1) The Honeymoon Phase
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| The differences in trees amazed me during my Honeymoon Phase! |
As I was walking to the mall one day with my Australian housemates, I remember seeing my first kangaroos in a field. I cannot even explain to you the excitement I had, and my housemates thought it was the funniest thing ever. They told me I would soon come to view kangaroos as I view deer in the US, and that it was just because they were so new to me. I can't honestly say I ever got to the point where I would not get giddy with excitement when seeing kangaroos (which was all the time), my housemates were noticing my honeymoon phase tendencies in how excited I got about small differences between what I had known for 22 years and what I was experiencing abroad.
2) The Loneliness and Homesickness Phase
After my first couple weeks abroad, I began feeling homesick. I had left my Resident Assistant (RA) position to study abroad, and I really started feeling homesick when RA training pictures started bombarding my Facebook. I was confused because just a few days before, I felt like I was on top of the world. However, I also remembered all the warnings I kept getting that I would hit a phase of loneliness (I honestly didn't think homesickness would happen for me). For me, I found myself really having to push myself to go hang out and make new friends, and I found it really hard to adjust to some of the differences I was facing in my host country.
3) The Adjustment Phase
This is the moment where you're starting to be less uncomfortable with changes you have been facing during your experience, but you're still not thinking of this new place as a home.. You're finding yourself going along with the new customs of your new culture, but you're still just not very sure. You could very well still be feeling some homesickness during this phase, but maybe it's less intense. I remember after I had been in Australia for about a month, I was in a shopping mall with some of my housemates and I thought to myself "Ok, I can handle this until December. I'll be fine." I was beginning to be more comfortable with things, but was still looking forward to December.
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| A picture from the beach weekend when I started to think of Australia as 'home.' |
4) Acceptance
This is the point where you begin thinking going 'home' may be difficult because, well...You feel like you are home! You have adjusted to new cultural customs you have found during the first few phases, and you feel comfortable with them. You have finally come to accept how your life is in the moment, and you're not particularly idealizing life in either your home or host country. You are just doing the thing called life and enjoying it, and you feel relaxed and secure in your new 'home.' For me, this came in the middle/later September. I had gone on a beach weekend trip with some of my friends, and something hit me where I started dreading going home, because I felt like I was home.
5) Reverse Culture Shock
This was actually something that affected me MUCH more than I ever thought possible. I found it very difficult to adjust back to the American school system, on-campus/RA life, and not being constantly surrounded by such a diverse friend group. I loved seeing my old friends, but it was strange because I had changed during my time abroad, and they had changed since the 6 months that had passed since I had last seen them. It took me a good two months to re-adjust to the life I had known for 22 years, which I still think is strange. You might feel lonely, and I always wanted to talk about my time abroad but wasn't sure how much detail others really wanted to hear. It's definitely an interesting experience to go through reverse culture shock!
I sometimes think the reason I had such a hard time returning back to the States was because studying abroad was the best 5 months of my life. I loved it all, and even during the phases of loneliness, I was learning about myself and a different way of life. Studying abroad truly changed my life in ways I could never imagine, and it's an experience I will cherish forever!
***My stages are based on a semester long program, and stages may vary greatly if you are on a 2 week or even month long program.***
***My stages are based on a semester long program, and stages may vary greatly if you are on a 2 week or even month long program.***
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