think about what is to come and about how returning home is both similar to and different from going abroad the easier the transition will be. Anticipating is useful. As one psychologist put it, "Worrying helps".

2.) Allow Yourself Time Re-entry is a process that will take time, just like adjusting to a new foreign culture. Give yourself time to relax and reflect upon what is going on around you, how you are reacting to it, and what you might like to change. Give yourself permission to ease in to the transition. 3.) Understand that the Familiar Will Seem Different You will have changed, whom has changed, and you will be seeing familiar people, places, and behaviors from new perspectives. Some things will seem strange, perhaps even unsettling. Expect to have some new emotional and psychological reactions to being home. Everyone does. 4.) Reserve Judgements Just as you and to keep an open mind when first encountering the culture of a new foreign country try to resist the natural impulse to make snap decisions and judgement about people and behaviors once back home. Mood swings are common at first. Take time to reflect and make a valid analysis of what is happening around you. 5.) Respond Thoughtfully and Slowly Quick answers and impulsive reactions often characterize returnees. Frustration, disorientation, and boredom in the return can lead to behavior that is incomprehensible to family and friends. Take some time to rehearse what you want to say and how you will respond to predictable questions and situation; prepare to greet those that are less predictable with a calm, thoughtful approach. 6.) Cultivate Sensibility Showing an interest in what others have been doing while you have been on your adventure overseas is the surest way to re-establish rapport. Much frustration in returnees stems from what is perceived as disinterest by others in their experience and lack of opportunity to express their feelings and tell their stories. Being a good listener as a talker is a key ingredient in mutual sharing. 7.) Beware of Comparisions Making comparisons between cultures and nations is natural, particularly after residence abroad; however, a person must be careful not to be seen as too critical of home or too lavish too much praise of things foreign. A balance of good and bad features is probably more accurate and certainly less threatening to others. The tendency to be an "instant expert" is to be avoided at all costs. 8.) Remain Flexible Keeping as many options open as possible is an essential aspect of a successful return home. Attempting to re socialize totally into old patterns and networks can be difficult, but remaining aloof is isolating and counterproductive. What you want to achieve is a balance between maintaining earlier patterns and enhancing your social and intellectual life with new friends and interests.

9.) Seek Support Networks There are lots of people back home who have gone through their own re-entry and understand a returnees' concerns. These include academic faculty, exchange students, international development staff, diplomatic corps, military personnel, church officials and businessmen and women. University study abroad and foreign student offices are just a few of the places where returnees can seek others who can offer support and country-specific advice. Compiled by Dr. Bruce LoBrack School for International Studies University of the Pacific for use by the Institute of International Education, San Francisco. Aspire Newsletter, Spring 1996. More Re-Entry Tips 1.) Re-Entry You've finally arrived home to the warm welcome of family and friends, after an amazing experience studying abroad. The only problem is once you arrive and the euphoria of seeing everyone wears off, you suddenly find yourself daydreaming about your host country, missing the friends you made while studying abroad and thinking you'd rather be there than at home. While this is unsettling and can even leave you depressed, what the experts call "re-entry shock" is completely common and totally normal. Figuring out the signs of shock and know what to do if you are experiencing them will help you adjust when you return. What is Re-Entry Shock? Re-entry shock is a term that describes the reverse culture shock people go through when returning home after an extended stay abroad. Just as you experienced culture shock when you first arrived at our study abroad destination, most students go through a similar readjustment period when they return home. Although re-entry shock is normal, it affects everyone differently. Are You Experiencing Re-Entry Shock? Feeling a little off? If you've just returned home and are experiencing a range of feelings, from restlessness to depression, you may be going through re-entry shock. Ask yourself the following questions: 1.) do your friends and family lack significant interest in your study abroad experience? 2.) Do you spend a great deal of our time thinking about and planning for a return trip to your study abroad destination? 3.) Do you feel bored with the pace of life at your home institutions? 4.)Do you feel like you do not have much in common with your old friends? 5.)Do you feel as though you have separated your study abroad experience from the rest of your life as if it has no place in your current situation? 6.)Have you experienced, over a significant period of time and in intense manner any of the following symptoms: restlessness, boredom, uncertainty, self-imposed isolation, changes in goals and priorities, home-sickness for your host country, depression and/or negative thoughts, attitude of behavior toward your native country?

If you answered yes to the questions above, you are more than likely experiencing re-entry shock. It should be comforting to know that most students who study abroad will experience this emotional phase and that you are not alone. And, while re-entry shock can often be a more difficult adjustment than the culture shock experienced when venturing to a new country, it is by no means incurable.

What Can You Do to Alleviate RE-Entry Shock? First, expect not to come home to the home you left. Think about all the change you've gone through during your time abroad and realize that your family and friends have also gone through changes while you've been away. Learning to expect a period of adjustment is the first step toward keeping re-entry shock at bay. Here is a list of other way you can beat the re-entry blues. - Stay Connected: Keep I touch with the friend you made overseas. This means both friends from home and the U.S.! Write letters, emails or even plan a reunion. -Keep Talking: Join a language club; read a book in English; enroll in a refresher course; rent an international film; or subscribe to a U.S. newspaper! -Reflect often: If you kept a journal while abroad continue to write your "post-abroad" experiences in it. It will be interesting to go back a year, two years, or even a decade from now to remember the experience as a whole and how it changed your life. -Promote Study Abroad on Campus: Share your experience and resources with other students by promoting study abroad on campus. You may volunteer your time or may even be able to get paid. -Help Out: Going to an international club or look into providing assistance to foreign students who are studying on our campus. Remember, you have been in their shoes and you understand their feelings about living in a foreign country! Sources: Adapted from CEA Global Education Solutions: Http://www.gowithcea.com/alumni/reentry/html