RE-ENTRY REFLECTIONS
The following reflections have been written specifically with ACU students in mind as you navigate coming home again. We recommend grabbing your journal, a cup of coffee, and committing at least 30 minutes daily to do the following reflection exercises in order (day one: part I, day two: part 2, etc). Let’s go!
Part 1: Coming Home Again
The best place to start in re-crossing the threshold is to acknowledge that the home you left is not the same as the one to which you are returning. Likewise, the “you” who left is not the same “you” who is returning.- Donald De Graaf
You’re back. The whirlwind of packing, shared meals, late-night conversations, and life in your study abroad community is now behind you. Thousands of miles from what recently felt like home, you have returned to the familiar rhythms of life in the United States. While this return may bring comfort, it can also create confusion. You may find yourself quietly asking, “What just happened?”
You are not alone.
Coming home is more than simply arriving at your final destination. Reentry is a process. It requires you to integrate the experiences, skills, relationships, and emotions you gained abroad with the expectations and rhythms of life at home. Even though it may seem like returning should be easy, many students experience unexpected tension, frustration, or isolation during this season. We refer to this experience as reverse culture stress.
Reverse culture stress is a normal and important part of readjustment. While it can feel uncomfortable, it also creates space to reflect on how your time abroad changed you and which parts of that growth you hope to carry forward.
Common Signs of Reverse Culture Stress
Difficulty explaining your experience or its importance
Feeling that others do not want to hear much about your time abroad
A sense of being “out of place” despite being home
Boredom or restlessness
Missing your host country or community (“reverse homesickness”)
Noticing changes in relationships with family or friends
Feeling misunderstood or that others focus on the “wrong” changes in you
Becoming overly critical or judgmental of home
Feeling that your experience abroad is disconnected from the rest of your life
As you read these signs, notice which—if any—resonate with your own experience. Compare the student's reflections on his experience in Ghana with the signs of reverse culture stress you just learned in the section above. Take out your journal and spend a few moments thinking about the questions following the student testimonial and reflect on your own experience.
Student Testimonial
“Reverse culture shock has hit me harder than culture shock ever did. I feel a bit lost, unsure how to navigate socially and emotionally. I spent months in a place that felt more like home than home does. Ghana changed me—and I don’t want to go back to being who I was before. I don’t know what this means yet, but I do know that this story is still unfolding.”
(Adapted from There and Back: Living and Learning Abroad, pp. 175–176)*
Reflection
Take a few moments to reflect in your journal:
What challenges was this student wrestling with upon returning home?
Do you recognize any similar tensions or questions in your own life?
Have you experienced signs of reverse culture stress? How have they shown up for you?
Have you noticed friends struggling with reentry? How have they responded—positively or negatively?
Take Action: Reach out to one person from your study abroad group. Ask how they are navigating the transition home and share one challenge you have encountered.
DEVOTION:
Read Hebrews 4:12–16. Christians believe that God chose to enter fully into human experience through Jesus Christ—knowing both joy and suffering—and then returned to heaven transformed by that experience.
What does God’s willingness to experience human life reveal about God’s character? How might this shape the way you understand your own journey of change and return?
As you reenter life in the United States, turn your reflections into a prayer—offering gratitude for how you have been changed and entrusting the next chapter of your story to the God who journeys with you.
Part II: Culture
"Honestly, this has been one of the hardest and most rewarding years of my life. The house community has made living here one of the most wonderful things I have ever done." - ACU Leipzig Student, Class of 2016-2017
The lives of ACU Study Abroad students are defined by a unique culture that each group creates together. Although you may revisit your host country at some future point, the "house culture" created and shared by each group is defined by a specific moment in time and can never be truly recreated. This adds an interesting layer of complexity to your reentry process. Your family or friends might imagine that the most challenging part of reentering life in the United States is losing connection with your host country’s culture. However, for many of our students, the first and most acute sense of loss comes from leaving the ACU house culture, followed by a sense of disconnection from the host country's culture. The MDL house culture provides the foundation from which your Study Abroad experience is interpreted. Every experience abroad, whether in or outside of the walls of your ACU house, was shaped and given meaning by the community you lived in.
Take a moment to read the student testimonial below and reflect on your experience within your own abroad community. What was your experience with "house culture"?
Student Testimonial:
"While I was abroad, there were several things that happened in my family and friend group that was stressful. It's not like life abroad was always easy, but I really missed being around my friends--the people who I learned to love and rely on--once I got back to my "real" family at home. I probably didn't appreciate it enough at the time, but it was so nice to have all of your friends in the same place, all doing the same thing, and sharing all of our experiences together. At home, I just didn't have that. I felt sad, maybe even depressed, to not be able to have the kind of community we shared in Oxford." - former ACU Oxford student (2015-2016)
Reflection Journal:
If you had to characterize the culture of your study abroad group with three adjectives, what would they be?
Are there any aspects of house culture that you miss? Are there ways to carry these aspects forward into your life at home?
What was difficult about your experience in your community abroad? What did you learn from these experiences?
Action: Look at your calendar for the next six months and set aside three dates for two little adventures and one big adventure (ex., going camping for the weekend outside of Austin, checking out the Old Jail art museum in Albany, exploring Devil’s River, or trying out a new restaurant in Abilene). Reach out to your group and see who wants to come along!
Is there one aspect of house culture you would like to incorporate into your life next year at ACU? Share this adjective with your roommates/apartment-mates for next year and devise one practice you can put into place to turn this adjective into concrete action.
DEVOTION: Read Colossians 3:1-17. Think briefly about what it might be like to live in the Christian community described in Colossians. What and who does that kind of community value? How is it different from any other community we might encounter? In what ways did your community mirror this description? In what ways did it fall short?
