Styles of Reentry
As mentioned above different students deal with coming back home in a variety of ways. A leading scholar in intercultural communication and re-entry, Margaret D. Pusch, identifies a few styles that tend to characterize how students might read just to their home.¹
Potential Styles of Reentry:
| Style Name | Potential Characteristics |
| Free Spirit | A "free spirit" really enjoyed constantly being challenged by difference and may return waiting to continue his experiences abroad. He generally misses being unique or different. |
| Detached | Someone "detached" likely established a satisfying life and engaged in creative work in the host culture. Although sometimes reluctant to go back to the old patterns of the home culture, this style wants to create a comfortable environment for self and possibly for family and close friends, therefore, they are usually a tolerant participant of the home culture. |
| Reassimilator | Delighted to be back home, the "reassimilator" usually finds ease in re-entry and may"shoebox" their experience abroad – not combining their experience abroad into life at home. |
| Integrator | An "integrator" tends to have positive experience abroad and wants to find the best fit within the home culture. Pusch describes an integrator as taking on one or more of the following roles:
|
Do you see yourself in one of these styles? A combination of two or more?
Recommendations for returning from study abroad activities for each reentry style are found in the "Returning from study abroad activities for the IDS 102X course".
Potential Issues
Returning "home" can be potentially difficult for the following reasons²:
- Unanticipated change ("home" is thought of as a known entity)
- Unadjusted expectations or false expectations of returning home
- Heightened critical sense
- Comparative framework (new perspectives)
- Unprocessed experience
- Little opportunity for application or sharing of non-technical knowledge Anticipation of future travel (uncertainty) Getting up-to-speed may be frustrating (finding out what was missed)
- Need to renegotiate relationships with family and peers
Have you experienced any of these challenges?
Other Resources
Top Ten Reentry Challenges: Read the Top Ten Reentry Challenges as rated by university students. Written by Dr. Bruce LaBrack, School of International Studies, University of the Pacific.
The Center for Global Education Reverse Culture Shock website
¹From the SIETAR-Europa Proceedings, SIETAR-Europa Conference in Bath, England, April 1998.
²"Training for International Transitions" course packet, Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (2003). Atkins, S., Bennett, R., Citron, J.,Mendelson, V., Home Again