"Life is what happens to us when we are busy making other plans" - John Lennon wrote this lyric to the song "Beautiful Boy" to celebrate his son's journey as a young boy.
A whole new world awaits you when your study abroad loan and visa is sanctioned.
You arrive at your destination and the first thing you see is people from different countries, cultures and races. The best thing to do is say "Hello!" to everyone.
When you arrive at the University's designated hostel you will be received by volunteers that will show you to your dorm room or they will give you all the information about the city that you live in.
Your consultant in India may have shared brochures about the city you are moving to, but living and seeing is believing.
Here are a list of things you ought to do while you study abroad:
Explore & make friends with other cultures
Our advice as Creditap is this, befriend all those student volunteers who are your senior students. Don't be shy to go out for dinner with them. Your course begins only two days from the day you arrive, so you have time to behave like a student.
Going out with volunteers or your seniors sets the context for you to explore the future in that country. You get to see local restaurants, places of art and sport. You get to discover the pulse of the place.
Once you make friends with the locals do meet them regularly. Don't just make yourself live in "little India".
Meet your program director
Walk to your department and meet everyone. This would be a fantastic way to break the ice with your course director.
You could perhaps immediately ask them about course work, research methods and queries about the subject. It would also be nice if you could volunteer to do research work with the program director.
Join a sports club
Another great way to spend time while abroad is to join a sports team or visit the local sports centre. Here you will get to keep yourself active and with a bunch of friends you can have a steady social life through sport. If you are in countries like the USA or Australia or UK sports is a universal language.
Visit the library
You may never make friends in a library but you will fall in love with books. Who knows what happens there. You may find the next big idea for your research or academic career. Or who knows what happens, you may just give up on your education and become a businessman.
Stay safe
One thing for an Indian student to keep note of is the crime in cities abroad. The University clearly demarcates safe and unsafe zones. Remember that Americans carry guns and the usage of drugs is rampant. There are neighborhoods that are rough. Unless you are going with a group of friends don't venture into such designated violent areas.
Also save numbers of all University helplines and numbers of security in University.
The University has people speaking to students about mental, physical and sexual safety. We would suggest you do take their advice. Don't feel lonely.
Get yourself a part time job
It's also not just about studying. You can get yourself a part time job. You can join a retail store or a restaurant or a library or any company wanting part time workers in digital marketing or sales. This will allow you to gain the skills needed for your larger view on how to be job ready.
Travel
Since most of the study abroad programs are self study programs, where you spend endless hours in your dorm room or the library, you have to find time to unwind. Traveling to nearby centres is an amazing way to free up your mind. In the USA or the UK or Europe, getting a car or getting into a bus or a train is super easy. Do travel well, it will give you a rounded life to your time as a student.
Do finish the degree, find a job
While you have a great social life. You know you are there to finish the degree and get yourself in the reckoning for a job.
Get yourself into the University's job boards or begin applying online to your favourite company, may it's an Apple or a Tesla or a Google. For all you know you may get to a Microsoft or Amazon or Walmart. But we at Creditap will be happy to see you earn that money to pay back your student fee loan at the earliest.
Hope your life as you study abroad makes for a wonderful future ahead. At Creditap we are happy to have played a small yet critical part in making your dreams come true.
