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As opposed to culture shock, where one experience difficulties going to a new country andculture, reverse culture shock is the difficulties one experiences when returning home.Reverse culture shock describes the phenomenon of the disorientation and negative feelingsoften experienced when an individual becomes a returning sojourner. This thesis examinesreverse culture shock in the reentry process and its effect on the returning student sojournersat Malmö University. Researching reverse culture shock is important as it is an area that isoften neglected in the context of student mobility, even though the majority of returningstudent sojourners experience it. There is a gap in the research around reverse culture shockwhere phenomenological qualitative research has been deprioritized for a much more tangibleapproach of quantitative research. The returning student sojourner’s stories are important ifone seeks to gain a deeper understanding of reverse culture shock and the reentry process. Thepurpose of this research is to encourage a deeper discussion about reverse culture shock atMalmö University and its impact on student sojourners returning from studying abroad. Thisresearch seeks to answer the question: to what extent are returning student sojourners atMalmö University affected by reverse culture shock? And what can the university do to assistthe reentry process? By utilizing qualitative research methods, three themes were identifiedwhich highlight aspects of the returning student sojourners experiences as they came homefrom their student mobility programs: social difficulties, a dream, and what the university cando to assist the reentry process. In conclusion, the student sojourners returned with a feelingof loneliness and isolation, an experience that felt like a dream, and with a wish for moresupport from their home institution.

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This project is for Rinker Center for International Programs at Ball State University to provide useful information to international and American students. The project consists of ten video interviews with the director of Rinker Center for International Programs and nine international students presenting Ghana, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Turkey. Each interviewee provides cultural differences between American culture and their cultures. In addition, the interviewees tell their personal solutions for coping with cultural difficulties based on their experiences in the United States or different cultures. The director was given three questions and the nine international students were asked ten questions.Each video interview is categorized under country menus and question menus designed with Adobe Macromedia Flash 8 to be navigated by clicking each menu button on a computer. / Department of Telecommunications

This thesis is a narrative inquiry of 10 international students from Nigeria studying in selected UK universities. The thesis draws from emerging discourse on international student’s overseas experiences and extends this knowledge by analysing these experiences from the framework of trauma, individuation, spiritual emergency and the African initiation process, in an attempt to gain an in depth knowledge of Nigerian students’ experiences of studying abroad in the current period. The previous understanding of international students’ experiences from culture shock framework does not account for how their difficult experiences affect their psychological, emotional, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing, so this thesis have reconceptualised these problems and explained them in more depth using the trauma framework and contributed to knowledge in this area. It is an exploratory qualitative study and data for the study was gathered through narrative interviewing. The narrative or story telling method applied in this study enabled the researcher to capture how the participants construct meaning to their lived experiences. The narrative inquiry is chosen because it gives voice to silenced group of people like the Nigerian students whose experiences are not heard. Narratives gathered were textually analysed to evidence the narrators’ unique individual experiences. Findings revealed that the participants had experiences that coincided with trauma experiences such as feeling of helplessness, disorganization, confusion, depression, sleeplessness and disorientation, lack of concentration and supressed emotion as they lived and studied in UK. The thesis concluded from the findings of the study that there is resemblance of trauma experiences in the participants’ stories. The study recommends that support was necessary when they are in UK, while adequate information should be provided before the students sojourn to the UK since most of their difficulties were as a result of failed expectations from their preconceptions about studying in the UK before they arrived.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-100).

