Creencia y sus manifestaciones en la práctica educativa

Social relationships have been shown to contribute to psychological well-being in two important ways (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Rook, 1987). First, they may directly satisfy the emotional need for affiliation (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Rook, 1987; Ying, 1996). Second, they can serve as a means to a specific end: mediating stress (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Dunkel-Schetter, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1987; House, 1985; Rook, 1987). They can mediate stress in three ways. First, the enjoyment they provide can offset the effects of stress (Rook, 1987); they can act as uplifts (Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1981; Lazarus & DeLongis, 1983). Second, they can help people cope with stress, by providing support (Cohen &

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Wills, 1985; Dunkel-Schetter et al., 1987; House, 1985; Rook, 1987). House (1985) argued that there are four basic types of social support: emotional support (listening; showing concern, empathy and trust; conveying esteem), appraisal support (giving feedback relevant to someone’s initial appraisal of a situation), informational support (offering advice, suggestions or information that facilitate problem solving), and instrumental support (providing tangible assistance, such as money, labour or a modifying environment). Third, the mere perception that others can and will offer support may prevent a particular situation from being appraised as stressful in the first place (Cohen & Wills, 1985). Many of the students involved in my research experienced at least a period of social isolation, as discussed above. This was often only a brief period, but it was at the start of the experience when it is argued that support is most needed (Sawir et al., 2008). This was certainly the most challenging period for the students in my research. It was mentioned above that some students knew other students from their university going to the same location. Often they had met these people at events organised by the university before their departure. This is one way that a university may attempt to reduce the number of outgoing exchange students that experience even a brief period of social isolation, although caution should be exercised, as one student noted. Rebecca knew no one going to the same destination as her, but she felt that this was ultimately beneficial: “I've seen too many examples of really organised programmes… where the exchange students are forced to bond so much before they arrive in the foreign country that they end up being an autonomous unit and not meeting any locals.” This is a good point and it is important to emphasise that most of the students made friends at their destination without too much difficulty, although many noted it was difficult to form close relationships with locals, as was mentioned in the previous chapter. It is easy to blame existing co-national connections for a lack of host national contact. However, students who know no-one going to their host destination still find it hard to form friendships with host nationals, indicating that this is not the problem that it is made out to be. Pitts (2009, p. 460) even argues that existing co-national networks can play a positive role in this sense: “Early co-national support can help students buffer emotional distress accompanying the sojourn, such as

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anxiety and depression, which might otherwise limit vitality and social activity abroad.” Nonetheless, this still does not guarantee host national friendships. Regardless of their origin, the students involved in my research spoke fondly about the role of friendships in terms of the help they provided. For example, James was the only student to have never been overseas before, while he also still lived with his family at home. He was arguably the most vulnerable of all the students involved in my research and he did comment during our interview that his experience to that point had not all been smooth sailing. Nevertheless, he was coping well enough overall, noting that it was especially helpful having his best friend from home on exchange with him at the same destination. James also spoke positively about the support offered by other friends he had met on exchange. Kate was another student to have never lived away from home before, let alone in another country. Yet she had a relatively unproblematic experience, apart from her first day. She attributed this to having made some really good friends, commenting that she had become particularly close to the people she lived with: “They're just really nice people… we do a lot of things together, sometimes we cook together or go grocery shopping together… and we talk a lot… I thinks that’s helped a lot. If you were alone… it would be harder.” However, while most of the students were able to make friends without too much difficulty, Eva was a notable exception to this rule, as mentioned above. It is not that she didn’t make any friends, but it took her a long time. She noted: “I think I’ve made some very good friends, but I did spend a lot of time on my own.” This meant that not only was loneliness an ongoing problem for her, she was also unable to gain the wider benefits of social relationships. Eva did note that it was helpful to be able to talk to her family and boyfriend back home regularly, but she clearly would have benefited from having a better support network at her destination. Indeed, at the time of our interview, which was near the end of her exchange, Eva had just established a weekly pizza get together with the one person that she knew from New Zealand and she commented that this was already proving helpful. Many students noted that the first week or so of their exchange was the most important period in terms of making friends. For this reason, one student gave the following advice to those about to go on an exchange: “Don't hide in a hole

