This document provides an introduction to a guidebook about re-entry after living abroad. It discusses how re-entry is often more difficult than the initial culture shock of moving abroad, as one feels changed but unsure how to articulate or integrate those changes. It notes that most travelers react to re-entry feelings by either immediately planning another trip or settling back into their pre-travel lives. However, the guidebook proposes that re-entry is actually an opportunity to relaunch oneself into one's next endeavor by embracing the personal growth experienced abroad. The introduction aims to help readers understand re-entry as a chance to integrate who they became globally rather than feeling they must choose between identities.

1. 1
RE-ENTRY REALITY
YOUR GUIDE TO RELAUNCHING YOURSELF AFTER BEING ABROAD
by Cate Brubaker, PhD

2. ©
2014
by
Cate
Brubaker
Photos
©
Cate
Brubaker,
except
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cover
photo,
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Resources.
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Cate
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PhD
SmallPlanetStudio.com
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3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................6
Why this workbook?.................................................................12
How to use this workbook........................................................18
What’s your Re-Entry Reality?.................................................22
Moving beyond misery.............................................................31
How to relaunch yourself: the 4 steps......................................51
Resources................................................................................91
About the author ......................................................................104
Workbook pages to print .........................................................107

4. 6
INTRODUCTION

5. Let’s be honest. On one hand, you’re happy to be home.
Family! Friends! Pets! You can speak your native
language, eat your favorite foods, and sleep in your own
bed.
But you also feel like something is off. It’s not necessarily
bad, just…off. Maybe you feel like one of these travelers:
“In some ways I know myself better, and in some ways
I feel more lost than I was before.”
“I've been overseas for 16 years and every time I come
back, it is a challenge.”
“I thought that my re-entry was MUCH worse than my
go abroad culture shock.”
Here’s the thing about re-entry. It isn’t what you think it is.
Like most people, my re-entry
experience was absolutely unexpected.
Grocery stores were overwhelming, roads
were massive, and I felt like I had been
turned upside down. I felt like I left part of
my heart in Spain, Argentina, and Ecuador,
and didn’t quite feel whole.
Each time I came back I knew I wasn’t
returning to “business as usual”, but I wasn’t
prepared for the struggles with adjustment
(but I was prepared for going back to a
regimented schedule with school, a new
apartment, and connecting friends and
family again).
I didn’t expect for it to be harder than the
initial culture shock.
The biggest issue for me was the shift in
friendships. I found it difficult to connect with
people that hadn’t been abroad before and I
was shocked that my friends didn’t want to
see my 3,247 pictures…it took awhile for me
to realize that my friends and family had
changed while I was abroad, too.
- Carrie Niesen

6. I’m convinced that what gets to us in re-entry isn’t the
in-your-face reverse culture shock. (I can order my
favorite coffee without pantomiming! Do we really need
1,000 types of cereal to choose from?)
Rather, it’s the on-going, much subtler re-entry fatigue that’s
the real problem. (Why do I feel out of sync? Do I really want
to stay in this career? Why am I so bored?)
Why? Because we know that being abroad changed us. Yet
we often can’t articulate exactly how – and how much -
we’ve changed.
Just as the majority of culture is invisible to us, so are the
nuanced ways our travels have transformed us.
Once the initial excitement of coming home fades, we feel
dissatisfied.
Bored. Unsure. Maybe even lost.
8
RE-ENTRY.
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS
EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE
AFTER BEING ABROAD.

7. Most travelers and expats react to the feelings and questions that surface in re-entry in
one of two ways:
1. Run. (I’m bored here! Gotta get back on the road! That’s where I feel alive!)
2. Settle. (I had an amazing experience abroad…but (*sigh*) what does that have to do
with my life now that I’m back home?)
Whether you choose to go abroad again or stay home isn’t the issue. My reaction to re-entry
was to immediately plan my next trip abroad. My husband? He dove into finding a new
position in his field. Even though we had different reactions to re-entry, we held the same
concern.
Being abroad made us feel alive, adventurous, and empowered. We discovered new aspects
of ourselves that we really liked. Once back home, however, we felt like we had to choose
between being the person we’d become while abroad or go back to being the person we were
before we left. But we didn’t want to choose. You probably don’t want to choose, either.
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8. What I’ve learned in the course of several re-entry
experiences, research, and many years helping expats,
travelers, and students with international transitions is that
re-entry isn’t just about surviving reverse culture shock.
Re-entry isn’t about re-adjusting to being home.
(I mean, once you’ve been abroad, who wants to stay
home?)
It isn’t about tucking your life-changing experiences in a
shoebox with your photos and travel ephemera and then
getting on with your life. And it isn’t just those first few days
and weeks after coming home.
What, then, is re-entry about?
Re-entry is the opportunity to relaunch yourself into
your next great thing!
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Re-entry sucked, to say the least. I did
not want to return in the slightest, but felt
obligated to finish my schooling.
What surprised me was how weird it felt to
be surrounded by people speaking English
instead of Spanish or any other foreign
language. I also specifically remember on
the ride home feeling lost in the highway
because it felt ridiculously huge to me!
The fact that I didn’t want to come home
and couldn’t stop talking about Spain or on
the phone with friends from Spain was
deeply offensive to my family. While abroad,
I had the chance to separate who I was
from the beliefs I had in me that were from
my family, so we basically had to get to
know each other all over again.
They also were surprised to have to correct
my English grammar since I was using
Spanish grammar but English words and
didn’t even realize it! Eventually I was flat
out banned from talking about Spain and
had to find other people (most likely other
people that had been abroad) to share my
experiences.
-- Jessica Plaunt

9. You may never feel
satisfied at home
again.
On the flip-side, you likely
feel at home anywhere in
the world.
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“

10. ABOUT ME
At 17, I thought I’d aced re-entry. It wasn’t until a decade later, while
TA-ing a study abroad class in grad school, that I realized just
how deeply I’d struggled with re-entry.
Since then, I’ve helped many travelers, expats, and students
through international transitions in my study abroad work, as a
German teacher, and an intercultural facilitator.
Today, I’m a part-time nomad based in North Carolina. In
addition to helping world travelers relaunch themselves into
their next great thing after being abroad, I teach at the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and create global
education programs for international schools. I can’t imagine doing
anything else!
Thanks for reading Re-Entry Reality.
-Cate
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11. SPREAD THE WORD
Know others going through re-entry? Show them this ebook. Better yet, encourage them
to buy their own copy. 25% of every Re-Entry Reality purchase is donated to a
scholarship fund to help a high school student study abroad!
I’d love it if you’d help me spread the word about Re-Entry Reality on social media, in
your networks, and with students, friends, and colleagues. Thank you!
GET IN TOUCH
Let me know what you think of Re-Entry Reality. Give your feedback here.
I’d also love to hear about your re-entry relaunch. How can I help?
Email me at smallplanetstudio@gmail.com
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