Study Abroad Program helps students get ready for culture shock in other countries

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The Study Abroad Program at Central Michigan University is helping students prepare for their experience studying in another land.

Students preparing to study abroad this summer attended a panel discussion on Friday afternoon in the Bovee University Center Auditorium. The mandatory event discussed the challenges facing students who study internationally and to help orient them with the cultures they will be entering.

Study Abroad Program Director Dianne De Salvo said about 100 students came to hear former study abroad students share their experiences and advice. De Salvo said a second meeting will address visas, health insurance, passports and other legal issues.

Lansing graduate student Catherine Franklin took students through a slide show of common body gestures that can have different meanings in another culture

She said the American “thumbs up” is considered vulgar in the Middle East, as is crossing your leg over your knee and exposing the sole of your shoe.

“I actually had a professor whose daughter showed the taxi driver the bottom of her foot and he threw her out,” Franklin said. “These things aren’t to scare you, they’re just supposed to make you more aware.”

The panel, consisting of students and advisers, discussed issues of politeness, meals, politics and religions students will encounter in the cultures they are going to become educated in. They asked that students treat people of other countries with respect, especially in the living conditions of home stays, families that host students.

Study Abroad adviser Amber Schneider encouraged students to embrace the culture they enter with open minds. She spoke of the difficulties some have with leaving family and significant others and told a story of one parent who had flown to the country and taken their child home just because they were lonely.

Schneider asked that students focus on what they are getting out of the experience rather than some of the stressful situations they might encounter while being away from home.

“Keep reminding yourself that this is only going to make you stronger even if there are some difficulties,” she said. “Don’t forget that we’re really just human beings in this world and try to appreciate the similarities.”

Traverse City senior Heather Flowers told students the most important thing they can do is to try to experience everything they can and be adventurous as they travel outside the country. She mentioned her experience of eating grasshoppers and said even if some cultural traditions feel uncomfortable, just to go with it.

“Where else am I going to go to do that?” Flowers said. “It’s not like I can just walk downtown in Mount Pleasant and eat grasshoppers.”