The Problem of International Students
Homesickness is a serious problem for international students. I am interested in this kind of problem, because I have experience with homesickness. I guess that all international students have homesickness at least once. It might not be serious or they may not notice, but it is normal to be homesick. Therefore, I will consider what homesickness is and why international students experience it. I will mention three main reasons that I believe cause homesickness.
First, international students can have problems about feeling alone and relationships. When most international students come abroad, there are no families and no friends. They are alone, so international students have to do everything by themselves. Also, sometimes it is difficult to contact with families and friends because of the time difference. At first, international students feel very alone. For that reason, they will try to make friends abroad. Some people can make friends easily, but some people cannot, because all people have different personalities. Accordingly, sometimes people do not match other people. If international students cannot make friends easily, or if they have some problems about relationships with friends, they cannot feel comfortable. Then international students may cry or want to go back their country. These are sympathy of homesickness. Thus, international students can become homesick as soon as they live abroad.
The second main reason for homesickness is language. International students are studying a second language, but they cannot speak perfectly, and they cannot listen perfectly. For these reasons, international students might have problems about language; for example, when they want to complain to someone, they may not be able to tell someone clearly what they want to say. Another example, when international students are in class, they may not be able to understand what a professor says. There are many problems about English for international students. In my case, in Canada when I went out with my friends, I could not understand what they said once. I became very depressed and ashamed. Then I could not ask them to repeat themselves. After that, I was scared to talk to them in English. On the other hand, we do not know how to speak English the best way. International students may suffer in order to improve their English skills. These factors will lead to homesickness.
The third is culture shock. International students live abroad, so there are many different cultures. Also in college, there are many students who have different cultures. International students may get culture shock about food, money, whether or other things. Especially, food is a major factor for homesickness. Although international students are hungry, if they cannot eat enough every food because of the different food from their country, they will feel uncomfortable, and they will become sick. International students cannot get energy without eating. It is too hard to understand the different cultures for international students as soon as they come abroad. Also local people do not understand different cultures easily. Therefore, sometimes international student are in trouble about different cultures.
All in all, international students get homesickness easily. I mentioned just three reasons for homesickness; feeling alone, relationships, language and culture shock. However, I think there are more factors to homesickness. That depends on the parson, so international students have some problems such as homesickness. On the other hand, international students will not remain homesick, and they can recover. If international students will not try to recover from homesickness, they can just go back their country. However, many people can help, such as friends, teachers or counselors in University or College. I believe that people should enjoy life. Studying is very important, but that is not enough. We should hang out with our friends sometimes so that we do not have homesickness. Do not think alone and deeply, that is the best way to avoid homesickness.