3 Ways To Cope With Reverse Culture Shock

Hey Au Pairs!

One of the hardest aspects of the au pair experience is saying goodbye. You’re not only bidding adieu to your au pair family, and friends but to your life in your host country. It can be a difficult transition to return back to your “regular” life after having undertaken an entirely new life abroad.

Personally, I had an extremely difficult time dealing with reverse culture shock when I returned to my country after spending a year away from home. I felt as though many people couldn’t relate to my struggle and I had no one to turn to in this time of deep distress. This blog post is dedicated to all the au pairs who will soon head home. I wish you all nothing but the healthiest transition back home.

Here are 3 ways to cope with reverse culture shock:

1. Surround Yourself With People Who Care

One of the toughest aspects with heading back home after my time abroad was finding people to confide in and who would listen to me. Having returned from a year in a foreign country, all I wanted to do was share my adventures and stories with everyone. So much had happened to me within the year I was away. But, unfortunately, no one wanted to listen. Even my dad flat out told me to stop talking about it because no one cared, hearing that statement from someone in my family made my heart drop to the ground.

I felt alone. Later on, I was able to find others who had gone abroad on exchange much like I had and they could relate to me. Surrounding myself around like minded people who had previously lived abroad aided me tremendously, because I finally had people who were willing to listen to me.

2. Get Involved In The International Scene

After returning back to the United States of America after my year spent in Spain I immediately looked forward to working with the foreign exchange student office on my university campus. It gave me the opportunity to surround myself around students from all over the world which reminded me of my time abroad. Having lived in a foreign country myself, I could relate to them on a personal level and I looked forward to introducing them to the American culture and way of life.

I also joined the Spanish club on campus where I could interact with many international students from Spanish speaking countries which allowed me not only the opportunity to keep up with my Spanish but to also talk to international students who were from the country I studied abroad at which made me feel understood. It was like having a piece of my dear study abroad experience with me on campus.

3. Be Patient

Adapting back to your home country’s culture and lifestyle may take a while. It’s not something that typically occurs overnight, especially if you’ve been away for a long period of time without returning home. I spent a large portion of my first few weeks back home crying and reminiscing on my time abroad. I looked at old video footage and photos of my travels and read diary entries from adventures I had with friends.

Before I knew that reverse culture shock existed I didn’t quite know what I was experiencing. I felt misunderstood and that I was lacking support and validation in a way I couldn’t quite explain. Only later did I learn that just like culture shock, reverse culture shock exists and is very real. As nostalgic as I was to travel back in time to relieve all the precious moments that were now memories in my mind I learned to accept the fact that that chapter of my life was over. BUT, just because it was over didn’t mean that I couldn’t one day return.

This realization took time of course. It probably took me a few months to come to this conclusion. So, it’s important to remain patient and keep the faith. Transitioning back to your country and its culture is a major life event and it takes time.

Have you ever dealt with reverse culture shock? Let me know how you handled it in the comments down below!