1.3 ITINERARY
The course itinerary will have three main sections. Classes in basic Egyptian Arabic will be held throughout the course, focusing on vocabulary related to the substantive topics to be addressed each day.
(1) Political Economy of Tourism: During the first six days, students will visit the key touristic sites in the Greater Cairo area following a rough historical chronology. Each of these visits will include guided tours (often led by academic experts) and follow-up discussions with the professors. Ancient sites will include Pharonic ruins such as the Giza and Saqqara pyramids, and Greco-Roman ruins in the port city of Alexandria. Medieval sites will include early Coptic Christian monasteries, the Ben Ezra synagogue, the walled city of Fustat, and a series of significant Fatamid and Ottoman mosques. Contemporary sites will focus on the extreme variations in living conditions in different sections of the city (and their populations), from the City of the Dead necropolis to the glamorous malls that attract Egyptian elites and summer tourists from the Gulf region. Throughout these site visits, students will be both tourists and participant observers, encouraged to critically reflect on the political effects of the tourist economy in Egypt.
(2) Development Challenges in Urban Egypt: During the following four days, students will meet with practitioners and academics working in and around Cairo to learn about the process of economic development in contemporary urban Egypt. Speakers will include, for example, representatives of the Cairo office of international NGOs such as the Population Council and the UN Development Program, as well as representatives of the Egyptian foreign ministry and U.S. and EU diplomatic missions, including the U.S. Agency for International Development. A panel on youth politics in Egypt will bring students together with Egyptian peers for an evening of informal discussion and dialogue.
(3) Tourism, Development, and Ecology in Rural Egypt: The last section of the itinerary will begin in rural Lower Egypt with a stay at the Desert Development Center for a series of lectures and local tours related to questions of sustainable development. Students will then travel by train to Upper Egypt and take a boat along the Nile between the cities of Luxor and Aswan, stopping along the way to visit historic and contemporary sites of interest (ranging from the Karnak Temple to a Nubian village). We will hold class sessions on the boat as we go, tying together the threads of the three-week investigation of the politics of Egypt’s tourist economy and the challenges and successes in Egypt’s development trajectory.
1.4 PASSPORTS AND VISAS
Ensure that you make copies of your passport’s identification page (with the photo on it) and your visa. Put these copies in various locations. Leave one at home with your parents. Put them in different pieces of luggage/locations. Here’s why: if you lose your passport, having a copy of it will make getting a new one much, much easier.
ISIC CARD
All students are required to purchase an ISIC card ($22) before their departure and you have all been sent an email about this. The ISIC card provides important insurance coverage that is not part of your HWS medical plan, and for this reason, all students are required to have it. It all provides coverage for a lost passport or other lost documents. Be sure to keep an extra copy of this somewhere separate from the card and leave a copy at home with your parents. If you lose the card, you will only be able to get a free replacement of it if you have a copy showing the ID number of the card.
1.5 Travel Dates/Group Arrival
You are all booked on the group flight. Group flight details are as follows:
27 MAY 2009 Egyptair #986 Depart New York- JFK 6:30 PM
Arrive Cairo 12:20 PM 28MAY
15 JUN 2009 Egyptair #985 Depart Cairo 10:15 AM
Arrive New York- JFK 3:15 PM
1.6 CLIMATE
|
Month |
Cairo (Min/Max) |
Luxor (Min/Max) |
Aswan (Min/Max) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
May |
63/90 F |
69/103 F |
71/101 F |
|
June |
68/95 F |
72/107 F |
76/108 F |
Even though the weather may be very warm, shorts are not permitted and everyone must ensure that they have some long-sleeve shirts with them – cotton is best and will keep you cooler than synthetic materials (see section 1.7 below for more info about what to bring and what not to bring.)
1.7 WHAT TO BRING
PACKING
The rule of thumb is: pack light. You will be carrying your luggage around with you as the group travels.
Some specific things to note on what to bring/not bring to Egypt:
Female students will need to have knees and elbows covered at all times. We recommended a light-weight cardigan sweater and/or button-down shirt which can be worn over other tops. You should wear clothes that are not terribly tight-fitting. This is both culturally appropriate and will help you to stay cool in the face of high temperatures and humidity.
