Global Student Ambassador Program
The Global Student Ambassador Program in the Office of Global Programs aims to provide even further support from our students to other students interested in studying abroad, as well as create increased support for our incoming international exchange students. The goals of this program are to increase awareness on campus of the study abroad opportunities available to them and increase the level of support for new students coming from abroad to integrate into life at UMass Boston. The program will provide a space for outgoing study abroad students active in the application process to come and ask questions, advice, and work on applications with peers who have navigated the process in the past. It will also create a "buddy" program for those coming to our university from abroad partner universities. The students selected for this role in our office will be planning and organizing events on and off-campus for exchange students to learn about Boston, meet UMass Boston students, and will work to give our exchange students the best experience they can while visiting our city.
Our Podcast:
The UMB Fall 2021 Podcasts aims to inform students about the opportunities of study abroad programs. We answer questions such as: why should I go? What will I do? And can I afford to do something as big as this? Most often the answer won't be what you expected, and reassurance is abundant in each episode we discuss. Come to find friends, answers, questions, programs and so much more this semester with Hao Tran and Allen Valentine, Global Ambassadors and your new hosts!
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Prologue - What is UMB Study Abroad Podcast?
Episode 1 - Why study abroad?
Episode 2 - Steps to study abroad?
Episode 3 - Benefits of studying abroad
Interview with UNAM student fellow from Mexico
Interview with Brittany Dhooge, study abroad advisor
Thanksgiving Episode
When You Return
Continue Your Language Studies
Consider adding a language minor/major to your degree! Adding language proficiency to your resume can help you stand out to employers after graduation. Watch this video presented by the Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department on how language study has impacted UMass Boston students and alumni: https://players.brightcove.net/1050888036001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6186414917001
To learn more about the different majors and minors in languages available at UMass Boston, follow these links:
- Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Vietnamese: https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/modlang#ugModern Languages
- Spanish and Portuguese: https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/latam_iberian#ug
- Classical Languages and Studies (Greek and Latin): https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/classics
- East Asian Languages and Asian Studies: https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/asian
- International Relations major or minor (use your language study from abroad toward the degree!): https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/polisci/undergraduate_programs/international_relations_major
Study Abroad Blog
Want to share your story? Contribute to the UMass Boston Study Abroad Blog. Submit a post here!
Career Resources
Use UMass Boston's Career Services to update your resume based on your new study abroad experience. Highlighting what you gained from your experience is vital to future employer's/ applications.
Reverse Culture Shock
Few people anticipate culture shock when they return home, but many students actually find that it is just as challenging to get used to being at home again as it was to get used to living abroad. Some students find that they have changed and grown a great deal while abroad, but that home, family and friends have not, and this gap makes it challenging to slip back into settings, routines, and relationships that were once familiar and comfortable. You should expect a certain amount of this if you have had a full and enriching time overseas. It is important not to ignore the experience of reentry as a facet of study abroad: readjusting to life at home is difficult and what you're feeling is entirely legitimate.
Common Reentry ("Reverse Culture Shock") Experiences:
- Impression that you can't fully explain your experience or its importance
- Realization that others do not want to hear very much about your adventures
- Sensation of being "out of place" despite being home
- Boredom with being home
- Experiencing homesickness for the place where you studied abroad
- Seeing that relationships with family and friends have changed
- Feeling that others misunderstand your growth, or see the "wrong" changes in you
- Assessing your home in a way that is judgmental or overly critical
- Feeling that your experience abroad is lost or cut off from the rest of your life
If You Find Yourself Experiencing Difficulty After Coming Home:
Try to use the same cultural adaptation skills that you developed while you were getting used to being abroad (e.g. keep active, maintain a sense of humor, find a support group, expect differences, allow yourself to make mistakes, stay flexible) to make the transition to being home.
Be reflective. Give some thought to your return, to the types of intellectual and emotional changes that you have undergone as a result of your time abroad.
Expect some negative feelings about your "home" culture. Try not to be too critical of shortcomings that you did not see before. Remember that at there are positive and negative aspects of all cultures.
Accentuate the positive. Try to identify what you like about both cultures and try to incorporate the best aspects of these into your life.
Be patient with your friends and family who are trying to understand your recent experiences. Listen to them, too, about the changes they underwent during the time you were away.
Maintain connections with "the international life" through the many opportunities available at UMass Boston. Help spread the word about study abroad to your friends and classmates, participate in symposia, share your pictures with the campus community, and/or assist the study abroad advisor with outreach to new outgoing students.
Set goals for your development. Realize once again that change can be stimulating and this could be your chance to develop in new directions. Set some long-term goals, which may involve finding ways to return abroad.
"We shall not cease from exploration.
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
--T.S. Eliot
Reentry Resource List:
Bruce, A. "Culture Shock at Home: Understanding Your Own Change - The Experience of Return". Transitions Abroad. January/February, 1997, p. 79-80.
Howell, Leah. "Coming Home: Sustaining the Experiences of Studying Abroad". The Vermont Connection. 1999. (http://www.uvm.edu/~vtconn/?Page=v20/howell.html)
Kohls, L. Robert. "Survival Kit for Overseas Living". Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1996.
Woody, Stacey. Programming for Reentry: Issues and Solutions for Study Abroad Returnees. Transitions Abroad. Mar/Apr 1998, p. 107-108.