| Written by Maria Petunina – Student Writer |
The UK is well-known for providing high-quality education. There is no doubt about that and this is mostly the reason why people from all around the world dream about getting their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in the UK. Let’s assume that these individual’s are prepared to work hard on their assignments, knowing that they enter a new territory where the education system might be completely different to where they have come from. Future students are not afraid of these challenges! Okay, maybe just a little. However, there is one thing they don’t think about and that is – being foreign.
When you are a foreigner as a sole individual in a new country, you more than not find yourself with no family around. You are sure that it’s not possible to run into somebody who you used to know when you were a child? You have no idea who to write into ‘Emergency contact’ field, because all the people who care about you are either in a different time zone or don’t speak English at all! I won’t lie, it is hard at first and it is much harder later, because when you arrived, you assume that there will be some of these difficulties, and that as the time passes you will have all the answers and you are going to feel at home. The reality is very different!
This may sound terrifying, but to insinuate anything else, would be doing an injustice to my experience, and of many others who go through a similar experience. However, this being said you will love it here in the UK and you will cherish every moment for the rest of your life This is because the experience offered gives you a unique chance to become your true-self, to become a person that was trapped in the infinity of daily routines and personal obligations. Now standing on your own two feet gives you a type of freedom that is not possible to get otherwise.
In my experience, the reality is that life in the UK as an international student is both amazing and horrible and you are the only person who is able to decide how to deal with it. Either by gaining the most out of it or by suffering the whole time of your studies. You decide!