Male students should not show their knees, nor should they wear casual t-shirts as their only shirt (a casual t-shirt under a short-sleeved button down shirt is fine). This will be important for cultural and climatological reasons – loose and cotton is much better than tight and synthetic. Students will also have to hand wash their clothes at various points on the trip, so fabrics that will dry easily are important. Jeans are largely impractical, though students may want to bring one pair. The faculty directors reserve the right to ask any student to change clothes before leaving the hotel or attending an event.
So, no shorts for any student. Flip flops will be dangerous on the street but are OK for the hotel, and no skirts above the knee or short sleeves for women.
WHAT TO BRING
Pants
One pair of jeans
Lightweight sweater, jacket or sweatshirt
Shirts – ensure that some are long-sleeved or ¾ length
Underwear/socks
Sleepwear
Comfortable walking shoes (most important item)
Cosmetics, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. – however, many basics are available so you can pack light.
Sunglasses
Sunscreen – SPF 45 or stronger is recommended
Insect repellent
A hat or baseball cap
Travel alarm clock (battery operated)
A swimsuit (The boat on the Nile in Upper Egypt will have a pool. Students will not be permitted to swim or wear their bathing suits in any location other than on the boat)
Earplugs
Enough prescription medication for the duration of the program in its original bottle
An extra pair of glasses or contacts – Note that students who wear contacts may find it difficult to do so in Cairo, where it can be very dusty.
Camera and film/memory card
The essentials—passport/visa/ISIC card (+ photocopies of these), airline ticket, debit/credit card
Backpack/daypack
This handbook
A journal or diary
WHAT NOT TO BRING
More luggage than you can carry on your own
Expensive jewelry
Expensive electronics that you are afraid will be stolen (petty theft is the most common crime affecting students abroad).
A laptop
LAPTOPS AND ELECTRONICS
There will not be adequate security provisions for electronics beyond those which can be carried personally (iPod, camera) when we leave the hotel, so students should not bring a laptop.
Please note that petty theft is the most common crime affecting travelers. Please do not bring anything without first considering the impact of it getting stolen, or the reality of having to worry about the safety of these possessions all the time.
Heat generating appliances (travel irons, hair dryers, curling irons) which are not dual voltage cannot be used in Egypt, which uses a 220v current, and even plugging them into a converter may cause damage to the appliance and risk fire. Students should be prepared to go “minimalist” while on the trip. Students with iPods will find that these are dual voltage and their charger likely has an appropriate local adapter (two parallel round prongs, as in Europe).
LAUNDRY
While you are in Cairo, students will be able to send out laundry to a full-service laundry across the street from the hotel, but there will be no self-service facilities. We recommend that students bring a portable laundry line and purchase a small amount of laundry soap locally, as even the full-service laundry in Cairo will not accept underwear.
PRESCRIPTIONS
If you have any medication you must take while you are abroad, please be sure that you have enough for the entire time you are away as it may be difficult to have prescriptions filled. Be sure to bring the medicine in its original bottle and bring a signed statement from your doctor if you have a particular medical requirement or are carrying a controlled or restricted medication. Immigration authorities may question medications in your possession and you should have proper documentation. Finally, it would be advisable to verify that a particular drug is not restricted in Egypt. Some countries ban certain drugs, even when prescribed by a doctor (for example, the drug Ritalin cannot be legally brought into some countries). The best advice is to be prepared and check either through your personal physician or through official government sources (such as the US State Department www.state.gov/travel/ or the Center for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov/travel/)
DON’T BOTHER BRINGING…
Expectations: “Don’t expect, accept,” is a good attitude for students crossing cultures to have. How you set your expectations now will impact how positive of an experience you will have abroad. This means that you can do a lot now to help ensure you will get the most out of your program. Simply put, examine your expectations and be realistic. You are going to a different country. Expect that things will be different. You have no idea how many things will differ or in what ways, and of course you may well be surprised at how many things are similar. But for now expect that everything will be different.
