Re-entry Tips:

After spending an extended period of time abroad, some people experience reverse culture shock!

What can you do to counteract reentry shock? In fact, the battle is mostly won when you understand that returning home involves an adjustment process similar to the one you experienced when first going abroad. Indeed, the practical steps we are going to recommend are quite similar to those we suggested for overseas adaptation:

1) Start your exploration of home through sympathetic friends or family members. Share with them some of the feelings you have had while living overseas. Sharing feelings instead of experiences sounds less like bragging.

2) Find informants about the United States just as you did about your overseas country. Be the learner. Ask questions about current issues: the price of common products and services, popular entertainment, politics and U.S. foreign policy, the effect of recent changes on the society.

3) Ask a friend to make a list of new terms and fads to help you figure out what the current trends are.

4) Research various groups that may interest you: churches, clubs, student or professional organizations, international and intercultural groups.

5) Explore places where you might find others with international experience, or seek foreign nationals from the country where you studied abroad and share common experiences you've enjoyed. You may want to become a host to an exchange student.

Excerpt from "Survival Kit for Overseas Living" by L. Robert Kohls.

Resources:

• Glimpse magazine (http://www.theglimpse.com/)
• Transitions Abroad (http://www.transitionsabroad.com), a magazine about a variety of ways to travel abroad, sponsors a writing contest each year for students' writing about their international experiences.

International News Sources:

International Education does not endorse nor receive compensation for referring you to the links below.

International Herald Tribune
The site for "The World's Daily Newspaper" is a wonderful one-stop shop for English-language supplements to global papers. Search the Publishing Partners section or read the paper's own global coverage.

WorldNews.com
Get current events from major international cities, or stick to larger areas like countries or whole continents. Among the site's many impressive features are links to hundreds of online radio broadcasts from around the world.

Arts and Letters Daily
Find links to major papers from around the world.