Reflective Essay about Studying Abroad

📌Category: Education, Higher Education
📌Words: 514
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 14 April 2022

“Studying abroad is the single most effective way of changing the way we view the world.” Our perception of the world meticulously intertwines with being educated as education opens endless doors of opportunity. In this sense, studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that broadens one’s horizons from various aspects: financially, culturally, and mentally. However, no matter how beneficial, education abroad may impose some latent issues.

Initially, education abroad, according to various scholars, is the gateway to financial prosperity. In other words, studying abroad enables one to acquire knowledge that considerably expands the scope of future career options. Most foreign schools tend to follow different innovative teaching approaches that further enrich the learning experience and open up endless possibilities of working at successful companies that are on the quest of searching for talented young experts. However, despite that scholarships and students’ benefits may alleviate the living expenses and enhance the possibility of finding adequate employment, students’ requirements such as food and daily expenses are still an unaffordable need that students abroad often struggle to meet and even neglect. Moreover, in Alexander Kolker’s own words “Studying abroad is about experiencing a foreign country and the most beautiful, important part of a country’s culture is its people.” 

Culture is, undoubtedly, part and parcel of every country. Hence, being abroad offers a new outlook not only on new traditions but on life in its exquisite plethora of distinct cultures. To illustrate, Studying the specific traits of American culture is sure to leave a lasting impression, expand one’s horizons and enhance the overall quality of life. Meeting people from different cultural backgrounds is a life-changing experience that allows the scholar to step out of the trap of the comfort zone and uncover the mysteries of foreign cultures and lifestyles. These cultural distinctions, however, may impose some nuances especially when scholars are exposed to habits and traditions that differ from their upbringing’s. Consequently, different concepts of friendliness and a sense of rejection may lead to alienation and loneliness. These problems tend to be the outcome of the unrealistic expectations and idealized view of the destination that students visualize.

Last but not least, learning is a multi-dimensional experience in the sense that the student, while being abroad, is granted the opportunity to acquire new languages or advance one’s knowledge of an already familiar language. Hence, spending a part of life in the country where the language is frequently spoken is inevitable when it comes to developing proficiency through active use. Learning a language is indeed crucial if the students aspire to fully fathom and experience their foreign environment. Besides, studying abroad is the ultimate teacher of self-resilience and discipline. In other words, one ought to take full responsibility for the outcomes of life and learn to navigate life’s challenges with patience and grace. Notwithstanding these benefits, going abroad also means abandoning the comfort of your hometown and leaving your family and friends behind. Hence, this may result in a sense of homesickness that further amplifies the gap between the individual and the outside world. 

To sum up, education abroad is a double-edged weapon through which the student is given endless opportunities for growth, learning, and even income. yet, despite its countless benefits, it still imposes a sense of controversy and difficulties that may oblige many scholars to dismiss the idea of pursuing their studies outside the borders of their native country.

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