Skylee Lawton is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Public Relations major at SUNY Oswego, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Skylee talks about the differences between her home and host cities, with the help of her study abroad roommates.

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Recently, I had two of my roommates Sara and Hayley, help me out with a list of differences we have found between Australia and America. Now, mind you, this is what we have found. Someone else may come here and could have a totally different experience (although I highly doubt it). Australia is a place similar to America in that they are both English speaking and have seemingly similar food. But there are so many unexpected differences that I wasn’t expecting, so I wasn’t prepared. If you go to to a place like China, you will probably expect everything to be different, but that’s not so much the case here. Every time you feel like you are back home, someone does something or something happens that shoots you back to locational reality.

Photo: Hayley, Katie and me at Bondi Beach

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You know that when you study and live in a new country, you'll be exposed to a variety of cultural differences that you're not used to. Over time, these unspoken rules become the norm and after a few weeks you'll be settled in and not even give them a second thought. But what happens to these new mannerisms when you return home? You might start to experience a phenomenon called "reverse culture shock", which is what happens when you find yourslef struggling to adjust to going back to old habits and places. Since it may take time to get used to your old (yet new) surroundings, we came up with 10 ways to help you acclimate to no longer being abroad.

1. Continue to do activities that you did while abroad

If you started playing a sport such as badminton while you were abroad, try to find somewhere where you can continue to play it. If you took up singing, join a choir at home! Whatever the activity or hobby is, don’t just give it up because you're not abroad. It is likely that you’ll be able to continue in a local club, or at your university.

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Natalie Emmert is an official CAPA vlogger for spring 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A nursing major at Arizona State University, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Natalie discusses some social issues that she's noticed while studying in Sydney.

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Thanks Natalie!

Natalie's journey continues every Thursday so stay tuned!

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Sarah Kaplan is an official CAPA vlogger for spring 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A screen studies major with a concentration in film/media production at Clark University, she is studying abroad in Dublin this semester.

In this week's video, Sarah talks about some differences she's noticed between Ireland and back in the US, like driving on opposite sides of the road.

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Thanks Sarah!

Sarah's journey continues every Wednesday so stay tuned!

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