What is studying abroad actually like

I've lived in England now for a while (almost three months) and there are several things I've realized so far about how it actually feels like to study abroad. But lets just get right into it:

1. The language

It doesnt come as naturally and quickly as you may think. Although I have to admit that being in a natural language environment is a great advantage for learning a language, its not everything. You still have to work hard to become better. Especially you have to understand that in order to start speaking a language, you have to speak it. This may sound obvious, but I think that lots of people still think that learning vocabulary and grammar rules is enough. I mean, its nice to have that knowledge, but more importandly you need to be able to use the language, in other words: SPEAK whenever you have the opportunity to do so.

In my case, being in England tought me to use all the resources I have to express what I need. Since Im an introvert, Ive always had a very big passive vocabulary and having to speak in English on a daily basis helped me to start actually using 'all' the words I know.

Meanwhile living here made me realize that sign language could actually be a thing. No joking... ;)

2. The cultural shock

Depends on the country you're moving to, but there will definitely be some sort of a cultural shock, though maybe bigger or smaller. I personally advice to learn at least the basics about the culture and common customs of the country you're moving to before you arrive there in order to prevent unsought incidents...

I also think that there is nothing bad about asking people. Usually they will know that you're not completely familiar with the culture and most of the people should be willing to help you and explain things when you ask them politely.

3. Losing and missing people

No matter how tough you think you are, no matter how much independent you are, you will miss someone. Now, it may not be your family, if you dont have a really good and strong relashionship with your parents. It may be your siblings, members of extended family or your friends.

I can guarantee you that it will be almost impossible to keep all relashionships you have in your home country. For me personally, moving abroad helped me a lot to size up the value of friendships I had and clarify which one of them are worth to hold despite the long distance. Because since you want to focus on creating new friendships with new people you meet, nyou dont want to spend all of your time texting with all your former friends. And thats alright, you just have to deal with it and get used to it.

#england #learninglanguages #16yrsold #europe #blog