The chance to explore a new culture, language and city abroad as an American college student is what some might call a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Keene State College’s Global Education Office, or GEO, works with students to prepare them for their adjustment into a new culture, so students may arrive in their college abroad of choice as prepared as they will ever be.
After studying away, students may face a readjustment period following their time abroad as they return back to America. This is often referred to, by organizations such KSC’s GEO department, as “reentry.”
Although there is help provided to students undergoing reentry, Associate Director of the Global Education Office, Steven Spiegel, said that students often don’t expect the reentry phase.
“One of the pieces we work with students on is the reentry piece, the reverse culture shock. People are always feeling ‘Oh, that’s not something I’m going to experience’, but it’s hard coming back to where you’re from sometimes,” Spiegel said.
Contributed Photo: KSC senior Cailtin Proce sits in front of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy. Proce studied abroad during her spring 2013 semester.
Spiegel said reentry may affect any student.
Spiegel explained, “I think everybody feels it in one degree or another….You’ve had these amazing experiences, and then you come back and things haven’t changed too much around home, but you have changed.”
KSC junior, Ashley Defilippo studied abroad in Florence, Italy in the spring semester of 2013.
“I wanted to enjoy every minute while I was there…I knew my friends and family at home would be there when I got back,” Defilippo shared about her experience.
On her return back to the United States, Defilippo said, “It all hit you at once.”
Defilippo elaborated, “If there was anything in my life I could describe as bittersweet it would definitely be those moments, that last month in Florence. We touched down in Boston and I was crying—I was so happy to be home but so sad to have left.”
While Defilippo discussed the reverse culture shock of returning back to the United States, she mentioned how the trip still impacts her to this day.
“Ever since I went abroad, I’d definitely say I have a totally different outlook, just on life in general; my values, the way I treat people and the way I accept treatment from other people as well.”
Caitlin Proce, a senior at KSC, also studied in Florence, Italy in spring of 2013. She mentioned how quickly the new city had become a home for her.
Proce shared that, “Leaving was bittersweet because I was excited to come home and see my family and friends, but at the same time [Florence] had become my home.”
“I was leaving so much behind coming back to America, I was leaving a little bit of me there,” Proce added.
Both students said they reflected often on friendships that they had formed and then left behind when returning to America.
“I established a bond with the panini guy downstairs, the bartender at the bar, it was like a home,” Proce said.
While Defilippo remembered, “It was about who I really was.”
Contributed Photo: KSC junior Ashley Defilippo sits in front of the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. Defilippo said that reverse culture shock hit her all at once.
Both students described their homecoming experience as “bittersweet.” This feeling is common among students who return home from an abroad program, according to Spiegel.
“There are people who professionally study these things; the cycle that people go through when returning home,” Spiegel mentioned.
The New England Study Abroad Returnee Conference will address the common re-entry phase faced after students arrive home. The event will be held in Boston this year on February 22.
For more information on the New England Study Abroad Returnee Conference or KSC’s Study Abroad Program, visit Keene State’s Global Education Office Facebook page, or contact Steven Spiegel in the GEO located on the third floor of the Elliot Center.
Kait Kelley can be contacted at kaitlyn.kelly@ksc.keene.edu