The Rotary Youth Exchange experience: The middle
wave of culture shock
Some Rotary Youth Exchange students may
experience a delayed homesickness a few months after
arriving in their host country, a phenomenon known as
the "middle wave" of culture shock. Psychologist Dennis
White, a member of the District 6220 (parts of Michigan
and Wisconsin, USA) Youth Exchange Committee and past RI
Youth Exchange Committee chair, helps students, parents,
host families, and Youth Exchange officers identify the
symptoms and find ways to cope. Read his article below
or view the full article on the North American Youth
Exchange Network
Website. |
Rotary Youth Exchange students who departed for
their host countries in late August are in the middle of
their fourth month abroad around late December. Despite
the fact that most of them are having a very positive
experience, this is a time when it is fairly typical for
many of them to be experiencing a second "wave" of
culture shock, longer and more difficult than that which
they experienced upon arrival in their host
country.
There are usually at least four
stages that exchange students experience:
1.
Excitement and enthusiasm. This is the feeling
that accompanies travel to a new place, seeing and doing
so many new and different things, and meeting new
people.
2. Irritability. No matter
how understanding and accepting the student may try to
be, there will be many times when they just don't like
or understand why their host culture is the way it is,
and they can't seem to make the feeling go
away.
3. Adaptation. This is when
students learn to accept that they will have to adapt if
they are going to be successful in their host
culture.
4. Biculturalism.
This is when they realize that they have become
competent in another culture and can see the world and
function from another, very different point of
view.
The lowest point comes at about four
months, or near the middle of December. What exactly is
the student experiencing at this point? Most tell us
that this is where the feeling of irritability is at its
greatest, because they do not see an easy way to feel
better. They have not necessarily figured out how to get
along better with a host family or to be included more
in school activities.
Most probably,
and certainly most important, they may have not yet
learned enough [of the] language to really understand
what is going on, or to communicate what they want to
say to others. After a few months of this, it is very
natural to get very frustrated and wish that everyone
and everything just made more sense. They may just
experience it as a global feeling of discomfort and
dislike of the culture.
Following this
period, they are entering the longest but most rewarding
of the four stages of culture shock. This is where the
students not only learn much more language and
understand the culture much more, it is where they begin
to learn much more about themselves. They get a better
understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses.
They learn new coping skills or use existing ones that
they may never have known they had. It can be helpful if
Youth Exchange officers/counselors and parents
understand that this is what many students are going
through at this time. It can be extremely helpful to a
student in this stage to just have someone with whom
they can express their feelings without fear of getting
in trouble or offending anyone. It can also be helpful
to point out to students that this is probably the
lowest point they will experience, and that things will
begin to get better as they continue to work at
adjusting. |
Ask a Youth Exchange officer
What are some tips to prevent early
returns, and what are some ways to help those students
who experience homesickness?
|
Virtually all students experience homesickness
during their trip abroad for a year. At the inbound
orientation, we give the students tips for having a
successful exchange. One of the most important pieces of
advice we give is to "disconnect" from their home
country and focus on their new family, school, and
community. They should continue to smile, and ask if
they can help out and get involved with their host
family. The No. 1 way to have an unsuccessful exchange
is to not participate. Do not hide out in your room. Do
not miss school. Do not talk to people in your home
country all the time.
The District 5130
Youth Exchange Committee has created an "emotional
chart" that tracks students' typical experiences
throughout the year. During the rebound debriefing, we
often hear from the students that just knowing the
emotional process and being able to prepare for it was a
big help.
We have developed our program
around this emotional calendar to help the inbound
students get over some of the tough times. One trip that
we do is called the "Blues Buster." We take the students
to San Francisco during Fleet Week, a U.S. military
celebration and exhibition, for a tour of the city. This
trip has no other agenda but to reacquaint the inbound
students with each other and give them a safe place to
talk about their experiences and get some words of
advice from their peers. It takes place in the middle of
October, when students have come down from the
excitement of their arrival and have settled in with
their first host family but are facing the holidays and
their first move to a new host family in the next month
or so. This one weekend seems to give them the extra
boost needed to carry them through the holidays. Usually
by January, the students are fully acclimated to their
new environment and really start to enjoy their time
abroad. |
How a big opportunity
changed my
life |
As Rotarians
Dennis White and Glenda Sales discussed above, Youth
Exchange students experience stages of culture shock
followed by adaptation, and districts can help students
overcome their homesickness. The story below is a
wonderful example of the voyage one student has taken on
her exchange. Mariana Soares Amorim, hosted by District
5950 (Minnesota, USA), writes of her excitement,
difficulties, and growth while she was a 2008-09
outbound exchange student from Brazil.
Like every teenager, I had my dreams, which I never
thought I would do, and not just because of a lack of
opportunity, but because I thought I wasn't strong
enough. One of them was going to a different country and
exploring a new culture. Then Rotary International
gave me the opportunity to build a new story for myself.
It started with a very nice person who found in me
something more than I did.
