International Students’ Survival Guide

Don’t be careless with cash … or caught out at Customs and Immigration! Make sure you budget for what you need before you leave home, and manage your money wisely when you’re there. Make sure too that you bring all crucial paperwork. Without the documents you need, you may not be allowed to enter the country!

Important documents

Here is a basic list of documents you should bring. You may need others, depending on what you plan to do in the new country.

 your passport and visa details

 your health/travel insurance details

 prescription for any medication you take regularly

 prescription for your glasses or contact lenses

 your driver’s license, if you have one (even if you don’t plan to drive overseas, photo ID is a useful thing to have)

 documents from the institution where you’ll be studying (the offer letter, Confirmation of Enrollment, class details, etc.)

Managing your money

For many international students, their study abroad experience is the first time they have ever had to take care of their own money. Make sure you have a realistic idea of how much money you’ll need, and keep track of how much money you’re earning and spending. You don’t want to be under financial stress while you’re studying!

How much money you’ll need will depend on where you’ll be living and what sort of lifestyle you choose. Contact your institution or check their website—many institutions tell students roughly how much they should expect to spend on rent, bills, and groceries. Here is a list of things to consider:

 your income (money from your parents, money from work (if it’s legal))

 accommodation (rent, furniture, bed linen, cleaning products, electrical appliances, etc.)

 bills (telephone, gas, electricity, water, Internet service, cable TV, etc.)

 transportation (public transportation tickets, cab/taxi fares, car expenses like fuel, insurance, tax, road tolls, and maintenance if you plan to drive)

 study-related (study fees, textbooks, stationery, IT related, photocopying, etc.)

 health (insurance payments, doctor, optometrist/optician, glasses or contact lenses, physiotherapist, dentist, etc.) In the UK you may be able to go to a National Health Service (NHS) doctor or hospital for free, but medical insurance is still a good idea. In the US, health costs can be huge. Make sure you understand your insurance policy and how much you’ll have to pay at the time of the visit (co-pay), or for medicine. Don’t go to the Emergency Room for anything other than a true emergency.

 food (groceries, eating out, etc.)

 recreation (travel, concerts, movies/films, entry fees, nights out, gym fees, etc.)

 personal (clothing, cosmetics, haircuts, etc.)

Finding work

Many students help support themselves by doing part-time work. If you plan to do this, check your visa restrictions. Most student visas have rules about the number of hours you’re allowed to do paid work, and the number of hours when you’re expected to attend classes. Only some jobs are open to international students. Some will only be open to citizens or permanent residents of the country. In the US, these jobs must be campus-related jobs.

Many institutions have an employment service for students who are looking for jobs. This service is a great place to start, as the service will help you find a job that is suitable for a student. They may also help you with the process of applying for a job.

Online job search engines like www.seek.com or www.monster.com/.co.uk are also great places to look for work. With these, you enter the town where you want to work and the type of job you want. The search engine comes up with a list of jobs.

WARNING: Sometimes international students are offered illegal jobs. Employers who hire students illegally usually pay in cash. This means the government doesn’t find out how many hours you work or how much you’re being paid. As a result, your boss can ask you to work more hours than you want, pay you too little, and threaten to call Immigration if you complain. Do not accept this kind of job. In the US, you could also be deported if you’re caught working illegally.

Practical issues

For most jobs, your pay will need to go into a local bank account or a credit union account. Decide which bank you want to use and go to a bank branch to open an account. You’ll need to bring along identification. Good forms of identification include your passport, your driver’s license, your student ID card, or a bill with your local address on it. In the UK you’ll need your passport or national ID photo card, and a letter confirming your study details.

You’ll also need to register for tax. Check what you need to do in the country where you’ll be staying. In Australia, this means you’ll need to apply for a tax file number. In the UK you’ll need to pay income tax when you earn over a certain amount. You’ll also pay “national insurance” (NI) and need an NI number for this, but you only have to apply for this after you start work. In the US, you’ll need to apply for a Social Security card, which is used for tax purposes and many other banking-related issues. Never write this number down or give it to anyone over the phone or email. You’ll also have to fill out a tax return by April 15th of each year. If you don’t do this, you can get into trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Talk to your college/university job center for advice on this issue.

