Weinberg junior Morgan Engling has returned to her winter workload, but she still feels the humid, lazy rhythm of Mexico.

“(In Mexico), everything’s very relaxed, and they don’t hurry with anything … it’s very hot, you can’t hurry or you’ll die,” Engling said. “All of a sudden, the stress is back.”

At a workshop held by the Study Abroad Office Tuesday night, about 45 study abroad returnees listened to speakers and told their own stories about coming back to the United States.

They were returning from countries ranging from Australia to Italy, but they shared one experience: feeling the “reverse culture shock” of being back at Northwestern.

When Liz Lee, the workshop facilitator, asked students if they found their Study Abroad experience difficult to explain, nearly two-thirds of the returnees raised their hands.

“You come back from study abroad and you go, ‘How do I tell somebody what Germany was like?'” Study Abroad Director Bill Anthony said. “‘What was it like to speak German all the time, and to start dreaming in German?’ People don’t want to hear that stuff.”

Students also have to readjust to a different pace of life, Anthony said. International school systems tend to give students more freedom.