WHAT IS RE-INTEGRATION?

Re-integration is the process of coming back home from living abroad and becoming part of your home society once again . It is the last stage of the culture shock cycle and is often a more difficult process than integration to a new environment simply because you don’t expect to have problems integrating to your home culture and environment.

Imagine being on an internship, adapting to a completely new way of living, food, and people. After awhile, you adapt and feel a part of this new society and it has become home. But it’s time for you to go back. How do you feel? What do you expect from your return?

Here’s an excerpt from intern’s correspondence with a friend

“Being away in a totally different environment, and culture, gave me an incredible perspective. At times it seemed like anything was possible. Returning to Toronto and the same people just reinforced how many limitations we place on ourselves in our daily lives, how much we see as negative rather than the opportunities that may lay beyond the present.

I don’t know if any of this makes sense. I am trying to figure out what exactly happened over the past few months… I felt like everyday was an adventure… an adventure in learning in meeting new people, in self-discovery, and in opportunities that came up. Having been back here only a week I am already bored by it all. It is great to come back and catch up but people have become so busy with their lives. And the greatest realizations of it all is just how like that I was before leaving, and how I don’t like it”

AIESEC is a source of support at this stage of an intern’s experience.

WHEN DOES RE-INTEGRATION BEGIN AND END?

Re-integration starts just before an individual returns home, with feelings of anticipation and sadness at the same time. The adjustment period ends at different points for different people. Eventually, most returned interns re-adjust to life at home and incorporate his/her overseas experiences to his new life at home.

WHY RE-INTEGRATION?

Re-integration is not only the final stage of the culture shock cycle; it is also the final stage of the exchange process. It is a stage every intern passes through and AIESEC’s role is to support this process of re-entry to the home culture and environment. Re-integration is a very personal process and every individual has a unique experience but all LCs should provide standard support activities for individuals returning from an AIESEC exchange.

Re-integration should not just be seen as a way to benefit from the intern’s experience by re-involving them in AIESEC activities or simply as a service to the interns. There are advantages to re-integration activities from the perspective of an LC and that of an intern. By not carrying out or participating in the re-integration phase, both the intern and the LC miss out on a valuable opportunity to capture the experiences of exchange.