A few months before their departure, some students are wondering about the cultural changes they're about to experience by going abroad: "Will I adapt to the culture of the country?", "How will I find my place?", "How do I manage to integrate" ... To support students and give them a few keys to managing this culture shock, Maxime Giegas, project manager in education for global citizenship and solidarity at FUCID, led a training session on interculturality. The aim of the training: to make them aware of their own stereotypes and give them the keys to be able to change their outlook and acquire attitudes for a successful intercultural encounter.

Over the course of an afternoon, students had the opportunity to share their fears and work on the notion of stereotyping through various group activities and reflections. "Stereotypes are an unavoidable cognitive component for most human beings," explains Maxime Gigas. "The most important thing is to become aware of the existence of stereotypes and to challenge them by confronting them with reality, by going out and meeting people."

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At the end of the course, the students left with plenty of advice on how to limit the effects of culture shock. "Going on Erasmus is going to be the trip of a lifetime. This training course helped me get my foot in the door before I left, but there's obviously still a shadow side, and I'll really become aware of everything once I get there", concludes Théo, a student at the Faculty of Economic, Social and Management Sciences.