How you set your expectations now will impact how positive of an experience you will have abroad.
Believe it or not, notions of the “right way of doing things” are entirely cultural and relative. Efficiency, manners, punctuality, customer service and “the rules” do not mean the same thing in every country. Understand that different countries organize things differently, and not all of them work well from an American’s point of view. So don’t expect people in your host country to define these terms in the same way as you do.
You’d be surprised how ingrained our expectations are. We don’t see them as culturally-determined; rather, we see them as part of “the right way of doing things.” So you will get frustrated. Expect that, too. But keep telling yourself that things are different, and remember that it’s not the local people’s duty to meet your expectations—it’s your duty to adjust yours to what is considered right and reasonable locally. “Don’t expect, accept.”
SECTION 2: Studying and Living Abroad
2.1 ACADEMICS ABROAD
There is much to learn outside of the classroom. Nevertheless, study abroad is also fundamentally an academic endeavor. No matter what yourgoals and expectations might be, the Colleges also have expectations of you. These include the expectation that you will take all of your academics abroad seriously and that you will come prepared, meet deadlines, read assignments, write papers or exams with care, etc. Having said that, as study abroad programs are uniquely well-suited to non-traditional learning (i.e. experiential learning such as field-trips, internships, or field research), you will likely find that you have never had so much “fun” working so hard. The key, however, is to realize that if the fun comes at the expense of learning, you will likely be very dissatisfied with the final results.
THE COURSE
You will all take “Political Economy of Development in Egypt”. This will be worth one HWS credit. It is essential for students to be in attendance at all classes and other scheduled activities while on this program.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
If you have a physical or learning disability that requires accommodation, you should disclose this to the faculty directors and to the CGE prior to embarking on the program so that they can plan in advance for how they can best accommodate your needs.
2.2 MONEY
Most of your costs will be covered in Egypt so you should not need much money other then for personal, incidental expenses. We advise students to bring a debit card and possibly a credit card if you have one.
CASH
Students should bring about $30-50 cash from the U.S. that the faculty directors will help you change locally on the first day. You should not really carry more than that in U.S. dollars and the ATMs will be easy to use.
ATM MACHINES
There are a small number of reliable ATMs close to the hotel, and a larger number of “riskier” ones (e.g. local Egyptian banks). The grocery store across from the hotel will accept credit cards and a few shopping venues may, as well, but Egypt is largely a cash economy.
DEBIT CARDS
Make sure your card is on one or both of the big international ATM systems, Cirrus or Plus, by looking at the back of the card. Make sure you contact your bank to let them know you’ll be abroad and ask about any fees for using ATMs overseas. Ensure that the pin number you will use overseas is the same pin you use in the U.S. This is the best way to get out any cash that you need.
CREDITCARDS
A credit card may be useful in Egypt, but is not required. If you bring a credit card, make sure your credit card company knows about your trip. It’s possible that they may “freeze” your card if they see foreign charges all of a sudden. Ask about any fees for using the card abroad for purchases.
TRAVELER’S CHECKS
We do not recommend that you bring traveler’s checks to Egypt, given the difficulty of cashing them.
2.3 HOUSING AND MEALS IN EGYPT
Throughout the trip, students will be housed in shared rooms, usually two students per room. Each room will have its own bathroom, storage space for clothes, and two beds. In Cairo, we will stay at the Flamenco Hotel on the island of Zamalek. The hotel is well-situated in a quiet residential neighborhood featuring nearby cafes and bookstores, with an internet cafe, full-service laundry and grocery store immediately adjacent to the hotel. Students will also spend two nights at the Desert Development Center, in their newly-built retreat facility, where students will have quad rooms, with private bathrooms. While traveling between Cairo and Luxor, students will experience the famed overnight train (with double sleeper cabins), and will then be assigned double berths on the boat from Luxor to Aswan. All meals will be provided by the program (either at the hotel/boat or as part of our daily excursions), but students will also have ample opportunity to purchase snacks as desired (at their own expense). Students requiring vegetarian meals will be fully accommodated, but those with kosher dining needs are advised that kosher meals will be unavailable and such students should plan to maintain a vegetarian diet on the trip.
