Culture shock from studying outside the bubble

The American expatriates have returned. For the past month, half of the junior class has been experiencing reverse culture shock -- forgetting words in English, relearning how to drive their cars and building up their stomach lining for the prepackaged fast food of America.

As returning Santa Clara students got ready for fall quarter, 509 of their classmates packed their bags -- 50 pounds each -- and boarded planes to spend the summer or the next four months of their lives studying abroad. Destinations ranged from the grass malls of Washington, D.C., to the rain forests of Costa Rica.

These students, thrown into foreign countries, turned these sometimes-harsh realities into homes. They incorporated themselves into other cultures like locals, growing legs to counter their fish-out-of-water syndrome.

Now that they're back, these students have begun to experience Santa Clara differently. Wearing the critical lenses of expatriates returning home, they describe Santa Clara from a new perspective, share what they miss most about living abroad, and endeavor to incorporate newly adopted traditions into their California lifestyles.

Below are some of the thoughts students have on their abroad experiences, ranging from German beer, to grocery bags and politics.

--Maggie Beidelman