Stuck in the In-Between

He has been in uncharted territory for about a month now, with many more to go. He sits at the dinner table and tries to make conversation, but something doesn’t feel right. His casual day out running errands doesn’t feel casual. He feels out of place. Nothing is familiar. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago this was Bradley Miller’s home.

For most students who are considering studying abroad, the concept of reverse culture shock just doesn’t seem realistic. The University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC) warns students of this prior to embarking abroad, but most people don’t give it a second thought.

“I remember hearing about reverse culture shock before going and I kind of scoffed at it. But honestly, it hit me way harder than culture shock ever did,” Miller said.

Reverse culture shock is a harsh reality that many Americans face after spending any amount of time abroad. Reintegrating into your old life with people who knew nothing of the journey you experienced can be challenging.

Miller had been fascinated by Japanese culture for several years, so when he attended UNR and learned about USAC, it seemed like a no-brainer. After spending 4 months in Nagasaki, as well as an additional 3 weeks traveling around Japan, returning to Reno brought about some interesting feelings.

“I guess the best way I can describe it would be boredom. For me, it was just really hard to come back to the same place I’ve lived all of my life and have to jump right back into school and work and responsibilities. It almost felt like I was ignoring everything I experienced the past few months,” Miller said.

Reverse culture shock varies from person to person. For Miller, he just needed some time to readjust, however several of his friends who he met while in Japan told him that they had to get counseling to help them reintegrate into their life.

Internet blogger for ytravelblog.com and self-proclaimed travel addict Caz Makepeace claims the shock comes in three stages: honeymoon, transition, and readjustment. The first time she spent a significant amount of time abroad, she had no idea what to expect upon returning home.

“I went through reverse culture shock, not knowing what it was, thinking I was in a state of complete misalignment with the world around me. My life felt like it had fallen apart and I kind of let it, through not knowing what to do,” Makepeace wrote.

She figured out that the key to avoiding this feeling was to be prepared for the next time. One of the main ways she did so was by accepting that spending a large amount of time abroad will change your life, there is no avoiding it.

“It’s not that everything around you has changed, or that things haven’t even changed slightly, it is just that you have changed dramatically. You are returning to a place, where people expect you to be the same,” Makepeace wrote.

The counseling services at UNR said that they have dealt with multiple cases of students experiencing different levels of reverse culture shock after spending a long period of time abroad.

A study was conducted by Kevin F Gaw at the University of Missouri to analyze students’ reintegration into society after studying abroad. He found that students who were experiencing higher levels of reverse culture shock were less likely to seek help than those experiencing lower levels.

Miller believed his experience had a lot do with his state of mind. When arriving in Japan, he was just so open minded to everything the Japanese culture had to offer. Returning to America made him miss some aspects of Japan while feeling disinterested in American culture.

After experiencing reverse culture shock the first time, Makepeace realized that the key to coping was preparation. She equipped herself with her “reverse-culture shock antidote kit,” which consisted of advice on how to ease the transition.

Makepeace concluded, “Don’t forget the life of your travels, but don’t hold on too tightly to them either; that is holding onto the past, which is never a good thing because life doesn’t exist there. It’s time to adapt, create a new life path, and put into good use all you learned along your travel journey.”