Engaging in the Local Culture

Making the most out of your time abroad requires some preparatory work on your part, including managing your expectations before, during, and after your experience. Here are some resources you may find helpful in making the most of your cultural experience:

• Cultural Adjustment and Engagement (from Yale Study Abroad): This site offers simple strategies for handling the cultural adjustment process.

• Resilient Traveling: Studying abroad provides students with great opportunities for growth. There are also expected challenges that travelers will encounter. This website, developed by the University of Michigan, provides students with some resources as well as related skills for managing stress and enhancing your experience abroad.

When planning to travel outside of your host city (on breaks, on weekends), please inform your Director of your itinerary so that, in the event of an emergency, your whereabouts are known.

Thanks to a number of low-cost airlines in Europe (RyanAir, EasyJet, AirBerlin, etc.), the cost of air travel is now competitive with rail travel, although rail passes can still be a great bargain. Eurail passes must be purchased outside of Europe. If desired, you could have a friend purchase one and send it to you. The French National Railway (SNCF) also offers competitive passes (Carte 12-25), something that is especially attractive if you’re planning to travel in France during weekends and vacations. University-organized trips are also cost-effective, and a great way to develop friendships with other students.

Above and beyond the cost of transportation, students report spending from €300 - 500 per week on food and lodging when traveling in Europe during breaks and holidays. If you plan to travel, you should build these costs into your budget.

Visits from Family and Friends
If your friends and family plan to visit you, please encourage them to come only after you have settled into your new life, at least two months after arrival. Past students have enjoyed visits from their family during the winter holiday break; families often plan spring-time visits, when their student has really settled into life abroad, the weather is nice, and travel is less expensive.

Please ask your visitors to arrange their own accommodations. Host families cannot and should not be asked to accommodate overnight visitors; similarly residence halls may have restrictions on overnight guests.

The idea of a once-in-a-lifetime foreign romance is charming, and study abroad certainly encourages such fantasies. But you are living in a real place, not a state of mind. The cultural values and rules regarding dating and relationships are likely different from those you are accustomed to. Take the time to understand gender norms, relationships and expectations before being swept off your feet.

Keep in mind that signals and signs mean different things in different countries (Autres pays, autres moeurs). Smiling, eye contact and consent are specific to location. Try to understand these signals and their meanings, but under no circumstances engage in behaviors that you are not completely comfortable with. If you are in an unpleasant situation, or if you feel threatened or uneasy, remove yourself from the situation and/or ask for help from friends, bystanders or the authorities. Cultural sensitivity is important, but it should never result in you feeling coerced or threatened. In a cross-cultural relationship, it is perfectly appropriate to share your own standards of discretion with your partner. And, always practice safe sex.

Many of the place you will visit may be a once-in-a-lifetime visit; or you may not return for many years and will wonder what those special memories really meant to you. Your daily life in your program city will also be full of wonderful surprises, ups-and-downs, and contacts with people and places you may want to remember in the future. Consider journaling, blogging, sketching, photography, or other ways to be observing and retaining the richness of the culture and places you will inhabit over the coming months.

With cell phone cameras and selfies everywhere, it is so easy to have an almost constant stream of images from your experiences, many of which are easily uploaded via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and your favorite social media sites. An important aspect of being in another culture is to think about the impact of taking photos has on the local culture. If you are with close friends, it can be a fun way of sharing the experience; however, some people, especially in popular tourist destinations, don’t appreciate having their personal photo taken. Consider getting to know the subjects of your photos first; strike up a conversation and then ask if they mind having their photo taken. You may make a new friend in the process.

One on-line resource with tips for socially responsible photography abroad is Responsible Travel.

The Smith College Lewis Center hosts Global Encounters, an international photo contest and exhibit every year and we encourage you to consider submitting a few of your best photographs. We hope to see where your journeys take you!