Read And Reflect

After reading the article “5 Important Life Lessons I’ve learned From Living Abroad”, I feel a lot of similarities to the author, Andini Alya. We face a lot of difficulties and problems in the same way. For me, one of the most impressive parts is “It’s not always gonna be okay, and it’s okay.” Alya writes in that part, “Living abroad sounds so marvelous and full of blitz glamorous life, but not many people back home know that we struggle very hard.” Often, we just share our happiest and glorious moments on the social media, which makes many people think that studying abroad is an easy thing, for they think we just enjoy the beautiful view, attend endless parties, and participate several activities. However, the truth is that we are not always as relaxed as they think. They do not know we struggle several nights to figure out a Mathematics’ principle in English; they do not see we edit our essays again and again till morning in order to get a better grade; they never understand our feelings when we first arrived in a place that is totally unfamiliar to us and we have to adapt the environment around us as soon as possible. All they know is that we live happily and have a wonderful life in another country. However, that is what we want. We do not want our parents to worry about us too much; we just want to show others that we can handle ourselves very well and there is nothing to worry about. I think not only me but every foreign student is becoming more and more independent after they leave their country.

For those who are going to study abroad, I would like to give some suggestions. First and foremost, start doing things independently. After you go abroad, you cannot reach to your parents at any moment. Many things used to ask your parents for help falls on your own. Start training yourself to find ways to solve problems and do some daily housework as soon as possible so that you will not panic when you face them in a foreign country. Second, prepare to study higher level of knowledge. I mean, be ready for academic difficulties. When I was in China, I was often told that the difficulty of college physics was just like Chinese high schools’. I never doubt that saying until I studied in physics major for a quarter. At first it was as easy as I think. However, I soon find that the professor switched a topic so fast that I could not catch up with him. Also, learning things in a foreign language wasn’t an easy thing. Do not believe that learning in America is relaxing and fun. Things can go really hard especially in some new areas that you never knew before. Last but not least, be outgoing and exercise more often. Americans like exercising and doing sports. You can easily make friends with a foreign friend when playing basketball or doing exercise. After all, there is no international barriers in doing sports.

Studying abroad is never an easy task. You had better to do your best on every aspect. Work hard and play hard. It’s a totally new and wonderful experience other than stay in your home country, but it is also a big challenge in your life. However, after you handle all of the problems by yourself, you will find that you have improved a lot and fear nothing.