Culture shock articule "Old is new"

Old is new: Reverse culture shock
Scott Fabricant
Scene Reporter
Published: Monday, September 8, 2008
Updated: Monday, September 8, 2008
Correction Appended Below
Going abroad to a new country can be an eye-opening experience. A new town, a new school, new friends, a foreign culture, an unfamiliar language, the wrong side of the street. Adjustment can sometimes be difficult; it’s what is called culture shock. But sometimes, the return can be just as hard. Returning to an old school, old friends and an old way of life. It’s known as “reverse culture shock,” and being prepared for it can make the transition home far more peaceable. A fear that many students have about studying abroad is that their social landscape will change while they’re gone and that their friendships won’t be the same as when they left.“I always had the worry that people will forget about me or that it’ll be hard to resume being friends with those you weren’t really close with,” junior Kaity Li said. “Everything got put on hold [for me], but their lives were continuous. Where we left off may not be the same place now.”Another potential pitfall, perhaps a surprising one, is getting used to the “little things” again. The buses and trains, slang phrases, class attendance—as in, you have to go to class again. It takes some time to remember the old ways. “One thing I’m actually still getting used to more than two months after returning home is passing people on the right side [while] walking on the sidewalk, walking in aisles at stores, and walking up and down staircases,” senior Stefanie Klein said. “In Australia, people always pass on the left, and here it’s the opposite. I’ve walked into more than one person, because I forget what the social norm is here after spending six months in Australia.”Also, remember to watch your conversations. Professional study abroad guides warn returnees that talking about your experiences abroad can alienate your friends. They may not understand, they may be jealous and frankly, they probably won’t care. Much in the same way that asking “How are you?” is not an invite for a 10-minute whine about life, “How was your trip?” doesn’t mean they want to hear about bungee jumping in New Zealand. “It’s difficult to accept that when someone asks ‘How was Australia?’ all they really want to hear is ‘It was great,’ though I’d much rather sit them down for a few hours and ramble,” Klein said. “Months after my return, I find a way to incorporate Australia into every conversation I have, though usually I try to refrain from actually doing so. I force myself to be content with just thinking about it and not vocalizing it,” Klein said.Most people who had a good time abroad will be a little blue coming back, but in some cases, depression is a real possibility. Your time abroad can be an amazing, liberating experience. If you’re lucky, you can make fantastic friends, fulfill lifelong dreams, even recreate yourself from scratch, but coming home was a real crash. To this, I can speak from personal experience. My lifestyle of pure freedom was replaced by old routine, my social landscape had changed from its previous comfortable familiarity and worst of all, it was winter in America. Nasty case of reverse culture shock. Despite being glad to be reunited with friends, I was possessed by an all-consuming need to go back. For me, the cure was simply time, but the Universiy offers resources to help. For a truly severe case, Student Health Services offers counseling and psychiatry services. Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling also offers their services. The Student Ambassador program run by the Overseas Programs Office is another useful resource.The office, usually encountered during the application process, also offers workshops on using your experience abroad to further your career, as well as social events such as the Returnee Reception, themed lunches and region reunion parties. For most, an experience abroad is a memory to cherish, and it provides stories to annoy your friends and impress strangers, but for some, experience abroad alters your lives in some way. Maybe it changes your outlook on life, or maybe it changes your activities (most study abroad ambassadors were returnees who loved their experiences and wanted to share them with others). However, for a rare few, it changes their futures. “When I returned from Fiji, I made a conscious effort to keep my experience alive,” 2008 alum Lieselot Whitback said. “I joined the study abroad ambassadors and began a personal tradition of Fijian Fridays. Even today I try to wear something Fijian every Friday; it brings color and fun to my life. I now plan to get a Masters [degree] in the field of intercultural communication or international education with the hope of someday being a study abroad administrator. It was such an important experience for me personally, I want to help bring the same sort of experience to other students.”Travel abroad—going somewhere new and out of your comfort zone—can and should be a life-altering experience. As Mark Twain said, travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness. It’s also fun as hell, but it doesn’t come without its risks and problems. Life doesn’t stay static when you’re away, and neither do you. Knowing what to expect when you show up somewhere new, and knowing what to expect when you return, can make for more fun experiences and smoother transitions. Just remember why you’re going and what you’re coming home to.“I made some amazing friends while I was abroad and shared many experiences with them that people who weren’t there could never understand,” Klein said. “Still, I missed the friends from home I’ve grown up with and the friends from school I became so accustomed to living with and seeing daily.”
Source:http://www.studlife.com/scene/1.724169

This articule talk about cultural shock that many people live and experience when they go to other country totally dofferet to him or her.

The author said that the most important impact that abroad students has it presents when their returns to their native culture, they feel that everything has changed even their friends.

He describes this situation as reverse culture shock.