As a student studying abroad myself, I would like to share with you 5 reasons to study abroad.
I’m an Algerian student currently studying for my Software Engineering degree in Turkey.
These benefits however can be applied to anyone leaving their home country and studying abroad anywhere.
Explore a new culture:
You can’t experience a culture deep enough like living with them.
Sure, traveling the world is great, but you won’t really experience the culture like living with them for say 3 months.
Staying at a hotel, and visiting tourist attractions is much different than renting an apartment and shopping just like the locals.
You get to see how people go about their lives, which is probably different than where you came from.
You also get to see the similarities between your life and theirs.
In a nutshell, you get to experience humans with their positives and negatives.
Learn a new language:
One of the easiest ways to learn a language is by living with its native speakers.
I learned French at school for 8+ years. However, I’m still not fluent like the natives at it.
The reason being that I didn’t really practice it often outside of an academic setting.
For English however, I achieved native-like fluency in less than 4 or 5 years.
That’s because I was surrounded by people who spoke English exclusively.
There are also other factors, which I mentioned in a previous post that you can check out:
So it goes without saying that living with native speakers will help you immensely in learning a new language. And thus, open a new door for a new culture, knowledge, experience, opportunities…etc.
Become self-reliant:
Generally speaking, if you move to a new country, you’ll have to figure out a lot of stuff on your own.
Even if you go abroad with the help of an agency, it’s still advised that you understand what you’re doing exactly.
This includes understanding laws regarding Visas & residence permits, things that are prohibited in that country, work laws…etc.
Other than legal knowledge, you also need to get used to the new lifestyle.
This includes knowing simple things such as cooking, laundry, cleaning your place, getting doctor appointments, shopping..etc.
It’s all small simple things, but they add up very fast and you find yourself having to become self-reliant (to an extent) to go about your daily life.
New perspective on life:
People in different cultures have different views on life & death.
It’s important to be open-minded about this and to get to learn how others view life.
It might be drastically different than your view, but it can also have some similarities.
I find this beautiful because it will complement your views, whether you agree with them or not.
It also enables you to empathize with other people and connect with them on a human level.
Okay, it’s getting a bit too philosophical in here, so let’s move on.
Discover new teaching & learning styles:
I studied at 4 different country education systems (Algerian, Tunisian, Qatari, Turkish/American style in Uni).
And let me tell you that they’re very different.
Although they can share some similarities, it’s always a bit different.
What I learned: people can learn better following a certain style than another.
Just because you’re struggling or not enjoying the current teaching system you’re in, doesn’t mean they’re all bad. The current one is just not for you.
It helped me understand what teaching/studying styles I liked and what I didn’t like.
I absolutely hated having to memorize a lot of rules just for the sake of passing an exam. I also don’t like the “writing to memorize” technique, which was enforced on us sometimes.
I found that I memorize best by repetitively reading the content. So I’m definitely a visual learner.
This is different for everyone, so that’s why I think being exposed to different education systems can really help you spot the differences and decide what works best for you.
Conclusion:
Studying abroad can be very beneficial to your personal growth. Let’s recap why you should study abroad:
- You’ll get to experience a new culture at a level that no traveling trip can do to you.
- You can learn a new language fast, while also having fun and actually using it.
- You’ll learn how to become self-reliant.
- You’ll get a new perspective on life by observing other people’s views.
- You’ll discover what learning style fits you best.
