I was only 16 the year I lived abroad in France—young enough that I didn’t yet have a solid grasp on what life was all about. [...] Little of that knowledge carried over to France; the rhythm of life and cultural norms were different. My mistakes regularly led to embarrassment, anxiety, discomfort. There’s a reason they call it culture shock. But I was also elated by every success. I learned flexibility, openness, curiosity, and confidence. I also learned to accept myself and other people, despite our differences.

Christine Archer is one of Concordia International’s exchange coordinators who takes care of students going to Asia, the Americas and Oceania. She agreed that some students experience a “reverse culture shock” [...] “A reverse culture shock is a perfectly normal reaction,” added Concordia psychology department lecturer Dorothea Bye. “It goes back to the very definition of a simple cultural shock in ‘re-culturing’ oneself to a place.”