Using your journal, write out a prayer to God. Thank God for how your little community reflected this Christian love and community vision. Ask for forgiveness for how we wounded others and fell short of Jesus' example. If someone you failed to show love towards comes to mind, take a moment to ask for their forgiveness and seek reconciliation.
Part III: Relationships
Our journeys always lead us back to the same starting place--but with new questions and new ways of thinking about ourselves, our communities, and the world.
Our students expect their time abroad will be a period of personal transformation and change. However, after returning home, many are surprised to discover they are not the only ones who have changed! Your friends and family also managed significant transitions and changes during your time away. After the experience of forming new relationships and experiences abroad, you may discover that you begin to feel differently about your friendships or the relationship between you and the members of your family. Consider the following reflection from a student struggling with how their relationships with family and friends transitioned after the study abroad experience:
Student Testimonial
Reflection 1: "Throughout my time abroad, I truly felt like my parents learned to let go and allowed me to experience Europe for myself. Yet, upon returning home in December, I felt them reeling me back into the same expectations they had before I left. The hug from my mom and dad was what I had been missing for months. The smile and the inside joke shared with my brother made me feel welcomed. But after the initial reuniting, I realized that my relationship had changed with my family...My life ran parallel to theirs, as time did not stop in the United States. Family and friends were having their own adventures, shared moments, and transitions." (DeGraff, 178.)
Reflection 2: One night around the dinner table after I returned from Leipzig, I found myself in a heated discussion with my parents. During the discussion, I told them the German way of doing something was clearly better than in the United States, or, at the very least, was equally good. After this comment, my mother narrowed her eyes, tilted her head inquisitively, and said, "I'm not sure I we should have sent you abroad. I'm not sure I like the way you have changed."At that moment, I realized that I had agreed with every opinion my parents held on any subject. Being a member of our family meant we acted a certain way, thought a certain way, and believed a certain way. For the first time, I felt I held an idea, and a bunch of experiences, that were separate and apart from my family. " - Mark Barneche, 2001-2002.
Reflection Journal:
After reading these student reflections, reflect on how your relationships with family and friends have changed. How can you navigate these changes with grace and truth?
What advice would you give yourself as you reintegrate back into your home community?
Take Action: What are some ways the distance of the abroad experience resulted in beneficial growth for you and your family and friends? What are some concrete ways you can continue this positive growth? Make a list and share it with at least one friend/family member.
Find a person whom you admire, outside of your family, who is at least ten years older than you, and who has experienced prolonged distance from their family. Ask that person to spend some time with you over coffee and ask how they managed their family relationships during adulthood.
Devotion: Read Ephesians 4:1-6. In this passage, St. Paul affirms the life the Christian should live: a life characterized by love, peace, and unity. What are some ways the experience of being abroad has contributed to your ability to "bear with others in love"” to be humble, to be gentle, and to maintain unity and peace? What might be some practical ways that you can put some of these lessons into practice with your family and friends at home?
Part IV: Resources
One of the biggest lessons we learn through the Study Abroad experience is a sense of our limitations. We inhabit a very small corner of the world, representing just one way of being, thinking, and believing. Hopefully, you discovered that you can only truly be known and understood within a community. Although we are tempted to believe otherwise, we cannot survive alone and require the strength of others to understand the world, ourselves, and the ability to navigate life’s challenges. The Study Abroad Office is here for you. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at any time.
ACU has several resources and opportunities that have been created to help you reenter life on campus and make the most of your abroad experience. To learn about some of these resources, check out the links and descriptions below.
Leaving study abroad marks a significant transition period in every university student's life. Most people have chosen their majors (or are feeling pressure to do so!) and are often taking full academic loads of upper-division classes. The communities of friends you have formed during your first two years at ACU are often scattered on and off-campus in dorms and apartments, and everyone seems to be busy with challenging classes. These realities often lead to a sense of loneliness or isolation. While these issues are common, you may feel that you are alone and may feel anxious, lonely, or depressed. If you feel this way or need someone to talk to, use the ACU Counseling Center. ACU’s trained clinical staff have seen thousands of students going through this transition and are there to help. To find out more about scheduling an appointment, explore what the counseling process is like, or see what kinds of counseling sessions are available, click the link above.
There is no doubt that your study abroad experience impacted you in many ways, but many of you are probably wondering, "What's next"? The Returning Well chapel series allows you to unpack your experience with people you know and trust and earn some chapel credit. If you're interested in participating in the Returning Well series, please stop by the ACU Study Abroad office, look at the dedicated Returning Well section on our website, or contact ACU Study Abroad (studyabroad@acu.edu) for more information.
Language Groups
Language, like any ability, improves with use. Don't let your foreign language skills waste away! If you are interested in continuing to practice, consider joining a foreign language conversation group on campus. It's a great opportunity to practice your language skills with friends and meet new people while enjoying coffee and conversation. Anyone who loves speaking another language is welcome and encouraged to attend. Language groups for French, German, and Spanish meet the first Wednesday of each month from 11-1 pm in The Bean. If you would like more information, please contact mark.barneche@acu.edu.
The Return
Looking for a way to talk about your abroad experience? Considering being a part of The Return. The Return gives returning Study Abroad students a chance to speak to incoming Freshmen about their abroad program. It's crazy, fun, and one of the most critical events in a Freshman student's life as they consider the decision to study abroad at ACU. The 2023-2024 ACU Study Abroad ambassadors will coordinate The Return effort for Study Abroad during Wildcat Week. To ask how you can get involved, contact your program ambassador here.
Take Action: Now that you are “home”, what are you going to do to return well? What opportunities do you want to be involved with, or what resources do you need, to bring the best parts of your Study Abroad experience back to ACU?