We have completed Orientation Week for the Fall group in Cyprus.
This group includes students attending multiple semester programs: Semester in Europe: EU, Semester in Europe: Business, Semester in Europe: Art History, Global Business Semester, Semester in the Mediterranean: Custom and Semester in Cyprus.
We have learned a lot over the last few years about what works and what does not work during orientation. To me, orientation breaks down into two phases.
The first two to three days are about providing some comfort, familiarity and a basic framework for the students. The first day they arrive, the students are tired and have just traveled halfway around the world (for some of them it is the first time they have traveled outside the country or even, in some cases, on a plane). Additionally, most students are experiencing a new language and culture for the first time and everyone is meeting their classmates, professors and staff for the first time. so whether they realize it or not, most students have an underlying level of stress during the first few days. So we focus on making these days as smooth and comfortable as possible: pick students up from the airport, check them into their apartments, eat pizza at group events, do a brief city tour, lay out what will happen over the course of the semester and what our expectations are of them, and finish the weekend with a nice group dinner.
In the second phase, the focus shifts to helping the students become more independent in Nicosia and giving them the tools to immerse themselves in the country. This is a combination of lectures on various aspects of Cypriot culture and history along with more practical exercises (such as campus tours). We spend a lot of time in our staff training trying to achieve the correct balance between being a support network for the students when they need help and pushing them to act independently and build the skills needed to function abroad.
Our best event in this week is the scavenger hunt. Students divide into groups of four and have to independently complete 30 tasks in Nicosia within three hours, starting from basics (finding a certain textbook in the campus library) to quite complex (identifying a well-hidden, but delicious, restaurant in Old Nicosia). We saw a dramatic change in how quickly the students were able to function independently in Nicosia the first year we implemented the scavenger hunt and the students seem to love it also.
Overall, this semester’s group seems confident and relatively independent. We will see as the semester evolves.
-Antonis
