Suggestions on coming “home” by students from the University of the Pacific
(Stockton, CA).

Talk with others who have come back from abroad and share your experiences, frustration, and joys. These are the people who can help you through it. Almost everyone agrees.

Accept that you have changed and that things are not going to be the same as when you left and that's a good thing.

Exercise. Endorphins kill re-entry sadness.

Read a lot about everything. It will get your brain working.

Don't isolate.

Don't brood. Self-pity is unattractive.

Try new things. If you return to the same place a different person, redefine the place. Take up a new hobby, residence, sport, mode of transport.

Don't dwell on the past.

Keep your memories alive – don’t store them away in a shoe box. It wasn't a dream and it was important.

Find local physical supports. Go to the World Market and get German chocolate if you miss Germany, Japanese tea if you miss Japan. And everything is available on the internet.

Write down what you thought was great about the US while you were abroad.

Use your cross-cultural study-abroad skills to observe your own culture.

Stay spontaneous.

Don't let failures in your home culture be any less a learning experience than they would have been while you were abroad.

Continue to reflect on what you learned abroad.

Focus on how you are now better off from the experiences you have had.

Look for the good in the present situation.

Don't be upset if people seem indifferent to your experience abroad.

Recognize that things at home have changed while you were away and respect those changes. No one's life went on hold just because you were gone, and their experiences are important to them.

Don't talk about what happened abroad unless your listener wants to hear it, but find a confidant if you can.

Rekindle the spirit of adventure you had abroad. Explore home.

Go out of your way to make new friends, just as you did abroad.

Try to apply what you learned abroad to your life here. What can be saved? What is useful?

You will need to "rebuild" relationships, not merely "resume" them.

Don't jump off a cliff: like culture shock, re-entry shock passes in time.

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