Studying Abroad

After reading Andini Alya’s post, I felt sympathetic to her. In the post “5 Important Life Sessions I’ve Learned From Living Abroad”, Alya demonstrates five crucial things, which are “be grateful”, “don’t take it for granted”, “make friends with time”, “it’s not always gonna be okay, and it’s okay”, and “loneliness is life’s worst punishment” in living abroad. She says that people who living abroad should be optimistic and looking forward. And she believes that they should not assume everyone will be there waiting for them. Also, she advises people to plan things prior to living abroad. Life of living abroad will be hard even though it sounds cool just because others only show the relax sides. In addition, she thinks people who living abroad should deal with loneliness. I totally agree with her, especially “it’s not always gonna be okay, and it’s okay.”
Living abroad is not as fantastic as some people thought. Before I came to United States, I thought I will have a fabulous life. I had heard from people who had living abroad saying that they have a lot of free time, the education system is pretty good, and they can earn much money. As I came, I suddenly realized that the life will not be easy nor be fabulous. Being new to a country, I must learn a new language and get along with other people, but this is extremely hard for me because I am not an outgoing person. Also, there are many other difficulties I had to deal with, but I appreciate these hardships.
For future international students, you need to set a goal for yourself, stay strong, improve your academic skills and make more friends with same background. If you are coming to UCSB, you will expect a beautiful school near the ocean. On the other hand, you might feel uncomfortable because there are many foreigners, it might be hard to make friend with them.