When you do, you may find that you have focused on long-term goals for your professional life over the next decade or two. Or perhaps you will still have an open and unresolved set of professional goals. For now, however, the answers to these questions reflect your self-knowledge and form the foundation for your approach to the completion of your studies and your search for employment on the strength of your goals, interests and academic accomplishments. After a long stay abroad, many international students enthusiastically anticipate returning to their family, friends and familiar cultural settings. They tend to expect a smooth transition.
Most people get through it successfully, of course.
Yet as will be evident in later chapters, most also experience more difficulties than expected as they readjusted to their home societies. Thinking through potential difficulties before you return can ease the transition and assure that you get the most professional and personal benefit from all the effort you have put into your studies abroad. The more aware you are of the dynamics of reverse culture shock caused by readjusting to your home country, the more your energy can be focused on a successful and efficient job search.