FOOD AND DRINKING WATER
Students should ONLY drink bottled water. We will provide a regular supply of bottled water, and more will be available for purchase from our bus driver while we are on excursions. Bottled water is very easily available throughout Egypt, so there is no reason for students to drink tap water. Food from street vendors is an unwise choice, and students are strongly discouraged from eating anything sold on a cart or by the side of the road. That said, should they choose to do so, students should particularly avoid fresh fruits and vegetables, which may not be thoroughly washed, and dairy products and meats, which may not have been properly refrigerated.
ALCOHOL
Public drunkenness is unacceptable in Egypt. While beer is available in some locations, hard liquor is only available in establishments with a license from the Ministry of Tourism – this should tell you who Egyptians think are doing the hard drinking, and should discourage you from wanting to be associated with this stereotype. In general, one of Egypt’s greatest charms is the wide variety of social activity that is possible and enjoyable without alcohol, so students are encouraged to explore this part of Egyptian life. If students do choose to drink, they should do so only in extreme moderation, such that they can walk home without drawing any attention to themselves. If students are seen by members of the group, the faculty directors, or others being publicly disruptive because of alcohol consumption, they will face a disciplinary consequence and may, depending on the circumstances, be sent home. In addition, this program will have a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for drug use, resulting in immediate return to the US.
2.4 INTERNET ACCESS
Students will have internet access part of the time. There is an internet cafe located across the street from the hotel. Students will not have access, however, from the time we leave Cairo on June 8th until the end of the trip – we will be in the desert or on a boat, and students should expect to be without email access.
2.5 COMMUNICATIONS HOME
The faculty directors will arrange for you to make a brief call home when you have arrived safely in Cairo. Beyond this, students will not have access to international calling. In the case of emergency, families can contact the faculty directors, and individual arrangements can be made for the student to call home in this case. Students and families should not expect to be in regular phone contact during the 3-week trip.
2.6 SAFETY AND TRAVEL
The faculty directors will have to make security-based decisions in response to conditions on the ground, and they will need students to trust that the limits they impose on their freedom (whether asking you to go out in pairs or groups, or asking you not to leave the island of Zamalek, etc.) are for your safety and the safety of the group as a whole. You will all need to cooperate in order to keep everyone safe, especially as you travel from site to site.
There will be specific times when students will have “free evenings” and will be encouraged to explore our immediate neighborhood in Cairo. Students cannot leave the island of Zamalek, where the hotel is located. The easiest way to understand this is “no crossing of bridges.” Otherwise, Zamalek is an interesting, safe, and vibrant place, full of shops, cafes, and cultural centers. Since it is also where the American University in Cairo dormitory is located, small groups of American students do not attract much attention or comment.
2.7 CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS TO BE AWARE OF
Public displays of affection between male and female students will not be appropriate while we are in Egypt, and public touching of a platonic kind (leaning a head on a friend’s shoulder on the bus, throwing an arm around someone’s shoulder, etc.), which might be considered neutral signs of friendship in the U.S., will be interpreted by many Egyptians as an offensive and inappropriate. Within genders, this can be quite the opposite. Female students may encounter Egyptian women who are more “touchy” than they are used to, and male students may be surprised by the level of physical contact between Egyptian men, which may sometimes be extended to them as well. This is not about expressing attraction so much as friendship and hospitality. If students feel uncomfortable, it is not difficult to find a way to tactfully disengage by stepping back from one’s conversation partner, or moving on.
SECTION 3: All About Culture
If you think back to your first year of college, you might remember both apprehension and anticipation. You were quickly hit with what you did not know—how to do your laundry, how to navigate the cafeteria, the necessity of having your I.D. card on you at all times, where to buy books, how to succeed in a new kind of study…the list goes on. What you were going through was a process of cultural adjustment. You were learning the rules of a very new game; it took time, patience, and a willingness to watch, listen and learn. What you are about to experience abroad is roughly comparable in character to the transition you went through coming to HWS, but it will be far more intense, challenging and rewarding. It’s the next step.