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for the first few weeks.” Eva did meet people during this initial period, but she did not form any lasting friendships. Eva felt that it was difficult to form lasting friendships because she was not a big drinker and she did not like going out to pubs or clubs at night, especially because she was an asthmatic living in a society where smoking in pubs and clubs was allowed. As noted, she also had safety concerns about going out at night. Drinking has been shown to play an important role in fostering friendships and facilitating bonding amongst first year university students in the United States (Borsari & Carey, 1999; Borsari, Murphy, & Barnett, 2007); my research indicates that this is also the case for Australian and New Zealand exchange students in Europe. For example, Bella said that on her second night at her destination she was feeling upset that she hadn’t made any friends when her flatmate knocked on her bedroom door: “He said we're having drinks in the kitchen, we're going out tonight and you’re coming, so I walked into the kitchen and straight away I had to scull something as like my initiation to the floor.” She added: “That night we just all got drunk, it’s the best way to meet people.” There were a number of other students who made similar comments. Living in a student residence was also reported to be a good way to build relationships, although not necessarily with host nationals, because many were international student-only residences, or they were residences in which international students were segregated from host nationals. For example, Natalie lived in a residence with 10 floors; eight were for host nationals; the other two were for international students. Eva also lived in a student residence, but she noted that there were very few people in her residence who spoke English well and only a couple who were native French speakers. The rest did speak French, but because it was not their or her first language (even though she considered herself to be at an advanced level) she described talking to them as tiring, commenting: “It’s kind of a battle through two different language barriers.” This meant that she didn’t really make any friends at her residence. Nonetheless, even if these circumstances were different, it is possible that Eva would still have found it difficult to establish meaningful relationships through her accommodation because of her reluctance to drink and to go out to pubs and clubs at night. Gregariousness and sociability are clearly vital attributes for success, but even they do not guarantee that friendships will extend beyond international students.

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There were a number of students who noted that social events and excursions aimed at international students were also a good way to build relationships. Many commented positively about such events and excursions. For example, Rebecca noted that she met her best friend on a university organised excursion to a neighbouring city. Organising events and excursions for international students is one way a university may attempt to help them meet people, although many students felt that these events should also be targeted at host nationals in order to foster relationships between international students and host nationals. Either way, it is still up to students to make the most of these opportunities and many advised those about to go on exchange to participate in as many events or excursions as possible, although it is also important that there are a wide range of events and excursions. Eva noted that she didn’t participate in many of the social events at her university because they were mostly nights out at a bar, although there were presumably some clubs or events suited to her preferences, where she could meet like-minded people; it was more a matter of finding these. Finally, it was mentioned above that friendships with locals serve a particular function (Bochner, McLeod, & Lin, 1977; Furnham & Alibhai, 1985; Ward et al., 2001; Ward & Kennedy, 1993). They can help people to navigate the new environment and overcome problems caused by unfamiliarity. Some students did say that their local connections were helpful in this sense. For example, Chris noted: “It’s just the little things… advice about where to buy things that are good quality and cheap, how to get around using public transport, recommendations for places to go… advice on the Swedish culture and that sort of thing.” Sarah made a similar comment: “Like silly questions about customs and different words and different slang they had, if I was a bit unsure... I could go to my housemates. And they could tell me with things like where a certain shop is.” However, many of the students struggled to make friends with host nationals, as discussed more extensively in the next chapter. They often commented that they wished they could have had more contact with locals, but overall this did not appear to be a major problem primarily because unfamiliarity was not a major issue. If they had gone to more culturally distant destinations this may have been different. As it was, it seemed most important that the students had friends at their destination; the nationality of these friends was almost irrelevant, although some did note that

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it was especially comforting to socialise with others from the same country as them, or to talk to other international students going through the same process. Nonetheless, local friendships are important not just as a source of cultural information, but because they offer the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the host society and to grow from this (Beaven, 2012). Other friendships are often seen as detrimental to this, although this is not necessarily the case as mentioned above. Pitts (2009, p. 460) even argues that co-national friendships can be beneficial at the start of a study abroad experience by buffering emotional that “might otherwise limit vitality and social activity.” However, this does not minimise the importance of host national friendships and while academic intervention cannot manufacture these, it can foster meaningful contact aimed at cultivating understanding, a central tenet of my model presented in Chapter Eight.