Students who study abroad for long periods of time might come to a shocking realization when they return to the states - home no longer feels like home.
Accounting junior Matt Karr misses Europe's slower and more relaxed pace, which has him making plans to live there in the future.
Karr studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary, for five months last semester and said it's a difficult adjustment living in his hometown of Livonia again.
"It's been surreal being thrown back," he said. "It's a lot more rushed here than Budapest."
John Jensen, educational program coordinator for the Office of Study Abroad, termed the phenomena as "re-entry or reverse culture shock." Jensen coordinates programs all over the globe and said some students find it difficult to resume their lives when they come back home.
In fact, it's not uncommon for students to undergo a shock when they've been immersed in a completely different culture, said Cindy Chalou, assistant director of the Office of Study Abroad.
"The longer the experience and the less amount of MSU students and faculty, the more shock," she said.
Some students say that's because of the large differences between home and the countries they visit.
Karr said Hungary's culture seemed more concentrated, and the people there had old-fashioned lives compared to those of Americans. There were markets where people bought groceries, and none of them were resealable or frozen. During his entire stay, he used a subway to get around and never drove.
News and information in the U.S. doesn't reach Budapest until months later, if at all, he said. And issues such as terrorism aren't big news in Hungary like they are in America.
"It's not that they don't care about it," he said. "They don't feel the need to publicize it."
The study abroad program holds a mandatory general orientation meeting to address topics that the office feels students should know. The meeting includes health, safety, insurance, academics, financial aid and anti-American sentiment information. There are pamphlets addressing sexual orientation, which can be a sensitive issue abroad.
In preparation, students are given a minimal amount of information about adjusting to both a foreign country and the return home, study abroad students and leaders say.
"No matter how much you prepare, you can't until you experience it," said Kevin Rowe, who studied in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2003.
Rowe, a marketing and telecommunication, information studies and media senior, said his trip was a life-altering experience.
He said he continues to learn from his visit and works as a peer adviser to help other students deal with re-entry shock and talk about their experiences.
"The difficulties a student faces, either going over or coming back, has to do with the individual," Jensen said.
Lindsey Poisson can be reached at poisson4@msu.edu.