Although many students experience homesickness and/or culture shock and have good days and bad days, you want to try to maximize what little time you have abroad. This section will help you understand what intercultural adjustment is all about, what you should expect to experience, and how you can actively work to make this process a vibrant learning experience.
You are about to encounter a culture that is typically much different from that with which you are familiar. The rules of the game will not be the same. Researchers of cross-cultural communication use several models to describe various aspects of the study abroad experience; this handbook will guide you through them. You may not think you need this information now, but many students who have crossed cultures—and come back again—say that they are glad they knew about these ideas beforehand. Take this handbook with you…our bet is that at some point in your time abroad, you’ll pick it up again.
3.1 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
The experience of living amidst a totally new culture can be at turns exhilarating and frustrating. These frustrations can add up as you run into more and more differences between the culture you carry around with you and the host culture. One of the benefits of study abroad is this realization—that you actually carry America around with you. It’s your comfort zone, a set of values, ideas, and manners, a language and a set of products. You’ve got to step out of this comfort zone if you want to truly have a great experience.
There’s no way around this: If you want to really learn, you’ll have to go outside of your comfort zone. And going outside of your comfort zone means taking a social risk.
“OH YEAH, YOU BLEND”
It’s a famous line from My Cousin Vinny, a film about culture clash right here in our own country. But blending is what the characters try to do, and it’s what you should do. Why should you try to blend? First and foremost, it’s a great way to learn about the culture. To blend in first requires you to actually look at the people around you. You must become an ardent and keen observer of people’s behavior, language, etiquette, dress and, in more general terms, the way people carry themselves and treat each other. Local people will appreciate your efforts to understand and adopt some of these behaviors. It will show them that you respect and want to understand their customs and values. And therefore they’ll trust you more, share more with you, and feel more of an immediate bond of commonality with you. You’ll learn even more. Another reason you should try to blend in is safety. The reality is that foreigners are often the targets of petty crime or unwanted attention from the wrong kinds of people. Not sticking out in the crowd will keep you safer, and that bond of commonality will mean that local people will be more likely to look out for you.
3.2 ADJUSTING TO A NEW CULTURE
Just as you did when you entered college, you will go through a process of cultural adjustment abroad where you will learn to operate in a different cultural system, with different signals, rules, meanings, values and ideas. Your experience living in this host culture will change over time. Once the immediate sensations of excitement subside (the honeymoon phase), the experience of adjustment will likely be characterized by feelings of anxiety, stress, sadness, and fatigue, as things begin to seem very…foreign. This process of intercultural adjustment is often represented by the “u-curve”, plotted below:
The truth is living in a culture different from your own is challenging and exhausting, especially early on in the process where almost everything is a mystery. What is happening is simple: you are realizing how different this new culture really is! And you are realizing that what you knew from before, what was familiar and comfortable to you, may not help you at all now. Some people call this “culture shock”.
You may react to “culture shock” in a number of ways: you may find yourself favoring time alone, preferring contact with friends or family at home over contact with locals or fellow students, and perhaps as a sense of rejection of the host culture (hopefully, for your sake, temporarily!). Don’t let this phase of adjustment forfeit an amazing opportunity to learn and grow! It is important to bear in mind that the initial difficulties do wear off, and get much easier with active immersion in the culture that surrounds you. As shown on the U-curve, the initial low subsides as you become accustomed to the norms and custom of your host-country. This is called adjustment. You may have your down moments, but if you persist in trying, eventually the daily victories—when you have successfully adapted to one or another aspect of the culture—will start to outweigh the setbacks and frustrations.
One final note: everyone experiences cultural adjustment differently. This is just a general model to help you visualize the fact that you will likely go through a process of cultural adjustment, and that this process will include ups and downs, good days and bad, and moments of alternating homesickness and elation at the new culture that is all around you.
