Turning Unfamiliar, Familiar: Cross-Cultural Experiences of Exchange Students in Southeast Asia

Cross-cultural exchange refers to interactions and phenomena between or across people or groups of different cultural backgrounds with the aim of providing important spaces for global interaction and understanding. This study understood and narrated the cross-cultural experiences of teacher education exchange students in teaching practicum in Vietnam and Indonesia. The study used a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology to obtain data from a sample of ten Filipino exchange students in Vietnam and Indonesia by conducting semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews. Thematic Analysis was used to analyze the data by following the approach of Braun and Clarke. The cross-cultural experiences of exchange students revealed four main themes: (1) Discovering cultural diversities, with subthemes (a) cultural traditions and religious practices, and (b) religious pursuit; (2)Navigating an unfamiliar culture, from the subthemes (a) loss in translation, and (b) building sweet spicy tolerance; (3)Adapting to the unfamiliar, with subthemes (a) aid of language learning application, (b) mental resilience, and (c) buddy system; and (4)Empowering pathways from the subthemes (a) financial security, and (b) emotional support network. Therefore, the cross-cultural experiences of exchange students are becoming familiar with the unfamiliar cultures, and this process is an exploration of culture, adaptation, and growth, marked by challenges, coping mechanisms, and support networks. These experiences showed that cultural exchange is truly an opportunity to build resilience, openness, and global understanding. This study suggested support for exchange students for both services and cultural orientation

Narrative inquiry, cross-cultural adaptation, exchange students, experiences

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