The following are a series of questions that are meant to help you reflect on your academic and personal development while you are abroad and serve as points of departure for your investigations into your host culture, and into yourself. They relate to vital areas that previous study-abroad students—your peers—have found to be key to their success. Some serve as reminders to take concrete steps to fulfill the goals you established in the Learning Agreement during pre-departure orientation.

You will need to share your responses and concerns with Dean Scott Carpenter. Knowing what you are learning and how the abroad experience is affecting you intellectually and personally will enable the institution to provide you with additional intellectual support and logistical assistance while you are abroad. It is important for you to understand how the study-abroad experience is affecting your academic growth and personal development.

• Questions #1 (after two weeks)
• Questions #2 (after seven weeks)
• Questions #3 (after thirteen weeks)

If you are studying abroad for the academic year or the summer, feel free to adjust the timeline of responses appropriately.

Questions #1 (after the first two weeks abroad)

1. What is your vision of study abroad? How does this time abroad figure in to your academic goals and plans? What are your goals for the study abroad experience? Name two or three things you wish to accomplish this year. Which do you think will be the most challenging?
2. Do you feel prepared for the experience you have begun? Based on what you've seen so far, identify one area where you feel "on solid ground" and one area where you have felt less secure.
3. How are you handling the language? Has it been harder or easier to get along than you had anticipated?
4. How do the people in your host country perceive you?

Questions #2 (after seven weeks abroad)

1. Reflect on the regional course you took in preparation for the semester abroad. How has it shaped your experience?  Can you define one or two themes from your regional course that you see "in action" while you have been abroad?
2. What are the main differences you see in the educational system abroad?  Do the differences in teaching or learning styles-or the structure of the system itself-tell you anything about the culture as a whole?  Are there historical or societal factors you can investigate to explain the educational system?  Do your classmates represent a certain segment of society or does education in your host country cut across socioeconomic boundaries?
3. Have you found your original goals for study abroad to be realizable?  What strategies have you employed-or can you now envision employing-to achieve these goals?  Do you need to implement any concrete changes?
4. Have you gotten involved in your host culture?  It may be a good time to consider volunteer work, clubs, and activities that will get you out there and mixing more with the people of the country.  Are you getting everything you can out of your living experience (homestay or otherwise)?

Questions #3 (after thirteen weeks abroad)

1. What has been the most enlightening course you've taken abroad? Has this course spurred your academic growth and sent you in new directions?  Has it shaped your intellectual goals and objectives or opened up ideas for careers?
2. If you were to write a letter to a faculty member, what kinds of things would you tell her/him about?  What kinds of questions would you pose for understanding your host country through the lens of your academic discipline?
3. What do you think will be the hardest challenge about re-adapting to life in the U.S.?  Do you feel that you've gained a new understanding of your own culture or a new appreciation for certain aspects of it?
4. How can you build on the experience you've had abroad?  Can you envision an area of research you'd like to explore or an issue you would like to study in depth?  Will you study the language further or take courses pertaining to your host country?