JOURNALS
Consider keeping a journal while you’re abroad. Many students write in a journal as a way of capturing and reflecting upon their experiences, even though some may have never kept a “diary” before. A journal (or diary) is a book of dated entries. The author can record experiences, dialogues, feelings, dreams, describe sights, make lists, take notes, whatever the writer wants to leave as documentation of his or her passage through time. Journals are tools for recording and interpreting the process of our lives.
Why should you keep a journal? Because a journal…
is a keepsake that will record memories that you’d otherwise forget.
is a keepsake that will record the person you are now—and how you’ll change abroad.
is a way to interpret what you’re seeing/experiencing.
gives you something to do on long plane/bus/train rides.
helps you become a better writer.
is a good remedy for homesickness.
is a space where you can express yourself with total freedom.
is a powerful tool of exploration and reflection.
For more about keeping journals, download the CGE’s Writing to Explore Journal Handbook athttp://www.hws.edu/academics/global/pdf/journal_writers.pdf
SECTION 4: Safety and Health
4.1 SAFETY ABROAD: A FRAMEWORK
Take a look at the experiential learning model again. Notice that there’s “social discomfort”, and there’s danger. Taking social risks doesn’t mean putting yourself in harm’s way. What you “risk” should only be embarrassment and a wounded ego, temporary feelings that wear off. You can rely on your good judgment to tell the difference between risk and danger much of the time: for instance, there’s talking to the newspaper seller, and there’s wandering through a seedy part of town alone in the middle of the night. One poses the kind of social risk we’re encouraging, and one poses danger to your well-being.
Recognize, however, that there are instances when you can’t sense the line between social risk and danger simply because you don’t understand the culture. Sellers in the open market place follow you around. They seem aggressive. Are you in danger, or is this simply the normal way of doing things in your host country? Is there some kind of body language you can use to communicate that you’re not interested? You can’t know this unless you know the culture well. And to know the culture well, you need to get out there, learn, ask questions, and take social risks!
The best way to stay safe abroad is to be more aware and learn as much as you can about your host-country.
Statistically the crime rate in most overseas locations where we send students is lower than the typical U.S. city. However, because there is often a large student population in many of the locations, students can be lulled into a false sense of security. Remember that with your American accent you will stand out and could be a target. Given that you will be in unfamiliar surroundings while you are abroad it is particularly important that you use your best judgment. Above all, be street smart: if you are going out at night try to go in groups and be aware of your surroundings. Look out for one another. You will be spending a lot of time in an urban environment so act accordingly. If something doesn’t feel right, listen to your instincts.
Regarding your personal belongings, be sure to secure your important items (passports, laptop, valuables) and to lock the door to your accommodation at all times.
4.2 HEALTHCARE AND INSURANCE
The HWS faculty directors will assist you in case you need to seek medical care in Egypt.
For some of you, your parents’ insurance policy will cover you. If this is not the case, all students are covered by the Colleges’ mandatory medical plan which is provided through Excellus of Upstate New York. Be sure that you bring your Excellus-issued ID card with you. On it is your name, the group policy number and info for medical providers. Note, that you will not be able to access the toll-free number on the card from overseas. So, if you need to speak with the insurance company, either have your parent(s) call the toll free number for you OR use the internationally accessible number: 1-585-325-3630. Normally, you will have to pay for each non-emergency office visit and obtain an official receipt of the treatment you have received with the date of treatment. Then you must present that receipt to the insurance company for reimbursement. In cases of severe emergency, you will be treated first and billed later. Every attempt will be made to contact your parents/emergency contacts if hospitalization or surgery is necessary.
For more information about your student medical insurance plan, visit the plan’s website: www.excellusbcbs.com.
4.3 WOMEN’S ISSUES ABROAD
American girls are easy. A special word to women going abroad: the sad truth is that some foreign men believe this stereotype to be true. How they may have arrived at this conclusion is not hard to surmise if you watch a little TV. What this means for you is that certain behaviors (i.e. public drunkenness or dressing inappropriately given the norms of the host country) may get you unwanted attention from the worst kinds of people. Again, blend in by watching the behavior of those around you and adopting it as your way. Female students, like their female Egyptian counterparts, should expect to encounter some measure of verbal harassment while walking around in Cairo. The appropriate action is to continue your conversation (you’re not out alone, remember, but in pairs or groups…) and to ignore the comments altogether. In the extremely rare instance that you encounter unwanted touching, however, you should firmly and sharply inform the offending person to leave you alone and walk away.
