June
I came back to the US in June, and I realized that I was different; more so than I thought I would be. People always talk about culture shock, how when they visit a different a country, they are surprised by things that to natives are normal. But eventually they get used to it, and they adjust. Few mention the journey back, that they assume that when they go back home, everything will be the same.
But that’s not the case.
Reverse cultural shock is a similar experience, but in a location that one assumes to be familiar. Things are different: you, your culture, and people around you have changed. Some people expect you to behave the same, but that might not always be the case, and this disconnect can pop up unexpectedly. It can be unsettling when it happens.
And this isn’t unusual. Feeling off-kilter when you get home is perfectly normal, since studying abroad is a transformative experience. You don’t back the same person, especially now that you’ve likely done things that you’ve never tried before, and met people you never would have at home.
When I got home, I realized that it was almost hard to talk about my study abroad experience. It was difficult to describe when everything felt so different and amazing. I missed talking with the friends that I had made in South Korea, since I knew that they would understand. My roommate’s posts implied that she too found herself changed at home and she mentioned that it was weird to talk about everything with people who hadn’t studied abroad since they just didn’t get it.
Summer
My summer move was free from classes, so I had time to somewhat adjust, but it was slow going. I mostly stayed home and just kept to myself as there was only so much that I could do. I no longer had access to the easy train system in South Korea that allowed me to explore the country. There were no international friends that I could text, and we could talk about what’s going on at my host university. The most jarring? English. It was strange hearing English everywhere instead of Korean. I missed listening to people talk in Korean, as learning the language was one of the major reasons I chose South Korea. It felt odd to have lost that.