Three Mistakes You're Making While Studying Abroad

Your experience studying abroad can depend on many factors: friends, the local culture, the university, the course… even the food can make or break your time overseas. If you get this feeling that you’re “just not doing it right”, you’ve probably got a point. But don’t start running home, swearing to never return to academia, just yet!

Here are three common mistakes that international students make while studying abroad. Check to see whether you’re making one or all three of them before throwing in the towel. 

As a Hong Kong person who’s used to underground trains running perfectly on time and maintained to a spotless standard, using the tube in London for the first time was a life-changing experience.

- Why are the cabins so small? Why am I sweating profusely when it is snowing outside? Why are the seats made of material? How do you even clean that?!

I’ve lived in London for five years and still ask myself these questions every time I step on the tube. But now, I’ve come to accept that it’s just “how things are” here and there’s just no point making a fuss about it. You don’t need to love everything about your new study destination, but complaining about it and comparing it to home will just be pointless and make you miserable in the long term.

When faced with something you hate in your new temporary home, the best thing to do is to try and learn to love it for what it is. If that fails, do as your parents would tell you to do and chalk it down to “life experience”.