Studying Overseas — 5 important life skills it adds to you & why everyone should do it

Omer Hazer
Sep 5, 2018 · 6 min read

Going overseas to study might be one of the scariest yet rewarding experiences someone can experience, especially in their younger years.
As the title suggests, I am a strong advocate of doing an overseas exchange, work & travel or a full on degree overseas if you can.
Why?

I’ve started my international student journey when I was 13 by myself. My family stayed back in Turkey while I came to Cambridge, New Zealand and started studying from the start of high school.
Having gone from being a naive 13 year old in High School to an 18 year old in University, to now a 21 year old working full time, I wanted to share what YOU can expect and gain from studying overseas by using my own experiences as a guideline.

Now be aware that not everything that I write below will be applicable for you.
I know that many of you will expect me to write things such as “It’s good for your CV” but I’m a strong believer that you should never do things just because it’ll “look good in your CV”.

The tangible and intangible skills you get from studying overseas will make you stand out as the person you are rather than as the piece of paper you present.

Hence I’ve decided to write about the skills you gain rather than how good doing an OE is for your CV. That’s a given.

Life shapes us all in it’s own way and it is up to you as to how much you take away from every interaction along the way but hopefully by reading below I can excite you about seriously considering studying overseas!

1. Increases your confidence exponentially

Imagine this, your plane has landed in a new country you’ve never been to before and you know little to no one here. Every interaction you’ll be making will be with people you’ve never met, speaking a language that is probably not your first language.

The ability to easily adapt is not a skill that comes easy to most, by going on an exchange or studying abroad you are greatly building on your confidence and adaptability skills.
When I came to New Zealand when I was 13, I was shy to even ask for extra ketchup at McDonald’s. Safe to say that has changed and nowadays I actively volunteer for public speaking events. Something that I would never see myself doing when I was 13.
No matter how confident you are to begin with and whether you go on a 3 month internship, a 6 month exchange or a 4 year degree overseas, you will build on your confidence which is an excellent skill to sharpen for anyone.

2. You get to experience a totally new culture & totally different people

By going overseas to study, you can be sure that it’s not going to be like “home”. Be ready to experience totally different ways of living and doing things in your day to day life.
Sometimes differences are not that stark but even the smallest differences can shock you in your day to day life and that’s OK!
It’s all about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing something different.

The people you meet and the friends you make will also have their own unique quirks. What you deem “normal” with your friends back home might not be the same here.
The best example I can give regarding this is every time I come back to Turkey, my friends in Turkey mention that I “speak like a tourist” even when I’m speaking in Turkish and as far as I’m aware, I don’t even have an accent. It’s the hand gestures, the subtle word choices and everything in between that you build on top of your personality that makes you unique.
You are combining multiple different cultures into one via your experiences and that is a perfect way to stand out in meetings, job interviews or even dates.
Surrounding yourself with people from all walks of life is one of the best ways to expand your horizon and increase your humility.

3. You improve your problem solving skills

Good problem solving skills are perhaps one of the most important skills one can have and improving on that is extremely useful.

Think about your support network back home. When you’re faced with a big problem, you’ve got your family, close friends and professional network to get support and help from.
When you’re overseas by yourself, you are more likely to face problems where you will not be able to get help from your support network. You are put in the deep end and how you face the problems you encounter will shape who you are as a person.
Being able to solve problems on the spot and/or by yourself is an incredible life skill that comes in very useful no matter whether you want to become a doctor or entrepreneur.

4. You become self reliant & the earlier the better

Does your mom wake you up at home? Do you get called to the ready made dinner table every evening at 6? Your dirty clothes are magically clean?
Well, by being in a different country by yourself, you become more self reliant. These are skills that some people still don’t have in their 30’s.

Go do an overseas exchange for 6 months and all these skills will come as a bonus to everything else you gain from the trip. Neat huh?

5. You gain lifelong friendships

Not only does going overseas to study builds on core life skills, you also make friendships along the way that’ll last a lifetime.
I know people who have done a few exchanges and now have friends all around the world. They can travel to any one of those countries in the world and they’ll have a friend in that country whose house they can stay in, who can show them around the local spots and who can keep them company.
We all know the saying it’s not what you know it’s who you know. Well I am a strong believer in it’s what you know AND who you know.
By going overseas to study, you are learning more AND making more connections. Win — Win.

The 5 skills I’ve outlined above are just a snippet of what studying overseas can give you.
I am a very strong advocate of people getting out of their comfort zones and trying something different. Going to a country on the other side of the world, knowing no one fits that criteria perfectly.
If you’ve been thinking about studying overseas for a while but aren’t sure about what country to choose, the procedure and what life there will be like, get in touch!
I’m the founder of YouGlobal Education. An international student consultancy company giving people the most hands on, honest and personalised advice out there and I stand by that 100%.
Get in touch with me and let’s figure out how I can help you!


Thank you for reading.
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Omer Hazer

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Writing about Startups, Raising Capital, Personal Growth and topics that interest me. New articles when I get caffeinated enough! 🚀

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