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From Shy to Sociable: Helping new international students adjust

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Published: 11 July 2024

Being a sociable person is one way to become happy, and Filipinos are known to be approachable and can easily be connected with or build relationships with. In the Philippines, Filipinos tend to have family gatherings as one of the traditions and one way to maintain relationships and connections within each other.

Though there are practices and traditions that push Filipinos to be social, not all people could cope with changes to social norms and settings. Sometimes being social is not as easy as people think, especially when you are in a new environment to be adjusting in.

Imagining yourself studying abroad and pursuing your dream course is exciting. There would be a new culture to learn, new friends to earn and a new environment to live in. But it is also haunting to imagine the feeling of anxiety and shyness to deal with all these new things to cope up with.

Challenges commonly encountered by international students

Being an international student could be fun and challenging at the same time. Here are some challenges and problems that an international student might experience:

International students experience loneliness and homesickness. Being away with what you call your home may greatly affect your mental illness. International students tend to call their families and cry to them about wanting to go home, this is a common encounter of international students who do not know a soul to the new environment they live in and lead them to feel sad and homesick.
Culture shock. The practices, norms and other things that you are used to in your home country could not be accepted and recognized in the new environment you’ll be spending your years in. This may give you a hard time coping up with the new practices and norms you are needed to learn, in order for you to get along with the people around you.
Language barriers. Even though English could be a great asset when it comes to communicating with other people in another country, not all people speak English, and this could be a challenge because learning a language is hard and it could also lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings.

These are only a few of the struggles that international students experience when they study abroad. It would severely affect their mental health as they would feel alone and no one to talk to because they do not know someone in their new environment.

Putting these challenges and facts together, this could lead to international students being shy around other people. Which could also lead them to being introverted and having no friends inside and outside their institution.

How could you overcome these challenges?

Silvia Sovic studied that there are no immediate solutions that could fastly solve these struggles being experienced by international students. It is a step-by-step process, and it takes a lot of patience to finally adapt to one's culture, language and environment.

The most important solution that could be done is taking your time and not pressuring yourself to quickly adapt to these changes. It is not very quick to familiarize oneself with new things, it is like learning a language. When you are learning a language, the first time you see and speak it, challenges you. And same goes with learning about a new environment and new people, it is challenging because you do not have much information about them.
Taking your time to learn and get familiarized will not only take away the burden but also the pressure you let yourself feel. From time to time, you would slowly adapt and cope up with the new environment you are in, without you knowing.
It is also recommended that you should also help yourself in these kinds of situations. Living and learning independently makes you learn that you should also have yourself together because this can also solve your problem. Another easy way to cope up with being shy is building your social skills.
Social skills play an important role when you are an international student, because this could make your life easier in communicating and building relationships with others. Additionally, building up your social skills could help you understand people more and make people understand you more, which could lead to making relationships or connections with others.

Let IDP Philippines help you be prepared for studying abroad!

New international students are more likely to have a hard time and countless challenges emotionally, mentally and physically. This could affect their performances academically and to their everyday lives.

Good thing is that IDP Philippines does not only offer assistance for students who want the right course, right country and the right university. IDP also offers pre-departure sessions to help students be better prepared in their study abroad journey. We give tips to help international students cope and adapt in their new environment.

Aspiring Filipino international students could benefit from this assistance without worrying how they would keep up with life abroad. Book an appointment with an IDP counselor now!

Written by: Rodina Doreyn C. Palican

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