and reintegration.⁶²Where small numbers of students study abroad, re-entry

may be extraordinarily difficult because the campus culture may not

adequately integrate overseas learnings into the classroom context or campus

discussions. But even at colleges where a high percentage of students study

overseas, re-entry is difficult, and students sometimes feel lost in the shuffle,

or disvalue their experience because it does not seem unique. Occasionally

students become angry at their families or others who have not shared their

experience. After returning from SST, one student said:

I was frustrated with people in my community. It was like, hey, become aware! There are so many cultures. When I hear people make stereotypical comments about other countries I feel like saying, "No, you don't know. You don't know."It's not like I'm an expert or anything but yet I feel like I try to evaluate things a little more and be a little more open-minded.63

In regard to her own reverse culture shock, she added:

Everybody says that SST is the greatest experience but nobody says that when you come back you are going to be confused. You may not, but you could be really confused. You may have a lot of questions coming to mind. You're going to be sorting through a lot of things. And people around you may not know how to deal with it.64

In order for students to do the work of re-entry, reintegration, and

reconstruction, they need assistance from faculty members and peers who

understand the experience. Where groups of students have studied abroad

together, this can be done through workshops or brown-bag luncheons, or

through the more structured format of a one- to three-hour follow-up course

which assists students with processing alterations in themselves, their

62_{On this, see Kauffmann et. al., Students Abroad:Strangers at Home, 157-160.}

63_{"DZ," in Cynthia Hockman, Returning Home:SSTers Talk about the Re-Entry}
Experience(Goshen:PinchPenny Press, 1989):24. The Hockman book is
required reading for most SST groups.

64_{"DZ," in Hockman, Returning Home, 14.}

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