When I woke up this morning, I was in my bed. Usually there wouldn't be anything amazing about this, except I have just spent the last ten days in Iceland. It’s a country that is a four hour plane ride away from Maine, but feels like a lifetime. I went to Iceland for a summer class to learn about the fishing industry. I learned about the roles of men and women in the industry, the different types of equipment they have used over the years, and how overfishing is a constant battle brought on by the need of human beings to just have more. That's not what this article is about, though.
This is not the first time I've traveled outside of the U.S. and fishing is not the only thing I learned about while abroad. One thing that people sometimes forget to tell first-time or inexperienced travelers is that culture shock can work both ways. Sometimes the shock from re-entry can be much harder. Last April in 2016, I traveled abroad to England and Scotland for about 9 days. It wasn't until I came home though, that I felt lost. When I returned home from Iceland yesterday, I felt a similar sensation.
I was riding on the bus from Boston back to Maine when I realized it was dark outside. Of course, it was 9 at night, so it was going to be dark. In Iceland during the summer though, there is about 22 hours of daylight, so I never saw darkness, the stars, or the moon while I was there. It's shocking to your whole system to be deprived of something as simple, as normal, as night. Coming home and seeing all of the little things you never thought you'd be deprived of is shocking, which is why re-entry shock can be so difficult to deal with, not only for the traveler, but also for friends and family.
When a traveler comes home, their loved ones must understand that they aren't the same person they left as. The traveler is going to try to express to you what they've seen and how it's changed them and chances are you aren't going to completely understand. That's okay. People who have just returned home from traveling abroad can be cranky and distant; they may want some time alone. This isn't because of anything you've done. When a traveler comes home, they come home with a new view of the world, a new culture, and a new personality. They have changed, but their home has most likely stayed the same. It suddenly feels like the things they have learned about themselves and the experiences they've had while abroad no longer matter. The best thing you can do is give them time and listen to them if they want to talk about what they have experienced.
When a traveler returns from going abroad, you are meeting a new person, a baby learning to walk on their newfound legs. That doesn't mean the person you knew is gone, though. Give the traveler time to adjust, and eventually the new person will learn to live as one with the old.
