It takes a leap of faith to move to another country. The new
country, though full of exquisite newness and exotic experiences, will
always find you a stranger in its midst. You bring your own particular
expectations and neuroses, and these can jar with the new world around
you no matter how flexible you try to be. If you're young and
inexperienced, this can be magnified. So why do students keep taking
this brave leap? Because when, in the end, they land on their feet and
return home, they have invariably flourished in a way they had never
thought possible.
Deep friendships
Some people seek out good
friends others have good friends thrust upon them. When you choose to
study abroad, you will be at a stage in your life when most people
around you have already solidified their close circle of friends, from
school or from their youth. It can be hard, in your spare time, to find
people truly open to making a new and deep connection. But the
expatriate life puts you in a pool of strangers looking for support and
locals looking to help out, and this relational cocktail is often an
ideal brew to forge new, adult and lifelong friendships.
Reverse culture shock
Even
the hardened traveller will get homesick when they study abroad. The
yearning for familiarity and affection is absolutely normal. But the
added difficulty is that your new home, no matter how beneficial or
exciting, is full of customs that run counter to your intrinsic habits.
In time, however, you will not only adapt in ways you never thought
possible, you may also return home to find it now seems strange. While
daunting, reverse culture shock gives you the chance to reassess your
home, priorities and relationships and so redirect your life.
New options and ambitions
The
experience of a trip to study abroad can fly past. The exams, new
people, new accommodation and cultural adjustments can drain you and
make time speed by. You may not feel that you have the time or energy to
fully process everything. But whether you stay in Madrid, Los Angeles
or Moscow, you will return home with new options. This is because life
in a foreign country will expose to you what you really are like, in
terms of your tastes, instincts, needs and limits. This personal
shake-up can reap dividends by peeling back the veil of complacency that
your home routine can cast over you.
A different you
Ultimately,
no matter the highs and lows, a chance to study abroad is a chance to
reinvent yourself. You will be in a new place where no one knows you, so
you can try new things. But even more significant is the end result of
this experiment. The things that you learn from your successes and
failures give you a chance to forge a better you.
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