Story by Tess Jewell-Larsen
Photos as noted
Loud, pushy, and unable to make nice, neat lines. That’s what Kat Gustin thought as she made her way through the Chicago airport after returning from a year living and studying in Norwich, England.
“I really didn’t want to see [Americans],” says Gustin, a graduating UO senior studying International Studies, “because seeing them meant I really wasn’t in England.”
Reverse culture shock, also referred to as return culture shock, is a fairly common occurrence where the study abroad returnee experiences the same sort of disorientating change that more often occurs while abroad. The shock experienced can be physical, psychological and/or behavioral. Just as in “normal” culture shock, the specific manifestations vary.
“The extent or degree to which we suffer from either culture shock or re-entry shock depends on many factors: our personality, expectations, and ability to deal with frustration and ambiguity,” says Carmen Arrue, cultural anthropologist and the director of the AHA International study abroad program in Oviedo, Spain.
Arrue says there are many reasons why reverse culture shock can happen, but one of the biggest stems from the experience of living abroad being such “a transforming experience” that it changes “[a student’s life] in significant ways.”
“Returnees can also suffer a momentary loss of identity and disorientation as regards their own culture, goals, relationships and career plans,” Arrue continues. The returnees don’t fit in anymore and some of their new “behavior, attitudes and perspectives” aren’t always understood by their friends and family.
“I just felt like I didn’t belong,” says Dan Fox, a UO senior studying Japanese. “I was really moody all the time.” Fox spent last year in Japan studying the language and living in dorms with Japanese and other international students.
“I was on the Internet a lot [when I first came back], talking to my friends in Japan,” he says. He didn’t have a car, so he was “pretty much stuck at the house all the time.” Fox figures this didn’t help him readjust to American culture as it left him too much time to think about what wasn’t.
The first time Fox realized the issue was when he, his brother, and two friends were out driving. Fox and another friend, who had also studied in Japan, talked about the amazing experiences they had and the culture shock they experienced while away. His brother suddenly spoke up and said, “Mom says you’ve been moody and it’s true.”
“That’s when I realized I was going through culture shock,” Fox says. He apologized to his mom, but it was still difficult for him to feel comfortable living in the US. Then Fox came back to the UO where he was able to reintegrate with people who had similar experiences he could relate to.
Not all students view the reverse culture shock as a hard experience. Kate Clark, a UO senior studying photography, felt a sense of community when she arrived in the US after spending six months abroad.
“I felt so connected to everyone because I was fluent in their language,” Clark says. “I think I gained an appreciation for my own culture.” However, Clark adds, it helped to live with someone in the US who had also studied abroad. When Clark returned to the UO she moved in with Gustin; both had studied in Sienna, Italy together.
When Clark returned to Eugene a “welcome home” party was planned for her and another friend, but only two people showed up. “It’s hard to get back and realize that your friends moved on without you,” Clark says.
“Living with [Gustin] really helped,” Clark says, because she was able to share her experience and Gustin had a steady group of friends to come back to who helped Clark integrate back into the culture.
“I think it’s really important for people to find out whether [living abroad] is for you, or for people like me who find out living in your own culture is good,” Clark says. For her, no matter what the experience of returning from studying, or even traveling—a term Clark defines as spending time to get to know the culture, not just visiting the sights—is important to figure out what is best for you.
Gustin and Fox agree that studying abroad was one of best choices they have made. While Clark wants to graduate and ultimately settle in the US, both Gustin and Fox are planning to go abroad again after they graduate.
Gustin has been accepted into the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England, to study her master’s degree in International Relations and European Studies. Fox has applied to the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program in Japan to teach English as a foreign language.
While culture shock and reverse culture shock may be daunting, it should not stop anyone from studying, living, or travelling abroad.
“Any challenges and suffering that result from having the cultural rug pulled from under your feet helps to build intercultural muscle,” Arrue says. “And [it] makes you better ‘fit’ to navigate in this globalized world that we live in today.”