4.4 HIV
HIV is equally or more prevalent abroad and just as deadly as it is here. Sometimes Americans abroad lower their guard and engage in activities that they never would back at home, feeling somehow “immune” or “invincible”. Resist these thoughts! Also, in a different context, many Americans are unsure of the cultural cues and thus don’t know how to “read” the intentions of others. The bottom line: be smart, be responsible and think before you act.
4.5 DRUGS
Each year, 2,500 U.S. Americans are arrested abroad, 1/3 of these arrests for possession of illegal drugs. So here it is in simple terms: don’t do drugs abroad. If you get caught doing drugs in another country you are fully subject to their laws (which are often more stringent than our own) and chances are good that you will spend time in prison, or worse: some nations have the death penalty for those found guilty of drug trafficking. Being a U.S. citizen gives you no special privileges. The U.S. embassy will not go out of its way to help you out. The Marines will not execute a daring amphibious landing to rescue you. And, HWS can do nothing to intervene other than to call your parents and advise them to hire an international lawyer – fast and at their own expense.
There are three key things to understand about this issue (drawn from a study of U.S. Americans in prison abroad by journalist Peter Laufer):
- Most nations adhere to the Napoleonic code, which presumes the accused to be guilty until proven innocent.
- Few nations grant bail between arrest and trial.
- The State Department will rarely intervene to aid an accused or convicted American for fear of upsetting relations with the host country.
DON’T DO DRUGS ABROAD! Use of illegal drugs is, on top of everything noted above, grounds for being returned home to the US (to your parents’ home – not to your college) at your own expense and normally at the forfeit of academic credit (and tuition dollars) for the term. If you are caught using drugs abroad by the authorities, the only assistance the Faculty Directors and your home campuses will provide is to refer you (and your parents) to legal counsel. We cannot and will not intervene in matters between you and the local authorities. Breaking the law there is simply unacceptable and could be a decision you will spend a lifetime regretting.
4.6 TRAFFIC
Cairo drivers are notoriously unruly and traffic is an inescapable part of daily life. Expect a constant cacophony of car horns – these express everything from “you’re in my way” to “are you looking for a taxi” to “welcome to Egypt!” Look both ways before you cross, cross in the cross-walk, obey the right-of-way rules. Traffic safety and the roles of drivers and pedestrians are deeply engrained in a car-oriented culture such as the U.S. When going abroad, it’s important—essential—to understand that like everything else, traffic rules differ from country to country. And remember, in all countries, look out for bike traffic!
SECTION 5: Coming Back Home
5.1 REENTRY AND READJUSTMENT
This section is designed to help you prepare for the transition back “home”.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE HOST COUNTRY
If you’ve been keeping a journal, reading through it is a great way to reflect on your experience. The times in peoples’ lives that are characterized by change often have a crisper quality to them; every experience seems to be imbued with a deeper meaning.
Ask yourself some questions as you prepare to come home:
What did I accomplish while abroad?
What did I learn about myself?
What did I learn about this country?
What friends did I make, and what did they teach me?
What will I miss the most?
What am I most looking forward to?
What does this experience mean for my future? Will I live differently now?
What did I learn about my own country and culture while abroad?
Do I want to return to this place? What have I left undone?
You’ll want to ask yourself these questions again after you’ve been home for a while, but thinking about them now can be rewarding and can help you put a little closure on your experience.
COMING HOME
The first (and often surprising) thing to know about coming home is that in many ways you will feel like you did when you arrived in your host country: exhausted and excited. Probably it will feel as great to be home as it felt to be in your host country for the first few days, though for different reasons. You’ll enjoy some home cooking, calls from old friends, and telling your family about your experiences.
