One fine day, you receive an email announcing one of the best messages of your life. Congratulations, your application to the study abroad program has been accepted. And finally, your laborious efforts have paid off. Now, once this joy and excitement fades, anxiety takes over. You realize you're about to get uprooted from your country or home and planted at a new destination. Now don't get anxious about it. For some, the transition can be harder than anticipated, but the learning curve is fast. From personal experience, I can tell you that it's a lot of fun. But yes, certainly not easy. So for those of you who plan to study overseas, here are six challenges of studying abroad to be prepared for when applying, transitioning to, or living in a new country. So who wish to note them down, please bring in your pen and paper until then I shall wait for you. Today I'm going to share six challenges that students face after they set their foot on the foreign land and suggestions that can help them in their transition. I believe all of you are ready to note them down. So let's get started. Now, if you need to pause the podcast to note down, please do that. So now, challenge number one, that is dwindling finances. Now, many of you might be under the protective umbrella of your parents as far as financial management was concerned. And now managing funds on your own? Now that too in a foreign country. That may seem like a daunting task. And certainly this would be one of the most intimidating challenges you will face. So plan your financial management strategy carefully. And starting early would be a great idea. And that is to begin this activity while in your homeland. Discuss it with your parents about running a household in a limited budget. It can give you good insights. Try not to be spent thrift. Get into the habit of sticking to your monthly budget, comprising mainly of, say, rent, transportation, school supplies, groceries, etc. And pay your bills on time to avoid any anxiety. And as someone rightly said, money saved is money earned. So coming to challenge number two, that is feeling like an outsider and homesick. See, one can say, regardless of what country you are from and what country you're going to, it's almost certain that you'll end up feeling like an outsider. And of course, at least for some time. You may find yourself wondering why everyone's laughing when you didn't realize anyone had told a joke. And of course, you will feel homesick also in your early days. Of course, your mother's home cooked food, father's words of wisdom, mischief with siblings, and hanging out with friends at your favorite places, you'll miss them all. Surely there's no place like home. But do not let it narrow down your horizons. Connect with your kin. And there are so much communication channels available: Skype, Google Meet, Zoom, anything you can use that. But don't overdo it. It's normal to feel homesick as long as it doesn't hamper your experience of living abroad. You and your family have sacrificed a lot to get you into this university, school. Interact with other international students, make friends to fill the void, and if time permits, become a member of some club, some group of your liking. And in most countries, let me tell you, it's unlikely that you'll be deliberately made to feel uncomfortable or unwanted. But it can still be tiring at first to try to get to grips with this new cultural norms and don't let this discourage you. Virtually, everyone I have ever met while studying abroad has been very encouraging and friendly. And while I may have never become truly one of them, eventually this problem becomes smaller and smaller. So coming to challenge number three, that is overcoming the language barrier. Now, this is probably the most obvious of the challenges of studying abroad. And overcoming it may mean you are struggling to learn a new language pretty much from scratch. Or it could be just that you thought you were fluent, but find you're unable to understand the strong local accent. So that can be one of the you know problems that you might face. Then if you're studying in a country where you speak the same language, there are other hurdles to clear. For example, slang phrases that are popular. So the words that students use are going to be difficult to learn. But the language barrier problem also goes away pretty quickly once you are amassed. With patience, you can easily master the local dialect and accent. And be open to learning and exploring the language. Doing so before you migrate can also help you in a big way. And we all know that they're mobile phone apps that assist you in learning a language. So when in foreign land, watch native channels to practice the language. Make friends with local people, seek tips, advice from them. And that will be a good, great learning experience and a way to mix with them. Then challenge 4. Getting used to currency differences. Now, getting used to it is also a challenging process. For example, when I was in US, I had to remember that 79 rupees make one US dollar. And in UK, I have to remember that when something costs 1 pound, it's actually 96 rupees. So make sure you work out a quick convergence system for yourself so you can mentally figure out prices, you know, when buying things and get to know the normal price for the staple items. And that is ask locals how much they would expect to pay. So that would be a great learning experience for you too, and that will actually help you know live there, manage your finances too. Then challenge five, being far from your support network. Now, living abroad is awesome. But when everything is going well, but when the heavens seem to conspire against you, you can really feel on your own. Now the deficit of a good social life will start haunting you. The inner cravings to socialize might be difficult to bear with. And you might even, you know, curse the decision of shifting to an alien country. Your usual support network of family and friends will be hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. So even if you weren't previously aware of how important they were, now is when you'll find out. And this challenge is likely to be felt most especially true for the first few months of the studying abroad. But then you'll build up a new support network, and after a year or so, everything will be okay. So pull yourself together, find ways to overcome the flood of emotion you are going through. And this will require pushing yourself to some extent. But it will be worth all your efforts. So use your communication skills and make some friends in a college and locality as well, you know, to fill the gap. And then coming to challenge number six that is coping with cultural misunderstandings. As a foreigner, you do not know the local culture. And all those unwritten rules, hopefully, you have a concept of written rules of your host nation. So let's get one thing straight. You'll make mistakes and many may be really awkward. But don't be embarrassed. Learn from local or cultural misunderstandings and don't make them again. Again, given a year or so, you'll get to know all these little unspoken agreements. An easy way to avoid many cultural misunderstandings is to observe what others do. So be a good observer and a good listener and how they do it. So if any doubt, just ask. You'll find most people are happy to talk about their customs and will enjoy sharing their insider knowledge with you because they'll feel proud, you know, of telling you, informing you of all this, and they will feel good that there's someone, some outsider who wants to learn their customs. So it's a normal you can say human psychology. Then there will be challenges like adapting to a new time zone. So your biological cycle maybe get a severe beating, right? Then of course, after some time, life will be easy. Or let's say familiarizing yourself with alien brands and products, and of course, looking for your local products may be a futile exercise. So it's better to accommodate yourself in the new habitat as soon as possible. And who knows, you might get even better products. So this might seem like an intimidating list, but don't worry, it sounds significantly harder than it actually is. And the phrase having failed your way to success comes to mind. I think all people who have studied abroad can relate to this statement. From university applications to finding a place to stay and identifying the social norms, we have all been unsuccessful in some way, if not all of these respects. But when you push through the challenges, everything will work out. And if nothing else, you will have lots of stories to tell at parties. I hope you found this podcast useful. If yes, please subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Google Podcasts to get notified. All my podcasts are around 10 to 15 minutes, so they are short and interesting. Please share a five-star review. And if you're part of my community, please share a learning review. If you wish to reach out to me, if you study a pod expert, join my career advisor hub on Facebook and Instagram as a radio.