Carry a healthy emotional passport

By Janice Abarbanel, PhD Mental Health/Study Abroad

Learn to culture shift

• You’ll be a more effective learner if you transition into another culture with healthy expectations & tools for change & adaptation.
• Practice noticing & regulating the intense emotions that are part of study abroad.
• Higher levels of stress accompany cultural transitions.  Mood shifts diminish your logic.
• Learn to calm yourself down & manage your energy.
• Study abroad is a process, not an event.
• Welcome the whole journey, integrating pre-departure, in-country orientation & re-entry experiences.

Common Culture shock signals:

• Homesickness
• Irritability & hostility
• Boredom
• Withdrawal
• Need for sleep
• Compulsive eating or drinking
• Stereotyping of local people
• Loss of ability to work effectively
• Physical ailments

Effective Culture shift Strategies:

• Eat well, exercise, keep a mood journal
• Breathe!  Slow down
• Build in quiet time
• Expect fatigue
• Practice saying “I don’t know.”
• Consult with mentor & peers
• Develop a support network
• Stay alert to the signals as signs of change
• Minimize catastrophic thinking; turn “What if’s” into “What else?”
• Believe in your own ability to solve problems
• Find difference interesting
• Recognize anxiety

Pay attention!  Be prepared to get help if “signals” turn into persistent & worrisome behaviors.

Make the distinction between ADAPT and ADOPT.

You do not have to change, only try to understand.
Retain only that which feels comfortable to you and the understanding that things can be different.

Understanding and Overcoming the Culture Shock

What  a Culture Shock is and what the different stages are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

Tips for Integration

Join a club or an association

http://www.bu.edu/geneva/bu-activities/clubs-and-associations/

Learn French and practice

https://www.bu.edu/geneva/geneva-programs/intensive-french/

When food does the trick

Once your internship starts, accept invitations to go out for lunch or invite colleagues out for lunch. Ask them to go for a coffee or a drink after work (the worst that they could do is say no!). If you know how to bake bring some goodies and go around the office. Food is always a great ice-breaker!

Do sports

http://www.bu.edu/geneva/bu-activities/other-sports/

Don’t hang out in big groups

You can always meet new people the way you did at home – at cafés, bars, in the park, etc. The key to meet people is to go out with one or two friends max. No local person in their right mind would approach a group of 10 Americans!

Talk to somebody

Whether it is the BU staff on site, a friend, a counsellor, don’t stay on your own. Talk to somebody, it really helps.