Navigating the Return to Normalcy in Canton, N.Y. 

Campus is not just filled with pearly white snow smothered to the sides, but with new faces. Not just the faces we didn’t recognize in the fall semester, but those who haven’t been here since day one. While everyone but first-yearsn may be overall excited to see their peers again, they can’t be expected to feel the same way since they don’t know the new faces yet but that doesn’t mean they can’t get to know them. Many students are either transfers or have returned from studying abroad during the fall semester. 

Assistant Director of Off-Campus Programs, Kim Longfellow, emphasizes the importance of students not losing touch with who they are and with those around them as they transition back into campus life “A lot of times we try to prepare for culture shock but don’t prepare for the culture shock coming back,” she says. “We want to be a support coming back… they are never alone. We had a welcome back social for student with different programs where everyone talks about their experiences.” It’s an opportunity to see commonalities between different SLU students’ semesters. However, only two weeks into the semester, students who studied abroad either anticipate potential culture shock, have already experienced it, or have none at all. 

Josie Mokry ’27 recently returned from her program in Madrid, Spain, however she also solo-traveled toward the end of her aborad semester. She came back not only to her routine as a Laurentian singer and a double major in Conservation Biology and Geology, but with a new perspective on Spanish, a language she has been “studying for about 10 years now,” as well as the difference in freedom of expression through protest, immigration issues and their identity. It was her first time traveling out of the country, supported by the Gilman Scholarship and outreach programs, emphasizing Longfellow’s encouragement for students to apply. 

“In a place where people understand it instead of ‘ha, you stupid Americans’, or ‘what the hell is going on in your country’, it feels like a comedy skit,” Mokry said. She didn’t feel culture shock in Spain; rather, it was upon returning to the U.S. that she felt it. Abroad, she felt judged for who she was, as her presence represented something bigger: she was “fortunate enough” to be in a “place” without “ICE agents,” especially compared to Canton. In Spain, “there’s almost more healthy conversation, and the government was open to criticism],” according to Mokry. She felt they “helped model a healthier way of dealing with immigration”. Their experience was a new, emotionally and intellectually adaptable mindset. 

In Spain, “people were taking family photos at protests…Here, you’re covered up, masked, trying not to be identified.” For Mokry, studying abroad didn’t give her answers to cultural differences, but new ways to answer questions. 

Back in Canton, she wants to move away from the “ignorant American stereotype,” not out of malice, but by “putting forward the global playing field” and having a “difference in opinion, with open discussion.” 

In comparison, Callie Garnett, ’27 is originally from the Boston area. She is a combined major in Environmental Science and Psychology with minors in Outdoor Leadership and African Studies. Her academic interests were illustrated through her fall semester abroad in Kenya, following a prior semester abroad in the Adirondacks last fall. She transitioned from a “small field-based program as opposed to enrolling in a bigger university,” working with sea turtles at a marine conservation organization. 

“Kenya was very experiential learning based. Being back with LED lights is kind of brutal,” Garnett said. “My Kenya group was only nine people… It’s a little weird to be back and have so many new faces. I feel like I’m missing that connection because I only see them for a couple hours a week as opposed to living with them.” This raises the question of whether students who have been on campus since day one are more or less intimidated by new faces compared to those still adjusting after studying abroad. However, living in Greenhouse gives Garnett “that built-in community,” even as she feels slightly lost in her academic classrooms. 

Amelia Burkhard ’26, a past–study abroad student, emphasizes the importance of reflection, describing it as “having the opportunity to reflect on your place in the world and how you interact with people, and how your background has shaped the way you communicate.” She adds, “SLU makes it so easy to go abroad. I wanted to keep exploring the world.” Her statement helps make sense of the newly returned students’ experiences, made possible by CIIS’s support. 

Assistant Director Longfellow also notes that programs like the NYC semester “may already have an agreement or plan to be employed,” encouraging students to apply and take advantage of opportunities.