The initial stage of the international sojourn: excitement or culture shock?

Abstract

This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study of the adjustment journey of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a 12-month academic year. It was discovered that the initial stage of the sojourn 1 1. The term sojourn is used by Ward et al. ( 2001 Ward, C. , Bochner, S. and Furnham, A. 2001. The psychology of culture shock, Hove: Routledge. [Google Scholar] ) to refer to temporary between-society culture contact. View all notes was not characterised by feelings of excitement, as suggested by the U-curve model (and its successors): though such feelings were present, they were overwhelmed by negative symptoms more commonly associated with culture shock. The implications of these findings for support structures in higher education are discussed.