Karen Streett wistfully stared out of her window, watching the snowflakes fall and shroud her vision of the outside world.

Less than a month ago she was experiencing the sights, tastes and sounds of a foreign country. Now she is snowed into her apartment.

‘It’s so different here,’ says Streett, a junior business major who studied in London last semester. ‘You come back to Syracuse and you just feel stuck because it’s so cold and you don’t go anywhere.’

Like many other upperclassmen who come back after a semester abroad, Streett is finding that readjustment involves not only time zone and climate changes, but a test of personal growth.

To facilitate a smooth transition between foreign and U.S. culture, The Department of International Programs Abroad center offers a counseling workshop for returning students early in the spring semester.

Students often feel confident enough to adjust without the help of a seminar, but many still seek personal counseling from individuals like Elane Granger, associate director of admissions at DIPA. Granger said she usually sees an average of three to four students for the first couple of weeks after break, a number that gradually increases as the semester progresses.

‘The biggest problems students have is that they don’t have a reference when they come back,’ Granger said. ‘They need references to knowledge, and feelings from other people who have been abroad. If they don’t have that, they won’t bounce back.’

Along with a fresh perspective on foreign culture, another challenge returning students face is disenchantment about American culture or society in general.

‘They’re so polite in England,’ Streett said. ‘Whenever you bump into people they say sorry, even if it’s your own fault. When that happens now no one says anything.’

Advisors who go abroad with the students often experience a similar distaste toward American culture.

‘It was so embarrassing to be over there (Europe) during the Clinton scandal,’ Granger said. ‘It seemed superficial that so much attention was dedicated to someone’s personal life.’

In addition to the political distaste, students also have to condition themselves to eat American food again, which is often considered by returning students as over-processed.

‘My friend Molly said that everything here seemed really salty after she came back from London,’ Streett said. ‘There were so many markets over there with fresh fish, marinated meats and pasta – nothing like around here.’

In some cases, though, the lack of certain processed foods was disappointing in the end.

‘They didn’t have apple-cinnamon oatmeal, only Scottish porridge,’ Streett said. ‘And they didn’t have Cocoa Puffs, only Cocoa Crispies.’

Another student who went to London last semester, fourth year industrial design major Sara Raiken, moaned of the lack of Skippy peanut butter and graham crackers.

Raiken’s transition back into American society was eased by the return of favorite foods, and also by the comparably low cost of living in the United States.

‘Our money is worth nothing there.’ Raiken said. ‘I noticed it especially at the grocery store, where $20 basically gave me $10 worth of food.’

According to Granger, economic hardships abroad teach students how to deal with difficult situations and gain experience that they can use later at home.

‘It teaches them to appreciate U.S. efficiency and work ethic, and that things work in a different way in other places,’ Granger said. ‘Students learn inevitably that there is more than one side of an issue.’

The transition back to American life can be an arduous process for those with close ties to their experiences abroad, but for others it is merely a psychological building block.

‘Either you miss it and be miserable or try to make yourself at home again,’ Raiken said. ‘It’s however you put your mind to it.’

Friends and advisors warned Raiken before her return, saying it would be a ‘culture shock,’ but she refuses to let the adjustment process bother her.

Streett, on the other hand, is still stuck in her rut of activity withdrawal.

‘In London I was never left with nothing to do,’ Streett said. ‘There was always something to do at a distance of 15 minutes or less, and now I keep forgetting my ID card because in London I used a code.’

Published on January 24, 2005 at 12:00 pm