Culture shock, according to Cambridge Dictionary, is “a feeling of confusion felt by someone visiting a country or place that they do not know.”
Spring semester may not be a different country, but it can be quite a shock for some students. Many students went on J-term trips across the country or even overseas. Upon their return, students may feel like they are different and when everything else is the same.
“You don’t go to another country and then come back the same,” Kiplangat Cheruiyot Bii, director of Taylor World Outreach (TWO), said.
Bii oversees students as they prepare for Lighthouse missions trips. He helps them prepare for the service and culture they are about to enter. He calls it “transformational service.”
One of his theories is that comfort plays into complacency. When students are removed from their comfortable bubbles and schedules, they must humbly rely on God and trust in His power.
As students returned to Taylor in the spring, Bii encouraged them to reflect and not to rush their processing journeys. Some students come back feeling inspired, energized and passionate, while others feel hollow, numb and depressed. As students find closure this spring, he encouraged them to continue trusting in God.
While some students went on missions trips, others took departmental class trips. Sophomore Sydney Yount, a biology major, took a trip with her department to Hawaii. Jan Reber, professor of biology and allied health advisor, and Robert Reber, assistant professor of environmental science led the trip.
While Yount’s focus was on learning and biology, she also got to see how connected God’s creation is.
“I understood more of the beauty of God's creation, like seeing lava and seeing the rock landscape and all that,” Yount said. “(It provided) more of a deeper understanding with the earth and how everything comes from the ground. All life basically relies on the ground. And one of the people that we worked with, his name was Iopa, and he was like, ‘the land can live without us, but we cannot live without the land.’ And that was one of the things that really stuck, because it's very true.”
16 students went on the trip, and Yount said they spent all their time together. Returning to Taylor for spring semester, Yount had to navigate old and new relationships, figuring out how to fit back into the old life with her new perspective and friendships.
Some students stayed over J-term, taking classes on campus.
Sophomore Elizabeth Shatzer stayed on campus to take Women in Ancient Egypt. She said the biggest difference between campus life during J-term versus the spring semester was the number of people. Because Taylor houses fewer students over J-term, she got to bond with people in a closer-knit group.
Another big difference for Shatzer was the course load. Having only one class opened up her schedule, so she could spend more time with people and deepen her relationship with the Lord.
“I had a lot more time to be in the word and listen to worship music and have prayer time every day and be in fellowship with people in the dorm and outside of the dorm,” Shatzer said. “And I had a lot of slow days and slow moments that I kind of just got to take it all in, instead of rushing through my day like I sometimes have to do in the Spring and the Fall.”
Shatzer said that there is room for everyone to grow no matter where they are.
Whether students crossed the country, a continent or stayed at home, they got the chance to deepen their relationships and learn. As they gather again for spring semester, some may be experiencing a culture shock because no one else shared their specific experience. However, they can keep sharing their unique perspective.
Bii encouraged students who went on Lighthouse trips to honorably represent the people they served. Every person had a unique experience, and students can glorify God by telling others of the ways he has worked over J-term.
“The valuable things that I see is obviously telling the story – or stories – to others as a way of testifying who God is,” Bii said, concerning Lighthouse trips.