The acceptance letter came one month after the
placement testing. When I got the mail, I couldn't open
it. I called my mom's work and said, "Mom! What should I
do? The letter came!" My mom, laughing at me, said,
"Open it - that's the only thing to do." So I opened it,
and the first words I saw were, "Congratulations! You
are one of the next Rotary exchange students." I started
crying. From 45 students, they chose 25 to represent our
country in a different nation, and I was one of these
students.
I have tried new things and had good and difficult
moments, both happy and sad. The only thing that I was
sure of was that I would never give up my dream, even in
extremely hard situations. I told my mom, "For
everything we went through together, and all the money
we spent for that, I'll stay no matter what."
I have learned English. I was able to talk with
people in a couple of months, and that made things
easier and made me believe more in myself. It was hard
for me to go to classes and not understand anything and
to adapt to the culture. It was hard for me to stay
without my mom's and dad's hugs and talks, without
friends who would be there for me when I needed to cry.
But to live without all of that just made me grow
up.
I can say that today I'm a new person with new
visions of life, and I'm so much stronger than I was
before. Being away from home gives you time to find who
you are and learn a lot about yourself, and it gives you
the opportunity to see how people love you and miss you.
Sometimes I think I'm just dreaming, and I will wake up
and be in Brazil and never have gone on an exchange.
Then I realize that it is reality, and it has changed me
for the rest of my
life.
|
Rotary Foundation Month and Family Month
|
In anticipation of Rotary Foundation Month in
November and Family Month in December, Youth Exchange
officers are encouraged to promote The Rotary
Foundation's programs among fellow Rotarians and Youth
Exchange students and to strengthen the overall ties
within the family of Rotary. The
Foundation offers humanitarian grants and educational
programs, such as Rotary World Peace Fellowships, to
further its mission of building international goodwill,
understanding, and peace. Learn more about the Foundation's
programs.
Building peace, one act at a
time  Lisa Monette knew she
wanted to do something for her class project that would
have a lasting impact.
Monette, a Rotary World Peace Fellow at
Chulalongkorn University, joined forces with three other
peace fellows who were thinking along similar lines.
Together, they dreamed up A Million Acts of Peace, an
effort they launched online 27 August to encourage one
million people to carry out one act of peace each.
"The idea sort of grew out of the thought that
people can do little things that may not mean that
much," Monette says. "But if you have a million people
doing little things, you can have a big impact."
Monette's collaborators include Gregorio Hernandez
Jr., a major in the Philippine army; Raseema Alam, a
peace-building trainer and consultant from Canada; and
Virender Singh Malik, a retired colonel from India. All
have now completed the three-month program. In addition
to the Web site, the peace fellows created a page on
Facebook and are heavily promoting their effort through
Twitter.
Their Web site defines an act of peace as "anything
you do to further your understanding of another person,
place or culture." It can also include efforts that help
the vulnerable, outcast, or needy. So far, Monette says
the group has tallied more than 150 acts of
peace, counted as people e-mail them or contact them via
Facebook.
Monette was sponsored for the Rotary World Peace
Fellowships program by the Rotary Club of Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada. She took a short leave from her job as
a spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade, specializing in issues
related to Asia and terrorism and security worldwide.
She says her grandfather was a Rotarian, and her
father, aunts, and uncles participated in the Rotary
Youth Exchange program. As a high school student, she
took part in a one-week program sponsored by the
Ottawa club that brings students to the Canadian capital
to teach them about citizenship and develop their
leadership skills.
"We really think this has a good connection to
Rotary," she says. "It fits with Rotary's values. Rotary
is all about peace."
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Newly certified
districts |
Every two weeks, the list of noncertified districts
is updated online.
Congratulations to district 3201
(India)! |
Reminder to Youth Exchange
officers |
Inform RI's Youth Exchange staff of early returns
experienced in your district or multidistrict. Please
forward an e-mail with the student's name, reason for
early return, date of return, and hosting and sponsoring
districts to youthexchange@rotary.org |
Upcoming Youth Exchange events
If you would like information on
your national or international conference published in
upcoming editions of this newsletter, please e-mail us
at youthexchange@rotary.org |
Rotary-UN Day
7
November
New York City
Organized by RI
representatives to the United Nations, this program will
include a youth panel featuring a speaker from Interact
and Rotaract, who will each present a description of a
hands-on international club project.
Information: www.riunday.org
29th Annual Brazilian Youth Exchange
Conference
19-22 November
Serrano Resort Convention and Spa Hotel
Granado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
South Central Rotary
Youth Exchange (SCRYE) 2010 Winter
Conference
29-31
January
Radisson Hotel
Tulsa, Oklahoma,
USA
Contact: Don Peters
The 15th Annual Japan Youth Exchange
Conference
Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan
15-16
May, 2010
Osaka YMCA Conference
Centre
Contact: Shindo
Kondo | |
Questions and
comments
Please send
any questions, comments, or ideas for future issues of
this newsletter to youthexchange@rotary.org.
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