Words you may see when looking for a job

 CV (curriculum vitae) or résumé: “CV” is the word used in the UK and Australia whereas “résumé” is usually used in the US (except in academic and many high-level positions, where you might see “CV”). This is a summary of your education and previous work experience. You can also include any awards you have won, and a description of any other activities or interests which are related to the job you’re applying for. It may also list referees (see below). Look online for examples of how to put together a CV. Prepare this before you leave your home country.

 References (Referees): You usually list two or three people who can recommend you when you apply for a job. These people are called “references” or “referees.” A reference could be a previous boss, a professor/lecturer, or someone else who knows you well. If you want to use someone as a reference, contact them, tell them about the job (or that you’re going to use them as a reference on your CV or résumé) and make sure they’re happy for you to give out their contact details.

 Cover letter (or Covering letter in the UK): This is a letter that you submit to possible employers with your CV or résumé. The letter says which job you are applying for and why you think you would be suitable for the job.

 Selection criteria: Sometimes employers will put up a numbered list of the qualities they want in the person they want to hire. These qualities are called “selection criteria” or “job specifications.” You need to show them that you meet all of their selection criteria to get the job. Sometimes they divide the criteria into “essential” (which you must have) and “desirable” (which if you have, you have a better chance of getting the job).

Job interviews

When you apply for a job in writing, employers may invite you to come to a job interview. This means that they have read your application and CV or résumé, and would like to talk to you to decide whether they will give you the job. This usually means that they think you have the skills to do the job, but want to find out what kind of person you are before they hire you.

Here are some tips if you’re invited to a job interview.

Do:

 Turn up at least ten minutes early. This shows your employer that you’re reliable and punctual, and gives you time to rest a bit and prepare yourself before the interview.

 Dress carefully. What you should wear will depend on what sort of job it is. For a professional position, such as an internship at a big firm, you should dress well (e.g. a suit and tie for men, a nice skirt or pants/trousers and a blouse for women). For a casual job, you may not need to dress up so much, but your clothes should still be clean, tidy, and free of any wrinkles or damage. If you need ideas on what to wear, ask your college careers advisor or friends who’ve had similar jobs. If you can, look at what other employees of a similar level to the job you’ve applied for are wearing. Check photos on the company website, or look at employees at work or walking into the building.

 Try to be relaxed, friendly, and confident. Remember that you’re being interviewed because the employer thought you sounded like a good employee! Show them that you’d be a good person to work with. Breathe deeply, sit up straight, look your interviewers in the eye, and speak clearly.

Don’t:

 Don’t try to be humble, or downplay your achievements. In English-speaking countries, you’re expected to “sell yourself” at a job interview. Focus on your strengths, and remember that you can always learn new skills and obtain new knowledge if they need it.

 Don’t keep referring to information that’s written on your résumé or CV, such as your grades or marks, unless the interviewers ask you about it. Your interviewers will have read your résumé, and probably have it in front of them. Even if your grades are excellent, remember they’re looking for a good worker, not just a good student!

3 What should I pack?

What will you need during your time abroad? Many international students take too much stuff! Remember you’ll have a luggage allowance on your flight. Go online to check what your luggage allowance is. The airline will charge you a lot of money if your luggage is too heavy.

Start thinking about what to pack a few weeks before you leave, especially if you haven’t lived abroad long-term before. This gives you time to buy things before you go. Check the website of the institution where you are going. It often has suggestions for what to pack.

You’ll also need to think about dividing up your luggage into carry-on luggage and what goes into the hold.

Carry-on luggage

Carry-on luggage is the luggage that you take on the plane with you. You have access to this during the flight. This can also be called “hand luggage.”

You’ll need to decide what you’re going to take as carry-on and what items you’ll put in your main luggage that goes into the hold. Remember airlines have restrictions on how much carry-on luggage you can take and what you can take, in particular regarding liquids and gels, so check the website of the airline you are flying with.

These are some of the things you should carry with you in your carry-on luggage:

 your passport

 your visa if you need one

 your credit card or bank cards

 details of your travel or health insurance

 a list of people to contact in case of emergency

 details of any significant health issues

 prescriptions for medication, contact lenses, or glasses

 documents relating to your study, such as the enrollment details for your classes, results from previous study, transcripts, etc.

 Anything of high value, such as jewelry. You don’t want to risk things being stolen while being handled by the airline.

