Helping Your Student - While Abroad
Helping Your ISEP Student Make the most of their Study Abroad Experience
Visiting your ISEP Student
Studying abroad is a unique and important part of your student's educational
and life experiences. Please do not make the trip abroad with your student.
Although it may be difficult to let them go, it is important that they
make the journey, and settle in to the new environment and culture on
their own. This will help the student to develop the skills needed to
adapt to their new life abroad. Please do not visit your student while
classes are in session; this will distract them from their studies.
Consider meeting up with your student after their academic program ends.
Culture Shock
Living in and adapting to a foreign culture is exciting, challenging - and at times - exceedingly difficult. The term culture shock is an accurate description of the feelings your student will experience - the anxiety and disorientation associated with leaving a familiar environment and support system and entering a new world where everything seems different and one has not yet learned to read the signals. You have probably experienced culture shock before - when moving to a new city, for example. At first, everything was new and exciting, but after a while, as everyday life began, you might have felt overwhelmed or frustrated as you tried to cope. Eventually, you learned how to navigate the new environment, developed support systems, and felt at home. Your student's experience abroad will be more intense because the differences between the familiar and the unknown are greater, but it will follow the same pattern.
Keep in mind that this disorientation is a normal part of living in and adjusting to a new culture. While your student may feel depressed, or "homesick," this feeling will pass and they will begin to enjoy the new experiences. While it may be somewhat painful, culture shock can be a mind-stretching process that will give understanding and tolerance for the home and host cultures.
There are many positive actions that can be taken to help overcome feelings of loneliness and withdrawal from a new culture. Keeping busy and setting goals are important. Activities that can help your student adjust to a new culture include the following:
- writing a journal
- developing new friendships
- sharing feelings with other foreign students or advisors
- improving language abilities
- learning about the new school and the new neighborhood
- getting involved in an activity that they enjoy and that helps them meet people
- settling in the room or residence
- planning excursions
- participating in sports/recreational activities.
Perceptions from Abroad
Families and friends of students abroad should be aware that natural disasters or political events such as strikes in the student's host country may be reported in the news. News accounts often give a distorted picture of events and may alarm you. Ask your student to keep in touch and give you their sense of the local situation. The host ISEP coordinator is a prime source of information and support for your student, and will keep them informed in the case of unusual events, such as natural distasters or strikes.