Expectations About Studying Abroad That are Actually Different in Reality

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Sunday — February 26, 2017

By:Study Abroad

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Studying abroad is wonderful dream for many students who in future aim to make it an amazing experience. But before they go abroad to a university, first they try to know everything about that particular country and how this studying abroad experience is. You will hear a lot of different things about studying abroad, some will be good and some might want to make you change your mind. Many students have also been asking me same questions about the experiences they are going to face; expecting something new what they were not aware of. They ask me what things will happen that we should be expecting and things they might a shock for them.

Today in this article, I will try to make question and confusions even easier about the know-hows of foreign education. There will be many things unexpected while studying abroad, some might be common for all international students in all countries and some might specific to certain parts or cultures. It all looks very good and attractive when see it all on internet or hear from people but there will be many things that you may not realize can happen to you. Following are some mentioned points which you think are great in studying abroad or something that you might be expecting but in reality they can be entirely different and exhausting for you.

1 - Not Everyone Speaks English:

We are told that English is spoken in every part of the world and almost everyone can speak English but that might not be the ALWAYS case. You will find most of the people who know English and can have basic discussion in this

language but there might also be many people who are limited to their own mother language. This is a sure case in a country that is Non-English country and their official language is some other but there can be rare case when even in English countries like United States of America or United Kingdom you hit upon people who don’t know English.

In a Non-English country you should be careful before you start talking to someone as this would be really rude if you just go to someone and start talking in a foreign language, other might get the wrong vibes and mistake it as abuse. Proper way would be to learn some basic greeting words of the native language and start conversation with them and after that ask them if they can speak English.

2 - You Have to Study:

You will go to a new country, meet new people of different countries and you will become best friends then you will daily go out and enjoy, there will be welcome party for you and with that you will daily be going to new amazing parties like

never seen and spend most of nights like this. This or at least some this is in your imagination that you presume to happen while studying abroad. One most important thing that students forget when deciding to study abroad is that they are going to STUDY abroad.

You do have to go to universities, there will be proper lectures and you will be given homework. In addition, you are aware about the quiz tests, assignments, presentations, projects then mid-term and final-term exams. Most of the time is the battle of scoring of good marks as it all counts in you CGPA. You will enjoy your life there, make friends and hang out with them but most of time in abroad will be about studying. You will have most worries about your grades and study.

3 - Adjustment and Homesickness:

When preparing to leave home for abroad, you will be prepared by your family, friends and seniors that it can be pretty tough adjusting in a new type of lifestyle and culture that you will have to face problems and difficulties in a place that is far away from your home. In addition you will get homesick remembering your family and might get sick because of it. This all is true and actually happens that is not necessarily always the case. It happens to many people that don’t even feel something new.

You will go out expecting that you are about face a monster but instead you find that there is no monster and everything is totally normal and you have no problem adjusting to new place whatsoever. Homesickness is a thing that usually does happen to everyone but some don’t even feel the difference. The problem is that you might get homesick when you are not expecting it and have no problem while you are expecting it.

4 - Travelling:

Travelling can be a great fun especially when you are in a foreign country. People like to travel on different and new kinds of vehicle and explore a whole culture, nation, lifestyle and a side of world. After this is a normal thing to do. If you move to a new place, you always explore the whole area. People even go to foreign countries especially for tourism

and sight-seeing but you go there for education and with that you also get the package of discovering and understanding the new world.

It would be pretty fun to just hop out in the new city from your house and walk while asking for directions then sitting on public transport while engaging in discussions with the natives of that and those people respect and like you and might also give you some tips about the place. Just like that you would go out every day and see all sort of new beautiful and astonishing places but there is just one problem. That is not going to happen!

Of course travelling can be fun but when you will the study abroad destination, you will be very much exhausted. You will get time on weekends and even then it is really going to beat you out. Some go out weekends but some just once as it can be pretty tiring. So, if you don’t go out very much and just sit idly in your room, don’t worry because that is normal. Your fantasy might be limited to your dreams but most of it depends on your personality this is just one of the things that may unexpectedly happen with you.