How to Easily Overcome Mental Pressures of Studying Abroad
Tags: Mental Illness, Abroad, Mental Health, Abroad Education, Mental

Traveling and living abroad of young students for educational purposes looks like a window to a better future. It is somehow like a golden ticket that can bring students with great career opportunities in and out of their home country when they have graduated and are ready to enter the working market. That’s why the number of foreign students is increasing every year, and as of 2020, for example, 5.8 million international students are studying and staying abroad. But studying in a foreign country is not always an easy thing to do, and it is certainly followed by many challenges, one of the most important of which is surely the mental pressures that international students may go through.

There are a variety of reasons for foreign students to experience mental pressures during their study years overseas, which mainly include the following:

1- Language Barriers

Students who come from a country with a different language than the country where they intend to continue their studies have to face this big challenge, indeed, language barriers appear to be one of the first and the most challenging issues for international students.

But poor second language abilities can be cured. The best way to strengthen your language skills is to practice them. First, try to find people of your own language and try to form a network with them so that you can try to learn the second language together. This sense of cooperation will help you to learn the language faster and more efficient and can also save you from possible embarrassments that you may find in a language class. Make language learning a fixed part of your daily schedule.

2- Cultural Differences

Upon arriving in a foreign country, you may very well begin to feel that the way people around are talking, dressing, eating, drinking, and looking is different from where you originally come from. ‘Culture shock’ is the term to describe the above-mentioned feelings.

The negative emotions resulting from cultural differences can cause difficulties focusing in class, physical health problems and also worsening academic results.

To deal better with cultural differences, first you should accept that it’s not your home country, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can find and love about your new home. Moving from a familiar environment to an unfamiliar one can be exciting just as much as it can be quite challenging. So, just be patient and give yourself time to adapt.

3- Homesickness

Homesickness is a real challenge among international students. Even the most independent students, when in a foreign country for quite a time, can’t help wishing that they were back home and hug their loved ones, spend time with them, laugh with them and eat homemade food with them.

To avoid homesickness, you can call your parents or local friend or text them once in a while, but try to amuse yourself by making new friends with other international students who may be having the same problem and share your feelings with each of them. You’re likely to feel much better then. Don’t forget that pains need to be shared to better be endured.

4- Loneliness

loneliness is another major issue for students studying away from home. International students feel lonely while studying and staying abroad because they often have more limited social networks, most of them feel a little bit hard to make new friends there, and some foreign students prefer to hang out only with people from their home countries.

In order to overcome loneliness, try to build relationships with others in the university, on campus or elsewhere, speak to people before and after lectures, use social networking sites and applications to find international student groups, or people in your local and your new city who share similar hobbies and interests. Enrolling in different societies is also a great way to make new friends and avoid loneliness.

5- Financial Barriers

Financial pressure is another challenge that international students have to face during their study years in a foreign country. This challenge is even more serious for those students who do not get financial aid from parents and have to pay tuition and living expenses all by themselves.

As most international students come from developing countries to continue their studies in Europe, US and Canada, one problem emanates from the fact that the exchange rate between U.S. dollars, for example, and their domestic currencies is usually high, that is, a small amount of money to an American can be significant to an international student who come from Afghanistan, for instance. Here, a cheap platform for exchanging currency can be very much of a help. Housing is also a big challenge for foreign students. One possible way that can be considered to reduce the housing costs for international students is to share an apartment with other students who have the same problem. The ideal thing to happen for such a situation is that you be able to find students of your own nationality, students who share with you the same culture, the same language and the same social background.

Read the full version of this article in the Trustply weblog: Overcome Mental Pressures of Studying Abroad