Difficult to Study in a New Country

Phuc Nguyen
ESL 0190
2/10/2013
Division Essay “Your life will begin at the time you leave your home to come to a new place by yourself”. My father said at the day I left my country to come to the U.S. as an international student. There are many difficulties for new international students in the U.S. but language, finances, and homesickness are the three most common difficulties that they usually pass with. Of course, the language which is English, is always the first and the hardest thing that international students have to face. They need it to do everything such as commuticating, learning, and understanding a new culture. For example, the international students need to know about law, and rules to avoid doing wrong, so English is really necessary. They usually have problems with new words and how to use them. Almost all Asian countries have many words that show respect for elders, but English doesn’t have. Thus, Asian students are so confused about it when they’re in a conversation with elders in the U.S. Another reason is culture. I read a book that said “ Language is culture,” so if you can really understand the language, you will understand the culture. I think it’s true. For example, I couldn’t laugh when my teacher told us about a funny story because I didn’t really understand the meaning and the situation of the story or I’m really sad and confused because sometimes some people don’t want to repeat what they said if I couldn’t hear or understand it.These made me feel I’m an alien. Thus, language is really important so it will be the first problem that international students have to face. Nowaday, power of money is strong. You need money to do everything. It’s bad if you have to depend on someone, and of course your life will be controlled or at least you can’t buy what you want, so the second difficulty is finances. We know that the U.S. is one of the countries with the highest monetary value . Almost all international students come from developing countries, and of course they have to exchange their money to US dollars. Thus, in the first three months, they will buy nothing when they realize how large the exchange is. Another reason why finance is the second problem is that the American policy doesn’t let international students have a part time job. they have to depend on the moneys that their parents sent and can’t be active in daily activities. They can’t buy household items and personal items such as soaps, toothpastes, foods,pens or books by themselves. Many international students want to prove that they grew up, help their parents financially or buy some small gifts for their family with their own moneys when they back. However, they can not do that because of the policy. Finance, or money, is always a big problem for everyone, especially new international students. Homesickness is the last difficulty that new international students have to cope with. It’s really hard the first time you’ve left your home to go to a new place. You face everything and solve it by yourself and you have to do some things that your parents did for you when you were at home such as buying foods, or household items, or washing your clothes. Images or memories about your parents or you families will suddenly appear when you have some situations or go somewhere that look same as these in your home. Naturally, when you face difficulty, sadness, and go far away from your home, you will miss it in which you were happy. In the first three months, everything is new to international students, so they have to deal with many problems and it will make them homesick. Language, finance and homesickness are the most three common difficulties for new international students when they come to a new country.