When You’re a Stranger: Dealing With Study-Abroad Stress

You’ve dreamed of studying abroad and immersing yourself in a foreign culture. You’ve pictured yourself sightseeing, studying history and art, and chatting fluently with the locals in your new town.

What you haven’t anticipated is the stress level associated with relocating abroad.

Homesickness and culture shock can take the fun out of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and even lead to lethargy, overeating and depression. Take a deep breath and manage your stress levels with these six tips.

Manage Expectations

It’s important to realize that your day-to-day study-abroad experience isn’t going to resemble a travel brochure. Living in a foreign place is much different than passing through one on vacation.

You’ll visit local sights and museums, but you’ll also have to deal with daily commutes, banking, laundry and grocery shopping.

If you set your head for these experiences, they can be great learning opportunities and mastering them will make you feel at home in your chosen country.

Limit Culture Shock

Learn as much as you can about your study-abroad location before you go to keep from being overwhelmed by culture shock.

Use the Internet to look at pictures and videos from the country you’ll be living in. Invest in a guidebook and maps so you have a sense of the city layout, and learn enough of the language to accomplish day-to-day tasks.

Keep In Touch

International students often stress about life going on back home without them. Keep in touch with friends and family so you stay in the loop.

Facebook and Skype help you feel connected and share your experiences with folks at home. Just don’t spend too much time online; unplug and really immerse yourself in the foreign place you wanted to experience too.

Keep a Journal

One way to deal with stress overseas is journaling. Writing about feelings of loneliness or alienation can help put them in perspective.

Write about mishaps and language-barrier issues you experience, and try to put a funny spin on them. Keeping a sense of humor is a great way to laugh off the difficulties that are certain to arise whenever you travel to a new place.

Find Friends

Making friends can be difficult at home, let alone abroad. Meeting new people is an important part of the study-abroad experience, though, and a great way to combat homesickness and loneliness.

If you have a homestay, ask your host family to help you meet other young people. If not, ask about international student groups at your university.

Join student activities or seek an internship opportunity. If you play a sport, research local teams that might welcome an extra member.

Explore

You wanted to experience a foreign place, so don’t hide in your room. If stress starts to overwhelm you, give yourself a little walking tour of your new neighborhood.

The exercise will work wonders for you, and being surrounded by foreign people and sights will remind you why you wanted to study away from home in the first place.

If at any time during your study-abroad experience you find yourself completely consumed by stress or depression, contact your study-abroad program coordinator or a local healthcare professional for assistance.

Lots of program coordinators have studied abroad themselves and can be great resources for students who are struggling.

Most of the challenges international students face can be met with a little humor and a willingness to truly immerse oneself in another culture.