Studying abroad can be one of the most influential times in your college career. Whether you are abroad for a quick three week program or the entire school year, you will grow and learn things about the world as well as yourself that you never knew. Studying abroad is all about adapting to another culture and broadening your perspective of the world around you. You will learn about history, make weekend trips to new cities, make new friends, and even maybe learn a new language. Before studying abroad, you will prepare for months about how you are going to integrate into a new country. You will read blog posts and talk to friends and family who have studied abroad before you, and they will give you every detail about what it is like to be in a new culture. But what they won’t tell you is how to reintegrate back into the States once your study abroad experience is over. After a whirlwind of culturally stimulating experiences one after another, you will fly back to America – your heart bursting with the excitement of the world – only to come back to pick up right where you left off. It is important to know how to take these experiences abroad and merge them with your college experience in the United States in order to successfully reintegrate back into the life you left behind.
1. Keep in contact with the people you met abroad
Technology today makes it so easy to communicate with people all over the world. Between the internet and smart phones, there are plenty of apps and programs online that are available to you at little to no cost. Some of these options include Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook, Oovoo, and international data plans. It is important to continue these relationships even though you aren’t close in proximity. Maybe even invite a good friend to come visit you in America!
2. Keep in contact with the Americans on your study abroad program
This is essential because these are the only people who will really understand exactly what you are going through as you try to reintegrate back into college in America. They shared the same experiences abroad as you did and they are going to be sharing similar experiences as you in their first few months back. At times you may feel like no one understands the impact that your time abroad has had on you, and it will be comforting to call up someone who you know will understand. There may also be times where you are just feeling nostalgic. It will be fun to look back through pictures and relive random events and trips with those people who experienced it all alongside you.
3. Get back in touch with your best friends that you left before you went abroad
It is important to get back to your foundation and remember what you loved about your college life in America. You will have missed going out with your friends and roommates back at school, and sharing those goofy sleep deprived moments at the library at 3 a.m. No matter how long you have been away, it will be easy to pick up right where you left off with your good friends. They will want to tell you all about the events and drama that you missed while you were away, and they will update you on the latest back at school. They will introduce you to the new friends they have made as well as help you to reconnect with the old ones. This will help to close the gap while you were abroad.
4. Accept that your friends in America don’t care about every detail of your study abroad experience
It is totally understandable that you will want to share each and every detail of your study abroad experience with your friends and family back home. I’m sure you have some great stories, whether they are comedic travel mishaps or the details of the life changing gelato you had in Italy. While all of this is still so exciting and new to you, your friends and family may not understand and that is okay. Of course they will be happy for you and genuinely interested in your time away, but it will be hard for them to grasp exactly what your experience was like. You have to be prepared for your friends’ interest in your trip to fade as the new school year starts up and you are brought back to the reality of classes and finishing up your degree.
5. Get involved with the international programs at your school
Almost every school has some type of international program or study abroad program that has frequent events that you never even knew about. By attending some of the events you will meet other students who have studied all over that are also reintegrating alongside you. If you are having a hard time, it may be helpful to share your experiences with them and maybe you will find that they are having similar struggles. It is nice to know that there are other students in your area that are going through the same thing as you.
6. Merge your experiences abroad with your life back in America
Most importantly, you will need to find a balance in your life between both your college experience abroad and at home. You will have grown in your time abroad and may find that the person you were before you left is not the same person who returned. It may not be a drastic difference, but maybe your perspective on certain aspects of life has changed or maybe you have different interests and goals. It is necessary to acknowledge this and apply your experiences abroad to your life back in the states.