For every individual the transition from one country to another is significantly harder than anticipated, but the learning curve is succeeding. So for every individual who is planning to study abroad there are various challenges that usually come across different challenges and each individual should be prepared for the same while applying and transitioning to a new country.
Isolated Feeling- Linguistic Barriers
- Currency Differences
- No Support Network
- Cultural Differences
There are various other challenges also on an individual basis, but these are the common ones faced by every individual.
Isolated Feeling
Let it be whichever country you are from and you are planning to shift it usually happens that you have an isolated feeling or feels like an outsider some or the other day. Sometimes you feel as if things are different for you and different for the localities. In some countries you are deliberately made to feel lonely just because you don’t belong to the same country and also becomes difficult because of the cultural differences.
But don’t let yourself get discouraged because of this as this makes you strong and enables you to face challenges. And once you get adapted to the environment, these problems become smaller. There are various other aspects as well that makes you feel like an outsider, but you always have the pathway to overcome this challenge.
Linguistic Barriers
The Language barrier is one of the most obvious and the biggest challenge that every individual faces when he goes abroad for studies. To overcome a language barrier means that you are struggling for adapting and even learning a new language that too from starting or from the initial level. It takes time to get used to the language and try speaking it. At the later point of time the fluency in speaking and accent also becomes an essential part of the language barrier that people face. But these hurdles also vanish away after some time as you get immersed in the culture and environment.
Currency Differences
The difference in the currency is also very challenging for every aspirant who enters the new country as we are not used to that particular countries currency. Remembering the currency conversion also becomes difficult.
You should try to work out a quick system of currency conversion for yourself so that you can do the calculations in your mind while doing any kind of transaction in the local market as well. Also the help of locals can be taken in the market for regular transactions and getting used to it slowly.
Unlike the other challenges while overseas education this currency difference is also a big challenge may be not for a short term visitor, but for student yes it plays a very important role.
No Support Network
Dreaming about studying abroad is something that gives motivation and encourages us to do so and while we actually enter, it is entirely a new and exciting journey that starts. But soon we realize that it’s not our own country and it’s so difficult to stay away from the network of people let it be your friends or family. They all are miles away from you and you actually come to know their importance after being away from them. The support network is always the best people you have around with you in every phase of your life, but in this new country you have to walk alone and survive alone.
This feeling stays in the initial few months while studying abroad but slowly as the time goes you will build up a new support network in a year’s time so slowly things will be fine.
Cultural Differences
As you are new in the country you are not aware about the local culture and the unwritten rules that every person follows in that particular country. We have knew the written rules before heading towards the destination, but we don’t know the unsaid rules. It is natural that you would make mistakes and might land in some awkward situation, but don’t get embarrassed just try to take a lesson out of it so that you will not repeat it again. Those cultural misunderstandings make you tough and confident and slowly it becomes easy to understand these unspoken agreements too.
To exemplify, we can say that the types of handshakes also vary from country to country. In the US they follow a firm handshake else the person is thought to be weak. On the other hand in European Countries they believe a person with a hard handshake may be perceived a little rude. To avoid these kinds of cultural misunderstandings you should observe how others do and even you get the local people happy to talk about and share knowledge about the culture.
You need not worry about all these challenges as everything will work out once you push yourself through the challenges.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
