Transition Shock

Transition shock is simply adjusting to a transition in your life. Any time, people go into a new living situation, relationship or environment, they tend to experience transition shock. There will undoubtedly be things in your host country that you are not used to. The best advice in these situations is to be flexible and relaxed.  Remember, usually, things will work out.  This is not being overly optimistic; things actually do work out. Every student experiences transition shock. The image below represents the typical stages of transition shock. These are near universal feelings for students who go abroad, you are not alone.  

Studying and traveling abroad involves a great deal of ambiguity and uncertainty.  This is unavoidable because there is no way to determine every detail of a host culture or university ahead of time.  Studying abroad means integrating into a different academic system and society.  Notions of time, social norms, and academic expectations may differ subtly or quite from those at home.  When you take your cultural expectations to another country that does not have these expectations, you cause yourself unnecessary stress.  This is “cultural baggage,” so try to relax and suspend judgment.  Nearly every study-abroad student has a period in which