You might also want to consider taking the following:

 Toothbrush and toothpaste. Don’t forget that you can only take a very small tube of toothpaste in carry-on luggage.

 a clean pair of underwear and change of clothes in case your luggage goes missing on your flight

Most airlines are pretty good about returning lost luggage to passengers. Often this takes place within 24–48 hours so you don’t need to take too much with you on the plane.

Clothing

Don’t pack vast amounts of clothing. Remember that the fashions and climate in your home country are likely to be different from those in your study country.

Make sure you research the climate of the place where you’ll be studying. Don’t trust what you’ve heard about the weather in that country: depending on where your campus is, the weather may be very different from season to season, and even from day to day. Go online to do research. There are lots of good websites where you can find out about local weather.

A good plan is to pack enough clothing for the first couple of months, and then one key item of clothing for the other seasons. For example, if you’re arriving in early fall/autumn, check the weather, pack clothes for that weather, and then add a warm coat, a scarf, a pair of boots, etc. for winter, and assume you’ll need to buy more after you arrive.

Don’t forget the small things like an umbrella. Also, comfortable shoes are useful, especially if you’re heading to a large campus where you may end up doing lots of walking.

Most students (and often staff as well) dress very casually at colleges/universities in English-speaking countries. Most colleges/universities don’t have a dress code, though you will be expected to wear shoes inside buildings. In some places, you may be asked to take off your hat, or remove your hood, when you go inside.

If you’re very different in size or shape from the local people where you’ll be staying, it may be hard for you to find clothes and shoes. You may need to shop online.

You may see students wearing clothing that exposes more of the body than you’re used to during summer. In English-speaking countries it’s acceptable and normal for men and women to bare their arms and calves, and they may bare more than this when it’s hot.

Food and drink

We don’t recommend bringing food, drink, or cooking equipment from home. Trying new foods is part of living in a new country. You may find that your favorite foods are available where you’re studying anyway, especially if you’re in a multicultural city or university town. If you really need foodstuffs from home, organize to buy online or ask someone to mail them to you once you’ve arrived.

Australia and New Zealand have very strict laws about importing foods, and may take them away from you at Customs when you arrive. Don’t take food in your suitcase if you’re going to Australia or New Zealand. In the UK, you’re not allowed to bring in any meat or dairy products if you’re traveling from outside the European Union (EU), and there are limits on other foods too. The US also has strict rules on meat or dairy products from anywhere outside the country.

Toiletries

Pack enough toiletries to last you for the first few weeks: small bottles of shampoo and conditioner, toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, and/or cosmetics if you use them.

Don’t bring big bottles and tubes: buy toiletries at your destination. If you can’t get your favorite products there, see if you can order them online and have them delivered to where you’re staying.

Most airlines will only let you carry very small bottles and tubes of liquids in your carry-on luggage. Check with your airline and put anything too big in your checked luggage.

Other

If you plan to bring electrical devices, check what voltage and what sort of power sockets are used in your destination country. You’ll probably need to buy adaptor plugs. For more details check this website: www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/.

Consider bringing an electronic translator and a small bilingual dictionary (which translates from English into your language and also from your language into English). These are usually faster, cheaper, and more accurate than using your cell phone/mobile phone to access translations on the Internet.

Don’t fill your suitcase with sheets, towels, blankets, and pillows. Many residences will provide these, and if yours doesn’t, you can buy them cheaply at your destination.

Don’t bring lots of stationery such as notebooks, pens, and so on. Buy these at your destination.

4 Dealing with culture shock

Even though you may be excited about studying abroad, you shouldn’t underestimate the adjustment you’re going to have to make. Think of the biggest change you have had to make in your life so far—now multiply that by ten. Not only will everything around you change, you too will begin to change, and that can be confusing.

Culture shock

We often use the expression “culture shock” to describe the confusion people feel when they are trying to fit into a new culture. However, this expression can be a bit misleading because it suggests that culture shock is like a sudden, upsetting event. In fact, most people experience culture shock as a process—like the process they might go through when they have to adapt to any life-changing event, such as getting married, or having a baby.

