Study Abroad Essay Tips & Inspiring Sample

Personally, I am convinced that I have exclusively good interpersonal skills since I manage to befriend with people immediately. I have the strongest relationships with my family and especially my mother. Speaking about our interaction with mom, I want to admit that we both equally contribute to our friendship. Having good problem-solving skills, I manage to resolve conflict situations that my mom usually creates, being a hot-tempered woman. If something is wrong, she flares up in a few seconds and I have to calm her down, simply smiling or laughing at her hot-blooded nature. My mom, in turn, does not allow me to make jokes of everything, hence, teaching me to be more serious. I am a good listener as I am always concerned with the problems that others talk about. We both adore talking and sharing ideas, thoughts, and the latest news. However, due to the fact that my mother prefers talking to listening, in our conversation, I frequently carry out the function of a good listener; nonetheless, I also like talking to people and, luckily, I have such opportunity when I communicate with my close friend Melinda.

Melinda and I befriended when we were small children and since then, we have become the closest friends. Although I love her, I feel that in our relationships, I am a greater contributor. Being an extrovert, I can quickly join the conversation and start sharing my thoughts and ideas with her. Melinda, in turn, is a calm introversive person who experiences difficulties with verbal communication. For this reason, my talkativeness and enthusiasm make our relationships lively and exciting. Melinda prefers listening to my stories and I joyfully share all the information with her. I do not have the necessity to listen, although I would gladly do it since Melinda has much to talk about. However, she seeks to share her feelings only if something bothers her. In such situations, I become an exclusively active listener and try to give her a helpful hand if she needs it. Moreover, my unlimited positivity always helps her to recover. Judging from my personal experience with family and friends, I can say that maintaining balance in interaction is definitely a key to success.

Good interpersonal skills have allowed me to build close relationships with people. For this reason, studying abroad, I will surely feel homesick and I am ready for this challenge. Living far away from family members and close friends means that I will not feel their sympathy, care, and support that I have gotten accustomed to. Luckily, in the era of new technologies, the process of adaptation will be greatly facilitated with the help of Facebook, Viber, Skype, and other applications that make people feel closer to each other. At the same time, being absolutely open to getting new knowledge, I am intended to befriend with both foreign students and locals.

I know that it might be challengeable to communicate with others because of divergent mindsets. For instance, Germans are known to be conservative and prefer keeping distance while interacting. Arabs, on the contrary, tend to establish the closest relationships immediately that also seems confusing. Unfortunately, mindset is not the only problem that may occur. Locals are known to be reluctant to befriend with foreigners whereas foreigners retire into shell and, therefore, do not get enough experience from studying abroad.

The number of problems that may occur is unlimited and it is difficult to predict all of them. For this reason, I have decided to work out a scheme which will allow me to gain maximum profit from studying in another country. Firstly, due to the fact that I have already interacted with foreign students, I am well aware that local people, living in a well-known environment, seldom realize how difficult it might be for foreigners to adapt. For this reason, I am intended to actively communicate with local students, narrating information about my native country, national traditions and other information that may sound fascinating. Secondly, I will learn all the communication norms that will allow me to be more tactful while interacting with them. Finally, I am intended to get as much information as possible about the new environment and its cultural peculiarities.

At the same time, I will try to adapt to the mindsets of other foreigners in order to interact with them effectively since all of us will have the same problems, fears, and concerns. I strongly believe that my previous experience of communicating with foreign students has helped me to understand that unlike newcomers, local students do not strive to find new friends and if I want to integrate and derive maximum benefit from studying abroad, I need to show initiative.  Although interaction with other people is not the only concern that I have, I am convinced that this is the first barrier that I need to overcome. I may have problems with studies, the conduct of professors, adaptation to climate or food. However, if I build friendly relationships with both local people and foreign students, my experience of studying abroad will be less painful.

Studying abroad definitely provides an impact on people`s lives. In addition, it affects not only the participant but also those people who surround him/her both at home and abroad. For example, moving to another country, I am going to bring a piece of my culture and traditions to a new environment. I will share my knowledge about the world that I have lived in and if these people are interested in broadening their horizons, they will surely absorb this information and even participate in some activities that I am intended to describe. Secondly, living abroad, I will absorb knowledge about cultural peculiarities of a new country and share it with my family members and close friends. That is to say, it will be a sort of cultural exchange that is regarded as a beneficial experience not only for me but also for people that I interact with.

Secondly, I do believe that immersion is the best opportunity to study foreign languages. For example, being unable to use my native language in a new environment, I will be forced to learn a new one quickly in order to comfortably live in this country. It means that I am involved in language learning every time that I talk to a native speaker, read instructions or names, etc. In addition, aside from theoretical knowledge, I will receive good practice in language speaking that will allow me to interact with others more fluently. The last advantage that studying abroad gives is the relationships with people that I will befriend with during this year. This experience allows me to make acquaintance with students that live in different countries and visit them after graduation. I consider that communication with such people will improve my adaptiveness to cultural diversity and the new environment.