We hope you have just returned from one of the most rewarding experiences of your life! The following is information to help you re-adjust to Pittsburgh, become more involved in the international community here, and also help plan your next adventure abroad!

Coming home can be a challenging experience for study abroad participants; feelings of anxiety begin well before the day you actually return to the USA. It is another adjustment to make which involves many conflicting feelings and which will require time and understanding by you, your friends and your family. This last adjustment process, known as "reverse culture shock" or "re-entry shock," is sometimes worse than the original culture shock you experienced when first entering your host culture. This is because upon returning home you won't be experiencing that wealth of newness and feeling of adventure as you did when you first went abroad.

While preparing to return home, you may be very excited to see your family and friends. At the same time however, you will probably be upset to leave your new found home and friends. You will probably only then realize how close you've grown to your friends and/or host famiy. You will realize that life has gone on without you back home, but that it was not nearly as exciting or adventuresome as your time was overseas.

Your return home may also be as uncomfortable for your friends and family as it is for you. Give them time to re-learn you and take the time to re-learn them. You may use words that are unfamiliar, feel insecure away from your surrogate family and friends, feel superior for what you have accomplished and learned, experience a shift in political ideas, have difficulty communicating what you have learned, and experience identity issues as you try to fit back into life at home.

It is very important to remember that all of these feelings are very normal, and it will simply take time to readjust.

Have the re-entry blues? The website for Intercultural Press has many re-entry resources you might be interested in as well as other materials. (Also see information on the Cultural Connections group below.)

Titles for re-entry include:

Help I'm Home by Brande Nicole Martin
The Art of Coming Home by Craig Storti
Student Abroad: Strangers at Home by Norman L. Kauffmann and Judith N. Martin

You should have your transcripts sent to:

(your study abroad advisor)
Study Abroad Office
University Center for International Studies
University of Pittsburgh
802 William Pitt Union
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
USA

PLEASE NOTE: Until we receive your transcript from your study abroad program, your grades will appear as "Incomplete". Once we receive your transcript, we will make a copy of the transcript for your study abroad file in our office, then send the original to the appropriate Dean's Office. The Dean's Office will change your grades in the Pitt system.

International Fair will be TBA in the William Pitt Union. The Fair will feature an extensive program of entertainment, displays of international student groups, international food, and informative displays of University programs and of study, work and travel abroad programs. If you're looking to go abroad again or just want to see who turns out for such an international event, this is the place to be. Chances are there will be a representative from your Study Abroad Program! Visit the International Fair Page for more information.

Help other Pitt students plan their semester abroad while earning Pitt credit!
Be a Study Abroad Office Intern or Volunteer.
Interns and volunteers serve as peer advisors and assist at promotional events. Interns can earn 3 credits for their work. If you are friendly, outgoing, and want to help other students have a rewarding experience abroad, please pick up an Internship Application in 802 William Pitt Union, or contact Carol Larson (larson@ucis.pitt.edu).

Volunteer to share your experience and mentor future students at an Open House, Information Session, or Orientation. We especially need returnees from Pitt in London, the Augsburg Program, Pitt in China, Pitt in India, Pitt in Italy and Pitt in France. Please email: abroad@pitt.edu or call 412-648-7413.

Been bitten by the travel writing bug?

Over the past two years, the Interns in our Study Abroad Office have designed our very own literary magazine entitled: The Road Less Traveled. Currently, our interns are working on the second volume of what promises to be a very exciting, thought-provoking literary journey. If you are interested in writing for or submitting previously written material to the The Road Less Traveled, please contact our Interns at: roadlesstraveled@email.com.

Download Volume I of the The Road Less Traveled

"Cultural Connections" - A Place for International & American Students to Meet. Calling all international, study abroad, and other interested students to explore issues and experiences in leaving your home to study, work, or volunteer in a different country. If interested, contact the University Counseling Center at 412-648-7930.

Use your foreign language skills for a good cause! UPMC Health System International Patient Relations Center is seeking volunteer foreign language translators for their volunteer language bank. If you are interested in helping foreign patients by using your language skills, please contact the Center at 412-648-6262 or email them at internationalcenter@msx.upmc.edu. The International Patient Relations Center is located in the Falk Clinic, Suite 1A, 3601 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

Check out these additional websites for information on
how to get yourself abroad again!