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Baigiamajame darbe išnagrinėta adaptacijos ir kultūrinio šoko sampratos, aptarta pagrindiniai adaptacijos bruožai lietuvių emigrantų Ispanijoje ir Airijoje. Pagrindinis tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti lietuvių emigrantų adapacijos pobūdį, išsiaiškinti kokios priežastys lemia sėkmingą / nesėkmingą adaptaciją, kas lemia norą / nenorą grįžti į Lietuvą. Įvairūs tyrimai rodo, kad Lietuvos migracijos potencialas labai didelis:40 – 60 % Lietuvos gyventojų norėtų išvykti gyventi/ dirbti į užsienį; ypač yra daug norinčių išvykti tarp 15 – 24 metų jaunimo – 70 – 90 %; tarp aukštajį išsilavinimą turinčių norėtų išvykti 60 – 75 %. Tačiau tik nedaugelis norėtų išvykti visam laikui. Lietuva visų pirma praranda jaunimą, todėl ateityje tai paveiks tiek kitus demografinius procesus (santuoką, gimstamumą, šeimos raidą) tiek ir darbo išteklius, kuriuos gali tekti importuoti iš trečiųjų šalių. Emigrantus būtų galima suskirstyti į dvi grupes – jaunimą, kurie neįvertinti kaip jauni specialistai baigia aukštuosius mokslus užsienyje arba dėl nebaigto aukštojo mokslo ar nepaklausios specialybės jiems yra itin sunku susirasti poreikius atitinkantį darbą Lietuvoje, ir vidutinio amžiaus žmones, kurie praranda darbą Lietuvoje ir dėl savo amžiaus, ribotų galimybių persikvalifikuoti išvyksta. Norint mažinti emigracijos mastus būtina sudaryti šioms gyventojų grupėms geresnes įsidarbinimo/persikvalifikavimo Lietuvoje galimybes. / The thesis analyses the concepts of adaptation and culture shock and deals with the main issues of adaptation of Lithuanian emigrants in Spain and Ireland. The main aim of the research was to define the nature of the adaptation of Lithuanian emigrants; to find out the causes of either successful adaptation or failure to do so; as well as to identify the factors that influence emigrants’ willingness or unwillingness to return to Lithuania. Different investigations show that the potential of Lithuanian migration is very big – 40 to 60 percent of Lithuanian inhabitants would like to go abroad to live or work; the rate is especially high among young people between 15 and 24 years of age – 70 to 90 percent; 60 to 75 percent of inhabitants with higher education would like to leave the country. However, not many people would like to emigrate forever. Mainly, Lithuania is abandoned by young people, which in future will affect other demographic processes (marriages, births, family development), as well as labour resources that Lithuania might need to import from third countries. The emigrants may be divided into two groups: young people who, having been underestimated as young professionals, finish their studies to obtain higher education in foreign countries, or those who have not acquired higher education or have non-demanded professions and therefore have difficulty finding jobs which would meet their needs; and middle-aged people who leave the country under... [to full text]

This is a text about a work of art, “The Room”, and about the process that brought it about. The process includes experiments in clay bodies, mixing different elements with the base clay in search of a material both suitable to work with in terms of texture and color, but also rich in less tangible qualities, as I mix in elements which carry a set of values of cultural identity. The text follows the path towards development of the final piece during the two-year course of the master program at Konstfack. During these two years, external factors such as dealing with the issues of culture shock, and searching for a place to live, interfere with my way of thinking, leading to unexpected turns in the direction of my artistic process. Searching for an apartment finds me standing in strangers' apartments as they sell their homes, their ways of life and their house rules. These sometimes awkward meetings provide a good starting point in my research of people's habits and habitats. In trying to understand some elements of Swedish culture, I become aware of the fact of my own culture and start thinking about it from an outside perspective. Eventually, the central question of the essay crystallizes: Who will carry on the traditional craft techniques of my home country? Romania is the rare place in Europe where crafts are still being practiced as they have been for hundreds of years, in the villages by crafts persons leading traditional lives. As the villages are emptied of young people, moving into cities, and as Romania as a whole is drained of a large part of its young and ambitious generation, moving to other European countries for jobs and education, a trend that I am of course part of, the traditions that I have taken for granted, growing up with my grandmother in a traditional village, become threatened. The answer to the question is a simple as it is demanding: I have to be part of the future of Romanian crafts. To document them, understand them, and incorporate them in my art. For this purpose, I undertake an investigative research trip. The text presents my findings about the crafts, and about the people working to document and preserve the traditions. The research trip is also presented in the movie “Six days in Romania”, which I include as an appendix to the essay. Over the course of two years, several short-term art projects have been completed within the master program. They are presented in the form of an interview with myself. Looking back at these projects, they become explained as necessary steps in preparation for the final piece, a viewpoint very different from the utter confusion that was the dominating feeling of at least the first year of the course. The interview tries to give insight into the non-linear process that is the creative work. Finally, in a poetic description of the final piece, I let my art speak for itself in a very literal way. In giving voice to the piece, I try to access truths hidden even to myself, in an effort to be as transparent as possible about the value of my efforts.

Thesis (MEd (Human Resources Studies))--University of South Australia, 1995