Summary of (Re)Orientation Program for Exchange Students hosted by Monmouth College, Nov. 17, 2001. Written by John Chaimov of Coe College.

Six participants from Coe joined at least a dozen participants from Monmouth at Boone House to hear a word of welcome by Monmouth Vice President George Arnold.

We then played an ice-breaker game, BARNGA, that forces participants to adjust without the benefit of speech to new cultural rules. Respondents to the evaluation forms were enthusiastic about the game. Two wished for more time.

There followed a student panel discussion that allowed returnees to share wisdom and personal stories with those who were soon to travel abroad. Advice ranged from general reflections on “first-week blues” to specific tips for students traveling to specific destinations. In the evaluations participants thought highly of the session as a whole, singling out the inspiring stories students told and the reminders that the exchange is about an entirety of experience and not just grades or classes. Remembering this means students may feel freer to choose a memorable trip over writing an unmemorable paper.

In the final panel of the morning, faculty and students spoke on the issue of how Americans are perceived abroad. American student views on America diverged, as one spoke of acquiring a suspicion toward fellow Americans upon return while another found new reasons to appreciate his native country. Professor Kuppinger spoke especially well to the role of social class and stereotypes in the understanding of Americans abroad. Participants gave the session high marks and thought a similar session in future would benefit from getting to hear stories and opinions from more foreign students.

Lunchtime conversation was enriched by the arrival of several faculty who took time out of their day to join the seminar.

After lunch we convened a session on issues of health and safety. This session offered many photocopied handouts on a wide array of travel concerns. Topics discussed included overseas medical insurance, seeking medical treatment, emotional health, financial emergencies, diet, gathering safety information from CIEE and NAFSA as well as from State Department websites, and contacting overseas embassies in an emergency. Respondents to the evaluations were very satisfied with the session. They noted especially the personal stories as memorable and would like to hear more such anecdotes.

We scheduled the day’s final discussion as an open topic forum but ended up spending much of our time discussing strategies for reentry and reacclimation into one’s home culture. Deanna Jobe distributed a handout outlining social and psychological adjustments exchange students can expect to have to make upon reentry, and several students shared suggestions for how their college could better facilitate a productive reentry. In particular, Coe could learn from Monmouth’s current practice of hosting a dinner for returned students or could perhaps resurrect its former tradition of an ice-cream social for returnees.

Some favorable summative comments on the day: “very informative, helpful”; “hosts were excellent”; “[liked] the informal setting”; “[liked] getting together with people at different stages of the study abroad process”; “[liked] learning that others had similar experiences”; “I feel more at ease about going.”

Some things respondents would change for a future meeting: respondents wanted more student participants, more opportunity to get to know students from the other school (perhaps at a session without faculty), and wanted students to talk more.

 A note from the Coe side: the fact that there were several Coe faculty/staff organizers presented an obstacle to our getting invitations out to students inasmuch as each of us hoped the others would take care of it. In the end, we notified students too late of the conference and probably didn’t strongarm them enough to participate. To ensure wider student participation, we will need to invite students to the April 12^th meeting in the letters that notify them, in February, of their permission to study abroad.

For the program for this reorientation, see http://department.monm.edu/offcampus/reorientation_program.htm.
For a description of the grant which funded this activity, see http://department.monm.edu/offcampus/global_partners_project.htm.
For more information about this project, please contact Tom Sienkewicz at toms@monm.edu.