I have been talking with international students about their experiences roughly for six months now. I have had the chance to speak with people from various backgrounds and every one of them have very different stories.
The one thing that I know is that being an international student is definitely not easy. Living apart from family, friends and the culture that one brought up with is just hard. Then why thousands of students leave their home to get an education in a different country?
1. New Experiences
Most people love to visit different parts of the world because it is an experience. They believe every part of the world they see, every other culture that they encounter influence them in very different ways. Studying abroad is another level of this experience. By leaving home to study in a different country, people not only experience another culture or country, but also, they experience to be a part of that culture and country. Most of the time they learn a new language, they meet many different people than they have been surrounded for many years. All those broaden their perspectives and change their world-views. So, getting new experiences is one of the main reasons that can justify the difficulties.
2. Adventure
Some people just want to change their environment and be more independent, away from home. Leaving the country that one spent a whole life is definitely a big adventure, an adventure which makes people more independent and more mature.
image credit: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canada-tourism-nyt-list-travel-1....
3. Quality of Education
In this global world, unfortunately not every country has the same level of education quality. For example, as a student coming from Turkey, I can easily say that a person who has a foreign education will be one step ahead when it comes to job opportunities. It is the same for many international students from many different parts of the world. They are aware of the fact that the quality of education that they’d get from a foreign country would be better than the ones that they’d get from their own countries. They justify the difficulty of living and studying abroad by getting a significantly better education.
image credit: https://www.utoronto.ca/university-life/campuses/downtown-toronto
4. Future Opportunities
People who study abroad select their schools strategically. They know that attending particular schools will open many doors for them in their future careers. This part is actually very related to number 1 (new experiences) and number 3 (quality of education). People definitely improve themselves by getting new experiences in a very different country- this can include learning a new language, getting to know a different culture-. And getting an education in a worldly renowned institution and the opportunities that such schools provide are other advantages that one will have as an international student.
Whatever the reason is, I would say that people, in general, are happy with their decisions on studying abroad. Is it hard? Yes, definitely. Is it worth the difficulties? I would say so. Every new experience and every adventure have their own value. In addition to that, we all are aware of the importance of having a good education and thus having a bright future.