Brace yourself for the sound of a broken record: Studying abroad is the best decision I have made in college. Something that is not as commonly said: Acclimating back to the United States can be just as uncomfortable.
But not for the reasons you might expect.
My acclimation process to Barcelona was achievable because of how heavily the Pomona International & Domestic Programs Office (IDPO) — the program that facilitates the application process for Pomona students — and my specific study abroad program, the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES), harped on the ramifications of uprooting my life and living in a new country.
Little did I know that the acclimation process was only half of the study abroad emotional roller coaster.
Naively, I believed that coming back to Claremont would be seamless; I believed that having a solid posse of people at Pomona would cancel out any discomfort that could arise from leaving my abroad experience.
So, when my IES Spanish professor in Barcelona gave a presentation on reverse culture shock, I was somewhat flabbergasted. She warned us that the return home from study abroad can be heart-wrenching because it entails a different adjustment period: Returning to life at our United States colleges.
My professor outlined specific reverse culture shock moments, such as instinctively speaking Spanish to non-Spanish speakers, remembering to tip in the United States and reframing standards for personal space (considering personal space is basically non-existent in Barcelona). She also pointed out that clashing with differences in the United States of human interactions, work expectations and public transportation are all a normal part of reverse culture shock.
Particularly, my professor stressed that the grief of leaving Barcelona — and the fear of forgetting the magical feeling of the experience — is a part of the struggle that students grapple with the most.
Sure enough, my growing attachment to my experience in Barcelona was silently fueling the imminent pain that would sucker-punch me when boarding the plane back to New York City.
My IES professor’s presentation begs the question: Why is there such a strong contrast between the approaches towards reverse culture shock for IES and the IDPO? Both of these programs have the same mission of promoting study abroad and supporting study abroad students, so why did IES highlight reverse culture shock while Pomona’s program, IDPO, skipped over it?
IES’s normalization of reverse culture shock’s consequences allowed me to openly express the pain I immediately felt after my departure and consequently, I was able to bounce back sooner.
However, a friend of mine who studied abroad in Copenhagen with DIS (Danish Institute for Study-Abroad) was not as lucky. Because neither DIS nor the IDPO informed her about reverse culture shock, she was unaware of the organic reaction to returning home after a semester abroad. She did not conceptualize reverse culture shock as a real thing, so she was confused as to why she was still feeling emotionally drained despite being back in her hometown.
Study abroad programs have failed to provide a disclaimer regarding reverse culture shock in their extensive introductory programs. Explaining what it is, how it can impact a person and how to cope with it would help students mentally prepare for the possibility of negative emotions when they come home.
For example, my Pitzer College friends who studied abroad in Paris were tasked with writing extensive reflections following their introductory presentations. They said it was helpful to look back on these when preparing to come back to the United States.
The administrators of Pitzer’s study abroad programs openly discussed reverse culture shock. They also gave students a space to formulate their thoughts before departing so that they could recollect their thought process when returning to the United States.
The education of reverse culture shock prior to students’ study abroad journeys would help to put equal emphasis on the highs and lows of both acclimation processes of leaving the United States and returning to the United States.
Yes, the sentiment that studying abroad is an incredible experience may sound like a broken record — but the expectation that coming home will be tough should start to sound like one, too.
Tess McHugh PO ’25 is from Denver, CO. She loves Fenty lip gloss, Milk Bar ice cream and Beyoncé.
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