Handbook

Introduction

Students overseas are met with a myriad of cultural and behavioral differences from the day they get off the plane. This constant exposure to foreign experiences makes study abroad both a period of academic learning and a period of personal discovery, both an exercise in cultural immersion and adaptation. Learning to deal with, adapt to, and accept the differences between home culture and host culture is one of the prime purposes of going overseas to study, and one of the main goals students should try to achieve while abroad.

Study abroad is not a vacation and it should not be viewed as such. Too many students go overseas without thinking about the experience as a whole. Study abroad is fun. Study abroad is exciting and exhilarating and it can also be romantic. But study abroad is also unpredictable, difficult at times, and above all, challenging. Students who only consider the "fun" aspects of study abroad often find the more difficult parts disconcerting and often insurmountable.