Many people have researched and written about culture shock. Although every individual experiences culture shock in his or her own way, researchers have identified certain “stages” that people who live abroad commonly go through. Here, we’ll describe those stages, explain what happens when you “get stuck,” and suggest strategies that you can use to help yourself move on. But remember, this model of culture shock is not a description of what will happen to you—it’s a framework to help you understand your own experience of culture shock.

Stage 1: The “honeymoon”

When you arrive and begin exploring your new environment, you may find the experience very enjoyable at first. Everything may seem fascinating to you: what people eat, the way they move, the sound of their language. Even everyday objects might seem interesting to you because they are so different from what you’re used to: the streetlamps, for example, or the look and feel of a bus ticket. All these new impressions can be very exciting—you may even feel “over the moon” at times. This phase of exploration is therefore often called the “honeymoon” stage of culture shock.

Stage 2: The “let down”

For many people, the excitement of the early days wears off after a while. As you start trying to achieve what you set out to do in your new environment, the “high” is often replaced with a “low” of disappointment. Ways of doing things that seemed interesting at first now seem overly complicated and difficult. Maybe it’s the way officials speak to you that suddenly seems annoying or rude. Or maybe it’s the opening and closing hours of stores that seem so inconvenient. You can’t understand why everything has to be so difficult and why it takes so long to get anything done. You may feel frustrated, angry, or sad. You may start comparing everything in this new place with the way things are at home and find that nothing is as good as it ought to be.

Stage 3: The “adjustment”

Over time, and after several highs and lows, you’ll most likely begin to adjust to your new environment. You’ll learn how things work, and after a while all of those things that seemed so exciting and, later, so annoying, will simply be familiar to you. Everyday tasks such as shopping or getting around on public transportation will become easy. You begin to feel capable again. Your opinions become more balanced: you can see that your new home is neither perfect nor completely awful. You may begin to see the home you left behind in a different way too. Aspects of your culture that you once thought of as “the normal way of doing things” you may now see as simply things that are particular to your culture. Your mind will have opened up to new possibilities, and ideally you’ll realize you have many more choices about how to live your life than you thought you had.

Getting stuck

For most people, the process described is not a smooth or easy journey. There are many difficulties to overcome and it is easy to “get stuck” in one stage or another. Understanding how or why this may happen can help you find a way forward.

Getting stuck at Stage 1: “Going native”

Some people who move abroad never seem to move beyond the honeymoon phase: they seem enchanted with everything around them. They want to dress like a native, speak like a native, act like a native. Every detail of the new culture is important. As they try to transform themselves, they may cut ties with the people and things that remind them of home.

At first glance, this may not seem like a bad thing. Immersing yourself in the new culture in this way can be exciting. But there are also disadvantages. If you try to replace your “old self” with a “new self,” you may in the end not know quite who you are or where you belong. The place you came from may start to seem like a foreign country, but no matter how much you copy the people in your new country, you’re still a foreigner. Moreover, when it’s time to go home, you may not know which “self” to take with you.

People who tend to “go native” when abroad, sometimes lack confidence in themselves. They may feel that there are parts of themselves that do not “fit” their home culture. When they go abroad they start imitating everything about the foreign culture in order to belong.

If you think you may have this tendency, try to accept yourself as you are. Remember that the parts of you that do not seem to “fit” in are also valuable. You do not need to be the same as others in order to belong. Remember to keep in touch with people from home. Value all of the aspects of yourself that have developed through your life experiences, both at home and abroad.

Getting stuck at Stage 2: “The Complainer”

Stage 2: The “let down” is a common sticking place. Those who are stuck at Stage 2 complain all the time. Every new day seems to bring new bad experiences, and each bad experience seems to confirm the complainer’s most negative opinions of the host country and the people who live there. Complainers are miserable and hard to be with.

In order to understand why this happens, it’s important to remember that living abroad is very challenging, even if you’re normally an easy-going person. You’ll probably struggle to understand others and make yourself understood. You’ll sometimes misunderstand the “unspoken rules” of your host culture and make some embarrassing mistakes. You may have to rely on others more often than you’re used to. You may feel like a child again. All of these things can make you feel very vulnerable. For people who are used to being good at things, feeling vulnerable may feel like not being good enough. Feeling this way about yourself can be difficult. Without realizing it, you may “project” these unpleasant feelings onto others. For example, rather than simply accepting your own feelings of confusion, you might blame your host country for being “disorganized” and “confusing.”