RESOURCES FOR RETURNING STUDENTS
Returning to UA
Both students and their friends and family may underestimate the changes students experience abroad and expect the students to pick up where they were before leaving. Reentry and reverse culture shock can be a little different for students returning than the culture shock they experienced in the host country. Study Abroad and the Office of International Programs as a whole are committed to helping students with both transitions.
Below are 3 easy steps students can take to readjust to being home.
- Acknowledge it
Just as with culture shock in the host country, the first step to dealing with reverse culture shock is to acknowledge that it is occurring.
- Maintain communication
Keeping in contact with friends and colleagues met in the host country is an important way to keep in touch with one’s education abroad experience.
- Get connected
The University of Akron sends approximately 200 students abroad each year and plays host to approximately 1300 international students. All of these students will have experiences similar to one’s own and be able to empathize and support the reentry process.
Verify your Academic Transcripts
Be sure to check on your UA transcripts that your credits from your study abroad program have been successfully transferred over from your host university of program.
Applying Study Abroad to Your Future Career
UA Career Center
Connect with the Career Center to learn the best way to highlight your education abroad experience on your resume and while talking with potential employers.
Handshake
Free, online job board: Handshake, the online job board where employers can post opportunities and specifically connect with students and alumni from The University of Akron.
Goabroad.com Career Guide Ebook
This free Ebook on the career benefits of studying abroad is part of GoAbroad’s mission to provide the best and most comprehensive resources for meaningful travelers.
Reverse Culture Shock
- Reverse Culture Shock: 5 Ways to Beat the Back-at-Home Blues by gooverseas.com
- Adjusting to Life After Studying Abroad Articles by studyabroad.com
Seek help from The UA Counseling and Testing Center if you feel that your readjustment is not going well, or if the rough period lasts longer than a couple of months.
Conversation Partners Program - Managed by the International Center, this program matches native English-speakers with international students for informal conversations in English.
NE Ohio Intercultural Organizations
Northeast Ohio has a number of internationally oriented community organizations with which students may involve themselves. Below is a brief list:
Global Ties Akron
Global Ties Akron’s mission is to “[strengthen] academic, corporate, organizational and personal links between Northeast Ohio and the world” and seeks for its volunteers to be “citizen diplomats”. Among Global Ties Akron’s many activities are hosting international visitors and organizing such events as meet and greet receptions, interfaith and multicultural discussions, and pot luck meals.
Asian Services in Action, Inc. (ASIA)
Asian Services in Action’s mission is “to empower and advocate for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders (AAPIs); and to provide AAPIs access to quality, culturally, and linguistically appropriate information and services”. It provides low or no-cost services in a number of areas, including translation, community health promotion and youth programming.
Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF)
Held in March, CIFF “promotes artistically and culturally significant film arts through education and exhibition to enrich the life of the community” and “[presents] the newest and best films from around the world, [doing] everything in [their] power to make sure that [the] audience learns something along the way, about other cultures, about the topic at hand, [and] about the experience from the filmmakers themselves.”
International Institute of Akron (IIA)
“Founded in 1916, the International Institute of Akron (IIA) is a non-profit agency that provides services to the foreign-born in Akron and the Summit County…community. [Their] mission is to contribute to the well-being of our community by creating and implementing programs and services to assist the foreign born to integrate into our society, to promote public awareness of the value of ethnic diversity, and to encourage international communication.”