Mulung - 10 life hacks to survive student life abroad

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TABLE OFCONTENTS

PageNumber

Message from Author2

Introduction 3

1. Get Familiar With TheNew Place 5

2. Low Expectation IsAlways The Key 7

3. Prepare Yourself ToFeel Homesick 9

4. Friends Will NeverReplace Family 11

5. Ensure Reliable MeansOf Communication 13

6. Be Ready To FeelExcluded 15

7. Learn To Be Independent17

8. Do Not Be A Loner19

9. Be Emotionally Strong21

10. Keep Your Goal In Mind23

The Guide ToA Perfect Long 25

DistanceRelationship

Message fromAuthor

Before you read this book and use itas your own personal guide, you should know that I can personallyrelate to students who study abroad. I am currently a student and Ilive in a country miles away from my home. I have had to go throughevery stage it takes to get here; the formalities, the emotionalpressure, the thrill and the excitement, the expectations anddreams I have personally experienced it all. Studying abroad canbe a very challenging experience. However, your approach to it willdetermine whether you will have the student life you have alwaysdreamt of or whether it will just turn out to be a real nightmare.I have included tips from my very own experience to help you out.When reading this book, I want you to remember that I have oncebeen at the same place you find yourself today.

B.RawiyahMulung

Student,

Writer,

Blogger

INTRODUCTION

Studying abroad can aterrifying experience if you are not prepared for it. Imagine thatyou find yourself in a new country, left to deal with life on yourown. And you are not that old either, just finished high college orcollege maybe. The very thought scares even the strongest of us.You can think of it in two ways.

Firstly, theres thethrill and the excitement to discover what is awaiting us ahead. Ifyoure the kind of happy-go-lucky person, youll probably belooking forward to exploring the new place, making new friends,learning about a new culture, finally being called a universitystudent and all that come along.

On the other hand, allyour hopes and expectations may well be shattered the very momentyou step foot into the new place. If not at this stage, it willhappen the moment you start missing your family members, when yourealise that you are no celebrity just because you are aforeigner or simply when you end up staying in a house which isnothing compared to your comfort zone, your home.

Nevertheless, it is yourapproach which will determine which of these two things happen toyou in reality. You need to have the right approach if you wish tohave a successful student life while studying abroad. There are afew essential things which you need to know, learn and keep in mindto deal with any obstacle coming up in your pursuit of your dreamstudent life abroad.

Get Familiar With The New Place

Finding yourself in acompletely new place, new environment with new people can be veryintimidating especially for a young adult. To add on to thetorture, you might well find yourself in need of some basic itemssuch as water and food the very first time you arrive at yourdestination. Or worse, if you accidentally happen to lose out onany of your luggages on arrival at the airport, you may findyourself with nothing at all to survive.

This is the reason why itis important to get familiar with the place where you are going tobe living at. A university representative is most likely going topick you up from the airport and drop you to your new house but inany case, you can always catch a taxi and reach your destination.The important part here is research. You need to have undertakensome research about the place before your arrival. Information canvery easily be obtained nowadays. You can obtain a map of the localstores in the area where you will be residing. You can connect withother students living in the same area or studying at the sameinstitute as you via social media. The very least you can learnabout is the location of the grocery stores, the nearest train orbus stations and the medical stores.

Being equipped withinformation about the place prior to your arrival will also giveyou a boost of confidence and help you keep calm in the event ofany unexpected incident. Things will get better with time as youstart going around and seeing the places.

Low Expectation Is Always The Key

As a young adult, it isperfectly legitimate for you to dream and dream big. The moment youget that college admission approval or that scholarship acceptancefor studying abroad, ideas start flowing in. It is a normal stage.You can already imagine yourself as a big guy/girl, finally beingfree from all parental restrictions, probably partying all night.As wrong as it may sound, all young adults think of this the verymoment they know they will be staying on their own in a differentcountry, far from home. But Yes, there is a but!

The place might not beexactly how it is pictured on the Internet or as described by otherstudents you contacted via social media. You might have heard thatthere is a shopping mall nearby only to find out that the nearestmall is miles away. You might have been hoping to be able to go outevery day but only to find out that the public transportationservices in the country are bad and not reliable or too dangerous.Your house may have a slightly leaking roof! Your room may be waysmaller than your previous one.

When you decide to studyabroad, you have to open up your mind first thing. You need to keepyour expectations low and to be open to any thing what comes yourway. If it is something good, take it. If it is something bad, dealwith it. Life abroad is not always like most people picture it. Thebest way is not to have an image stamped in your head, just go withthe flow and the picture will eventually be drawn on itsown.

Prepare Yourself To Feel Homesick

There are so manystudents out there who left their homes for study abroad and startfeeling homesick only few days after. Why? It is because they hadan image of a home in their minds. When you study abroad, you haveto leave that image behind. You should not expect any place in theworld to look or feel like your home. On your way to your newplace, just tell yourself that anything will be good. There are afew things you can do to overcome your homesickness.

The first thing wouldobviously be to socialise. Go out, meet new people, and hang out.Remember, you can even talk to random people and tell them you arenew in town. You might learn quite a lot from the locals. Go aroundthe place, be exposed to the culture and learn the location of theplaces you find particularly interesting to you and where you mightcome again.

The second thing would beto personalise your house. Of course, nothing can replace home butyou can add a little personal touch to your new place. If you haveyour own room, you might paint the walls the same colour as yourprevious room. Or you might print out wallpapers, pictures, andgraphics and stick them up. Photo frames are also a gooddecoration. Insert photos of your family members.