No amount of pre-departure orientation will adequately prepare you for every experience you will encounter while on your sojourn. Individuals experience and deal with situations in vastly different ways. Personal and cultural differences, disparity in knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes - all make us unique. Consequently, they play a role in how we act and interact in any given situation. These attributes become important in the decision making process. What we may be "seeing" or "feeling" depends on past experiences, what we are perceiving or experiencing at the present time, and how this fits our expectations. Nevertheless, the more prepared we are - the more realistic our expectations.

What's Up With Culture is a self-guided, self-paced, self-assessed exploration of cultural adjustment issues and examines the whole journey, before, during and after and international experience. It concentrates on the aspects of culture and adjustment plus the skills, attitudes, values and behaviours useful in understanding and functioning in a new environment.

A Pre-departure Orientation Session is mandatory for TISEP participants. There will be opportunities to talk with past participants and students currently studying at Trent from host institutions. The sessions reach beyond the factual logistical and departure tips. Topics discussed range from students' actual experiences dealing with flexibility and adaptability issues (eg., culture shock); perceptions and expectations; value systems, exploring cultural differences, communication challenges, health, safety and security. This website guides sojourners through the international experience and contains a wealth of knowledge, resources and advice.

Pre-departure Manual and Video