IT WAS MY FIRST DAY OF CLASS BACK ON CAMPUS after a semester
abroad, and it was surreal. Walking down Greene Street, the masses of garnet-andblack-clad students seemed more like an army of drones than my peers. The intensity of school pride was jarring after a semester at University College Dublin, Ireland’s USC-equivalent. UCD has a similar population and campus size as Carolina, so I felt right at home as soon as I began my semester in Dublin. The lack of initial culture shock was a surprise, but Ireland is culturally similar enough to the U.S. where I brushed it off. What I didn’t expect was the shock I felt after returning home. Enter reverse culture shock. The feeling, which usually presents itself in an unsuspecting way – say, when walking down a crowded sidewalk to class – comes from change. Our home may not have changed— but we have. In most cases, “home” often becomes idealized as we spend time away from it, which can also lead to feelings of shock. “A lot of students come back and have a reverse culture shock situation,” USC study abroad administrative assistant Taylor Armstrong says of what she sees in students during re-entry. She explains it comes when faced with a situation you adapted to abroad and have a hard time adjusting to when back home – like public transportation or ordering fast food. “For my first meal, Bojangles was obviously my choice since I landed in Charlotte, and it was the most awkward experience I have ever had while ordering food,” junior engineering major Brian Youngblood says of his first meal back from studying in Madrid during the Spring 2018 semester.
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