What does it mean for international students to study in another country?
While they are acquiring knowledge, it is their first time on the job market and in the culture of their new country.
Students who know how to take advantage of class time to broaden their worldview are likely to be the ones who will succeed in the future.
For example, the relationship with teachers and classmates resembles the relations in a work environment, because you need to make tight deadlines work, team up with unfamiliar people, deal with uncomfortable situations, and network.
All this within a different culture. So, my tip is this: do not go to the classroom focused only on your activities, but interact with the environment, because this is the first training for what will come next.
Besides that, at college we international students learn how to plan everything way ahead. Since we must be constantly making sure that we are following all the international laws and rules, sometimes a single decision can take days to be made because we need to check if we are allowed to do it and what procedures we must do.
The greatest difficulty lies, in my opinion, in finding people to guide us within the college on how to deal with things like co-op, on- and off-campus work, and career planning. All these aspects are different for international students; some colleges offer guidance for the students, but not everyone knows that these services exist. Always use the school structure to help you out. This can make a difference in your future, and there are many professionals ready to help.
College is the perfect place to try new things, discover new hobbies, and make some new friends. I recommend that everyone take a look at the clubs and organizations that the college offers and find one that you find interesting. It doesn’t matter if it’s something entirely new. I, for example, have always been afraid to write in English for a newspaper, but what better place to face my fears than in a learning environment?
Test, fail, do it again, win, change, cry, and celebrate, because all of this is part of the great experience that is “to learn.”