When you return home from studying abroad, you might be looking for ways to stay involved or continue your international experience. Whether you’re looking to donate time, or make a monetary donation for future students, contributing in any way will help inspire others to study abroad.
Talk to your home ISEP coordinator to see if there may be a way that you can help, including:
- Become an office administrative assistant - Attending events, making orientation packets, posting flyers, etc. Having experience as an office assistant looks great on a résumé, plus you will be helping other students go abroad and providing your ISEP Coordinator with some much-appreciated administrative support.
- Become a peer advisor - You can offer advice to students who are interested in going abroad, and who might have the same questions that you once had before you studied abroad. Contact your international education office to see if you can help by sharing advice based on your own experience
As much as you enjoyed the new cultures that you explored while you were abroad, that experience is not just limited to being outside of your home country. There is cultural diversity on your own campus! You can celebrate and promote it by hosting culturally-themed social events, or host gather international students and have a bring-your-national-dish night.
- Celebrate International Education Week - Collaborate with your home ISEP Coordinator to find innovative ways to celebrate International Education Week on your campus in mid-November. You might host a different multicultural event each day of the week or combine activities from various cultures into one campus-wide bazaar.
- Host an international film night - You can organize a weekly or monthly international film night in which visiting ISEP students suggest films from their home country.
Not every social event needs to focus on cultures from far away; you can also invite visiting international students to join you in regular local activities. You may be surprised how people’s perspectives from other cultures can help you gain new appreciation for and insight into your own culture.
Assist with arrival orientation - All ISEP universities will have some type of orientation for incoming ISEP students before classes begin. This is often organized by the admissions department or the international office. Attending and helping with this event can be a great way to meet the incoming ISEP students. Ask your home ISEP Coordinator or international office for details.
Seek a conversation partner - You can match up international and local students interested in practicing conversation skills in each other’s language. Alternatively, you could hold a weekly language discussion group for all visiting students. While many of these students may arrive with a high level of language proficiency, they will probably be grateful to get a better understanding of local slang, idiomatic expressions, and colloquialisms.