1. Mateus Knabach Evald
Study Abroad, a Complete Analysis of the Whole Process and Changes
Introduction
Studying abroad is one of the most discussed topics among any students around the
world. The possibility of studying and living in another country amazes people, the whole world
opens its doors for learning, experiences, new friends, and a cultural change.
During the process, three distinct stages can be experienced and seen. First, the decision
to study abroad, and all the motivation it takes. After all the paperwork and approbation the
students experience the first cultural shock and a psychological change, the adaptation and first
moments are an important moment. This step is crucial to see how the students react and adapt in
a total new environment. The last one and maybe the hardest part of all is the time to go back
home and the reenter culture shock. During the time away from their country things surely
changed back home, people moved, married, or passed away, and more than that, they have met
friends on the way and they will stay in the other country, there is a time to say good-bye and
this can be a hard step. Studying abroad is not an easy decision, it is based on experiences, on
what you are looking for your life, and once the border is crossed, it is impossible to be the same.

2. The decision to study abroad and its implications
According to HungChih Yu, doctor in Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, there
are six main reasons for studying abroad “…cultural learning, academic learning, personal
development, foreign experience, pleasure and social interactions.” (2008). It is not an easy
decision at all; the necessity to leave many things behind, family, friends, the comfort of home.
When it is less expected they see themselves in a different country, speaking a different
language.
According to the Institute of International Education, a total of 886,052 foreign students
studied the 2013/2014 academic year in United States (2014), and 289,408 American students
spent during the academic year outside United States (IIE.org, Open doors data, 2014,web).
More frequently, students are making this decision, moved by motivations that they expect to be
fulfilled in another place. Using my personal point of view and experience, the decision came
with the necessity of a new challenge. The same courses, in the same building with the same
professors were not enough. What I needed was just one opportunity.
HungChih Yu also states that between the six reasons for studying abroad, the cultural
learning and the foreign experience are the two driving forces that conduce students to the final
decision. While in their hometown and in a place with the native language, it is not so
challenging to go to university and live daily, but when the students put themselves on the road
their perspectives change. A completely different world will be discovered, humans are driven
by motivation and the necessity of changing facts through live, the anxiety of discovering the
unknown and the adrenaline becomes part of daily life.

3. It is not only one factor that leads students to study abroad, the complete social context is
where they are inserted contributes to this decision. The will to live in another social context
motivates most students to go study abroad. It is hard to see the social context until we look from
outside. This generation is willing to move around the world to grow and to be able to help their
hometown, change their realities and social context, and thus bringing themselves and all others
around them to a new social level.
Cultural Shock and Psychological Changes
“Home is now behind you, the world is ahead.” (Tolkien, 1966).
This phrase can summarize the mix of feelings that hit everyone who find themselves in a
completely different place. It is a new phase of a life, a big adventure, but then we, who went
abroad, realize that our home, family, old friends, and old university are behind us, far away,
many times people cannot handle this mix of feelings, and prematurely end their programs to go
back home. In my program three students asked to go back home in the first six months.
According to the InterNations website, culture shock “…is a phenomenon that all types
of expatriates experience, no matter if they work abroad for the first time or if they are veterans
in the field of expat assignments. Often, it is the deeper cultural differences in mindset, customs
and interpersonal interaction that trigger this phenomenon and turn cultural transition into a
struggle.” No matter what people know about other countries, they will really know it only when
they are inserted in it. There are always differences between the behaviors of two different
places, for example, hugging someone is a popular greeting in Brazil but here in the Unites
States people only do this with close friends or relatives. Inside of the new environment people
inevitably will change, day by day, there is no way to stay the same.

4. The psychological changes are usually immense, as old parameters cannot be applied
anymore, and eventually this new home seems be better than the old hometown. However, when
everything ends I realize that I am not just one, and I cannot be one anymore. “When you live
abroad, you realize that, no matter where you are, you will always be an ex-pat. There will
always be a part of you that is far away from its home and is lying dormant until it can breathe
and live in full color back in the country where it belongs.” (Fagan, 2012, web). As Fagan
noticed, there are now two identities, the culture shock cracks people in two, and this new part is
consolidated with time and adaptation. I can say that suddenly I had two SIM cards, and two
types of coins, that always mix with each other and I usually grab the wrong one.
HungChih Yu (2008) states that students realize how the local people guide their lives
and what their beliefs are, and sometimes they want to immerse themselves to discover their real
role in society and life (page 108). The action of interacting with local people is a larger step to
be taken, and the cost is the comfort zone. While many times this interaction is tough, it is
worthwhile. I had the possibility to develop a relationship with a local family, but it costs my
own comfort, self-confidence, but the income of learning, culture, and experiences is priceless.
Time to Go Back and Reenter Cultural Shock
After a period studying abroad, maybe the hardest step is still coming, the re-entering
stage is the hardest for most students. As Stacey Woody Thebodo, International Programs and
Off-Campus Study Coordinator at Middlebury College in Vermont, says, “Re-entry can be
defined as the often unexpected and sometime difficult experience of re-adjusting to life in one's
home culture after living abroad.” It is time to go back home and to the old life, time to meet
relatives, old friends, and old environment, but what most students do not realize is that time did
not stop while they were away. People have changed, married, passed away or moved to another

5. city, and this may be the source of the re-enter culture shock. This factor is influenced by the
time spent away; when they go back, they realize that they have internalized many of the values
of the other country that they did not have before. They have changed with time, their beliefs and
points of view have changed. The question that always is made is how can I come back to my old
life? The answer is that I cannot come back to the old life because I am not the same.
It is time to stick all things together and make it makes sense in the end. Many things that
I did not care about before now is important, the way I drive, speak, or act in public are just the
smaller changes.
After a time far away from their home, students often realize that maybe the whole
experience can be applied in their original places, and that they can make a difference using this
renewed person who came back. There is a time for everything, and each one imply its own
perspectives and costs. Since the decision of studying abroad, until the time to return home many
things happened. In each stage a mix of emotions is experienced. Some cannot handle it and go
back earlier, but the other who chose to stay and face the challenge can expect great changes
coming on the way. The experience is unique, for me it is just a matter of how we enjoy every
little detail and second, and what I do with what I learned and experienced. Opportunities are
here, the world, more than never before, is opened, for each student what is needed is just one
step to jump into a completely new experience.

6. References
HungChih Yu, “An Examination of the Effects of Participation in a College Study Abroad
Program”, Pennsylvania State University, College on Health and Human Development,
2008, Print, November 5, 2014
Institute of International Education, “Open Doors 2014”, Web, November 5, 2014
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel, “The Hobbit or There and Back Again”, Houghton Mifflin
Company, New York, First American Edition, 1966, Print
Expat Magazine, “What is cultural shock”, Internations.org, Web, 5 November 2014
Fagan, Chelsea, “What Happens When You Live Abroad”, Thought Catalog, web, 6 November
2014
Thebodo, Stacey Woody, “Returning Home from Study Abroad”, Middlebury College, web,
November 6, 2014