Almost a year ago, I received the best news of my life: I was accepted into my dream program to study abroad in Shanghai, China, where I would be able to fully immerse myself in the Chinese culture and improve my Mandarin skills. I had traveled internationally before, but this would be my first time traveling alone for more than just a week.
In the months leading up to my departure, I tried to prepare myself as much as I possibly could, from scouring the internet for packing lists to visiting the travel clinic and watching tons of study abroad vlogs. Even though I had some concerns initially and there were some tears shed at the airport, I was absolutely relieved and much more relaxed once my plane landed at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Meeting some of the other students in my program immediately helped ease my worries, especially once I realized that we were all just as nervous about this new experience … and jet-lagged from the flight.
During my time in China, I not only had the opportunity to live with a Shanghai native for three months — which made me constantly practice the Chinese language — but I also was lucky enough to travel to places that I had only seen in pictures. I’ll never forget how it felt to visit and walk on The Great Wall, one of the oldest man-made wonders of the world, to hike through the Gobi Desert, to see the famed Terracotta Warriors in person and to visit one of the newest Disneyland locations in Shanghai. As an adoptee from China visiting my birth country for the first time, it was amazing to see how thousands of years of history were contained in just one country. It made me even prouder to come from such a culturally rich nation. But living and studying abroad also made me realize that I tend to take many things for granted. I quickly learned to appreciate what I have in the United States.
While I had many resources that helped me adjust to a new cultural setting overseas, nothing could’ve prepared me for returning home and learning how to readjust to the country that I had left behind for almost four months.
For one thing, the time difference between China and the U.S. is very difficult to adjust to. China is a full 12-hours ahead, and as of right now, the difference is 13 hours because of Daylight Savings, which is not observed in China. Coming home from China, I was jet-lagged for almost two weeks and would constantly wake up at 4 a.m., unable to fall back to sleep. It was strange for me not to have to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which allows you to redirect where your Wi-Fi network on your devices is coming from and allows, you most importantly, to use certain social media sites and apps that are otherwise banned in China. I was even more unsure of how to readjust to my second and final semester of senior year at UMass, where I hadn’t been in almost eight months.
Since I had been absent from the UMass campus and away from my friends for an entire semester, I was a little apprehensive about what I was walking into. After all, I had missed a whole semester of memories, the typical UMass construction projects, the food. You can’t blame a girl for experiencing major FOMO. While I still haven’t completely readjusted to being back and there unfortunately isn’t an official guide on this particular subject, I’ve come up with some tips based on my own experience on how to re-acclimate yourself to your home campus after a semester abroad.
Walk around campus to re-familiarize yourself with the layout and its surrounding area. This helped me rediscover some of my shortcuts to class, as well as get acquainted with some of the newer changes on campus. (I’m still bitter about the loss of both Pita Pit locations. RIP.)
Get back into a daily routine. Visit the places that you used to go to before you went abroad, like a certain study floor in the library that you feel comfortable staying at, the rec center, your favorite dining hall, RSO meetings. Once you start to get back into your typical school habits, it’ll be old hat and it won’t feel like you even left.
Catch up with your friends. Tell them about your experiences and perhaps some concerns you might have about readjusting to campus life. Find out what you missed and reestablish your support system on campus. It’s a great feeling to get together with friends after a long time apart. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Make sure to take care of yourself. It’s easy to forget sometimes, but mental health is just as important as physical health! If you need to take some time to yourself to just chill out when you’re feeling overwhelmed from trying to get back into a groove, then you absolutely should!
Make the most of this semester! Whether that means hanging out with your friends or getting good grades or getting more involved on campus, do what you can to have a great semester to make up for time spent away. This particular tip is definitely my priority at this point, considering I’ll be graduating in about two months!
If you’re interested in studying abroad — and trust me, it’s so worth it — check out the IPO office to get started.