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Spring
Semester in Costa Rica
Coming Home
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Coming home is often one of the most
discouraging aspects of study abroad. After several months on a program, when you have finally overcome
loneliness and culture shock, gotten used to the food and different ways of
doing things, and just begun to feel a part of a new culture, you have to pull
yourself up by the roots and go back to what you were doing before the whole
experience began. Your friends at home
will not have had the same intense experiences you have had and may have only a
passing interest in how much you may have learned or felt. They may resent the fact that you have
changed, just as you may be irritated by the feeling that they have not
changed--at least in the same ways that you have.
People coming home often experience culture
shock in reverse, going through the same periods of discomfort and discontent
for the same length of time (or even longer) than it took them to overcome
their culture shock the first time. It
can make sitting in a U.S. classroom or studying difficult for a semester or
more.
U.S. Customs: Your exemption is $400 (retail
value) on articles acquired abroad if articles are for personal use or gifts
and articles accompany you.
You may include in this duty-free exemption:
- 200 cigars and 200 cigarettes
- 1 liter of wine, beer or liquor, if 21 years of age
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