Enduring not enjoying? Emotional responses to studying abroad among Danish and Chinese students |
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Authors: | Kirsten Jæger |
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Institution: | Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACTStudents’ emotions during stays abroad have mainly been treated as ”culture shock”, where difficulties are interpreted as universal ”stages” towards ”adaptation”. This paper explores how students from different cultural and educational traditions experience studying abroad differently. The study presents a qualitative study of 18 Danish and Chinese students in Chinese and Danish universities and situates itself within the literature on culture shock, student emotions and study-abroad experiences. The study exposes the students’ complex emotions throughout their studies abroad and explains how these emotions relate to processes of self-formation, professional and academic development, increase or decrease in freedom, and student agency. |
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Keywords: | International students educational culture culture shock qualitative interviews emotionality |
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