But, just as your initial elation at being in a new and exciting place was tempered by a realization at how foreign and unfamiliar it felt, your honeymoon period at home may also start to not seem totally right. Things that you expected to be familiar may now seem quite alien. Your ears might find it weird to hear English being spoken everywhere. You might think your family throws too much away. You may balk at spending $50 for a meal out after having seen how others in the world live. The abundance in the supermarket may stop you in your tracks, as you have become used to getting by with less. You may be dismayed at how fast-paced U.S. culture is, or frustrated at how little people actually want to hear about all your experiences (or look at all your pictures). You may not experience every single one of these things, but most of you will experience some of them. The most important thing to realize is that this is totally normal, and the ups and downs you’re experiencing constitute what is frequently called “reverse culture shock”. It actually often gets mapped just like the U-curve:
The most important step in being ready for reverse culture shock is to expect it, and to realize that most of it is caused not by changes in home, but changes in you. You won’t know how far you’ve come until you can reflect on the journey from the place you call(ed) home. This is actually a great time to not only learn about yourself and how you’ve grown while abroad, it’s also a great time to learn about home from a far more objective perspective than you’ve ever had before. Lots of students come back saying that they never felt more American than when they were abroad, and never more foreign than when they were back in the U.S.
The first thing to do is relax. Like culture shock the first time around, you’ll get through this, and end up stronger for the experience. You’ll have your ups and downs, good days and bad. Some of the same coping skills you used to get yourself through the low points while abroad will serve you well here—reflect in your journal, keep active, rest and eat well, explore your surroundings with new eyes. Soon you will have adjusted, though we hope that you’re never quite the same as you were before your experience abroad!
OPENING NEW DOORS
While we encouraged you to put some closure on your experience abroad, now we’re going to suggest you take the next step—figuring out what doors have opened to you as a result of your experiences. We’ve posed a series of questions below with some information as well as suggestions on how you can build upon and stay connected to your international experience.
DO YOU WANT TO STAY INVOLVED WITH STUDY ABROAD?
Get involved. Talk to others about your time abroad. Make a zine about it. Come to Away Café and tell a story that crosses borders. The students who continue their international experiences often go on to international careers, or exciting opportunities like Peace Corps or the Fulbright Program.
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE COUNTRY YOU STUDIED IN?
Talk to your advisor or the faculty director of the program to get help in finding courses that may build upon your experiences. You can also consider an independent study; talk to your academic advisor to find out more.
DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT INTERNATIONAL CAREERS?
Maybe you think you’d like to make travel a part of the rest of your life. Maybe you’d like to spend a few years after graduation traveling or working abroad before settling down. Career Services and the Center for Global Education present an International Career Workshop every semester. In addition, please visit Career Services to learn about some of the many options!
DO YOU WANT TO PUBLISH YOUR WRITING, ART OR PHOTOGRAPHY?
There are several opportunities available to you. There’s a yearly photo contest, usually held in the Spring semester, and the CGE curates a gallery space on the third floor of Trinity Hall called the Global Visions Gallery. GVG hosts individual and group shows, with the goal of opening a new show each semester. If you have an idea for a show, see Doug Reilly. There’s also The Aleph: a journal of global perspectives, published every Spring by the Center for Global Education, where you can share your writing about your abroad experience. To submit your work to the Aleph or learn more about the editorial board, email Doug Reilly at the CGE at dreilly@hws.edu.
DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A FILM ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE ABROAD?
Doug Reilly at The Center for Global Education has been regularly offering a Reader’s College on digital storytelling. Students meet each week to eat, tell stories, learn about making films, and actually make their own three-minute digital story. This is a great way to both process your experience and also create a statement about it that you can share widely. Contact Doug Reilly at dreilly@hws.edu for more information.
DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT YOUR REENTRY EXPERIENCE?
The staff of the CGE love to talk about study abroad. Most of us have studied abroad ourselves - that’s why we do the work we do today. Make an appointment with one of us or just drop in – if we’re available, we’d be more than happy to hear about your experiences. It helps us learn how students perceive our programs, and it gives you a chance to talk to someone who understands.
Our hope is that you’ll take advantage of one or more of these opportunities.
CENTER FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION
THIRD FLOOR TRINITY HALL
