Challenges of living in Britain

Here are some of the challenges that people face when studying in a new culture other than the language barrier:

1. Making new friends.

2. Adapting to the British diet.

3. Building a new social life.

4. The cost of living, making a realistic budget for my food shopping.

5. Missing friends and family at home.

6. Adapting to the weather and bringing appropriate clothes.

7. Finding accommodation.

8. Culture shock.

Which of these are you most worried about? How do you plan to deal with these challenge? What can you gain from studying in a new culture?

Answer as many of these questions as you like. Let us know any questions you have about British culture. Please comment on this or 'academic speaking' or both.

Hi,

Although I have prepared myself to face many challenges in England, I still have many ways that I am worried about. I think making new friends is the most difficult for me. My character is not very outgoing and I want to change it. I believe I can make many friends with the natives in the future.

Studying in a new culture is good for me. I can learn a lot of knowledge from it. And it can help me integrate myself into society quickly. It also can extand my vision and expand my mind. I like studying in a new culture.

Eventually, I want to know the life style about Britain.

Thank you.

Toby

Hi Toby,

Again, you are aware of the benefits of studying in a different academic environment so you can become accustomed to it. Finding areas of common interest with British students, like football, will help you make friends.

Andrew

It may be a big problem for me to make friends in UK. I always feel nervous when I talk to strangers. When I speak Chinese, I can compose myself quickly. But I am afraid about the time when I go abroad. I can imagine how embarrassed I will be in front of strangers; especially these people can only understand English. My spoken English is not good, I think it is a terrible thing when I talk to native speakers but they don’t know what I mean.

Hi Crystal,

Your English is certainly good enough to be understood most of the time. There will be plenty of Chinese people around so you can take a break and speak Chinese from time to time and feel like you're at home. I was in Nottingham over the summer and there were loads of Chinese students. Don't worry if you make a few mistakes in your spoken English at the beginning, English people are used to hearing people from all over the world speak English and they will want to make friends with you. You'll learn a lot of useful everyday phrases from your friends. Try to practice by listening to native speakers as much as possible this year, around campus or on the internet.

Andrew

I think the biggest challenge of living in Britain is culture shock. The Up and China have a big cultural difference. In China, teachers will tell students the key point of examination. So I do not need too much time to study by myself. If I follow teachers, I can pass the examination easily. But in British, I will have much more time to plan by myself. If I not know how to study by myself, I may have trouble in passing the examination. I will try my best to do everything, overcome this challenge and adapt to the new environment soon.

There is still having many troubles for me in learning British. But the biggest problem for me is that I don’t know how to make friends with foreigners, maybe there are many difference between us, something about culture or some local customs. I’m not sure have I make mistakes when we talked. And I don’t have smooth spoken English, now. So, I usually worried about if they can understand me clearly.
Finally, it is important for me to know much more about the British taboos.