MIISP Blogging Guidelines & Prompts

We ask that MIISP students blog at least one time per week.  The first three entries listed here are ones that we ask all bloggers to cover: A first, middle, and final entry.  The remainder of the prompts are ones from which you may pick and choose. 

First Entry (after introductory/ goal-setting exercise): Departure and Initial Adjustments**
Feel free to pick and choose from the following questions:

• Did you feel anxious before leaving for your internship/service program? If so, what were you nervous about?
• What kinds of preparations did you make before leaving the United States?
• What were your immediate thoughts when you arrived in your host country, and have those initial judgments changed at all?
• Thus far, what is the biggest difference that you notice between your host country and the United States?

Mid-point Entry: Reflection on Goals

• As you think back on the personal and professional goals you created for yourself during the final MIISP meeting, what thoughts, new ideas, revisions, and challenges are emerging?*
• How is your experience thus far meeting your expectations (or not!)?

Final Entry: Returning to U-M: Reflecting on Goals & Cultural Adjustment

• Now that you’re back, think about how you might incorporate your experience abroad into your life at U-M, whether it be through your academics or extra-curricular activities. 
• Think about the goals you set for yourself during our final meeting.  Reflect on how your experiences this summer relate to what you wrote then.  Provide concrete examples, when possible.
• Below is a graph describing culture shock and reverse culture shock. Have you identified with any of these stages? Describe certain situations or stages of your abroad experience and how they relate (or not!) to the graph. *

1. Everything is new, interesting, and exciting.
2. Differences become apparent and irritating. Problems occur and frustration sets in. 
3. You may feel homesick depressed and helpless.
4. You develop strategies to cope with difficulties and feelings, make new friends, and learn to adapt to the culture. 
5. you accept and embrace cultural differences. You see the host as your new home and don't wish to depart and leave new friends. 
6. You are excited about returning home.
7. you may feel frustrated, angry, or lonely because friends and family don't understand what you experienced and how you changed. You miss the host culture and friends, and may look for ways to return. 
8. You gradually adjust to life at home. Things start to seem more normal and routine again, although not exactly the same. 
9. You incorporate what you learned and experienced abroad into your new life and career. 

Ideas for the remainder of your entries

Below are suggested prompts from which you can pick and choose (prompts are in no particular order).

Exploring your Host Country’s Culture

Prompt: Food & Culture**

“The meaning of food is an exploration of culture through food. What we consume, how we acquire it, who prepares it, who’s at the table, and who eats first is a form of communication that is rich with meaning.”(PBS, The Meaning of Food, 2005)

Have you tried any food abroad that you never thought you would?  What has been your favorite food in your host destination (a food that you normally do not eat back in the states).  How does the host culture you live in approach meals and food?  How is that different from American culture?

Prompt: Politics Abroad**

• Have you been following politics in your host country? What is the system/form of government practiced in your study abroad country? (i.e. democracy, parliamentary monarchy, republic).
• How does the political system or environment differ from the U.S.?
• Have the trending political opinions of local citizens caused you to reflect on policies and political discourse in the U.S.? If so, how?
• What kinds of pressing policy debates are occurring in your host country, and do you have an opinion on them?
• Describe the level of political or engagement of local undergraduate students you have encountered.

Prompt: Leaving the Comforts of Home - Brutality or Invigorating?**

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things –air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”

-Cesare Pavese

• As a student living in a foreign host country, can you identify with this statement? Why or why not?

• Name one thing that you miss from the U.S. and why, along with one thing (activity, food, cultural norm) that you have discovered in your host country that you would like to incorporate in your life when you return to the states

Prompt: Conservation in the Region**

• Have you discovered or relished in the natural beauty of your host country?
• How environmentally conscious are the inhabitants of your host country? Does the level of consciousness have an effect on the surrounding environment?
• Are there any habits that promote a healthy environment in your study abroad country that you would like to take back to the United States?

Prompt: Your World through the Lens of your Camera

• Upload a picture of something that best represents your time in your host culture thus far & describe why you chose it.  Feel free to get creative!

Prompt: Influential People

• When we talk to returning MIISP students in the fall, one theme that often comes up in discussion is the impact that the people they met while abroad had on them.  Take some time to think about who these people might be for you. Write about them.
• Describe the person who has been most influential to you during the time you’ve spent in your host community
• (If you’d rather not include identifying information - that’s okay!)

Prompt: Cultural Faux Pas

• Describe your funniest cross-cultural misunderstanding yet!  Describe the situation and what you took away from the experience

Prompt: Social Media

• Think about social media and how it’s utilized in your host country.  Describe your use of social media and what implications you believe social media has on your experience abroad.  How does your use of social media compare to those you have met in your host community?

Exploring the International Workplace: Taking a closer look at the work you’re doing & how it relates to your studies at U-M and your future plans

Prompt: Your Internship/Service Project*

• What skills did you bring to the internship? 
• What skills have you developed? 
• What are you enjoying most about your internship?   
• What would you like to explore more? What has been challenging or frustrating for you?  How will you/did you resolve the difficulty?

Prompt: The International Workplace

• Regardless of what type of experience you’re undertaking this summer, you’re being exposed to workplace culture that is likely very different from that which you’ve experienced here in the U.S.  Devote an entry to talking about how the workplace culture in your host community compares to the U.S. workplace culture. 
• This might include discussion of things such as the concept of time, supervisor/employee relationships, work/life balance, style of dress, communication styles, formality, etc.

Prompt: Exploring the connection between your internship/service project & your studies/future plans*

• How is the internship supporting your concentration decision?
• Is the internship illuminating a career path and/or a link between your academic and extracurricular activity?
• How does your internship make your think differently about your past, present and future academic and extracurricular activities?*

Sources:

*Prompts adapted from LSA Internship Course handout, ““Keeping a Journal and Writing a Reflective Paper.”

** Prompts adapted from the guidelines provided to participants of the Benjamin Gilman Blog Correspondent Program; http://gilmanprogram.wordpress.com/