Life revolves around understanding and misunderstanding. Calling in the morning from one end while receiving at night on the other end. When in your home country we have a perception of how the outside world can be, it seems so fascinating that we are obliged to see all the stars. The excitement and anxiety take a toll on our perception of reality. I have been living in the States for more than two years and from experiences I have seen my friends face some struggles that we all have in common.
A lot of times we come from a background where English is not our second or even third language, having to comprehend everything every second in our mother tongue back and forth is just the beginning of adjustment. The accent barrier and having to repeat the same sentences, again and again, develop a sense of consciousness within us. Leaving all our friends back prevents us from making friends and going out, lowering our confidence and self-esteem. We start to miss our family and friends more as everything starts adding on. As I come from a country of rich culture, the days of our festivals are not all celebrated here so we start feeling homesick, missing out on our festivities and traditional food.
The ingredients are not available at one place, sometimes we have to order online, sometimes we have to go to a different city to get them, or sometimes not available at all. Imagine going to a food place but the food doesn’t taste like the food you want to eat because the food is Americanised ( adapted to fit the local population’s palettes). This leads to bad eating habits which start affecting mental health. You will not be able to go home every month or other because the flights take 20 hours! As not everyone comes from similar financial situations there can be financial problems while trying to get the best of experience.
As a nonsnow-native person, the winds in the snow were a shock that I had not expected at all. You see in the movies, pretty snowflakes people standing in it. I remember my first actual snow and I changed my favorite season to summer so fast. To live in extreme weather is not as easy as it seems to be on television, can be quite deceiving sometimes!
I would have to agree that there are so many perks as well but these differences are what add spice to the experiences, I would have stories to tell when I go back sometime!