By Chelsea Tabert
Being an international student doesn’t just mean paying outrageously high tuition fees, it comes with many other difficult tasks that you, in your right mind, would never think of.
Being an international student doesn’t just mean paying outrageously high tuition fees, it comes with many other difficult tasks that you, in your right mind, would never think of.
When the idea of traveling overseas for university struck me, I never thought it would be quite extensive as it has been. Firstly, there’s figuring out how you’re going to pay four times the regular amount in tuition. (Don’t get me started on what happens when your loans don’t make it through. . .)
Then, there are flights; are you going home for Christmas? How do you fit your life into fifty pounds? (Yes, fifty pounds is all you can carry in a suitcase without paying ridiculous baggage fees.) Are you planning on getting your hair cut? What about if you have dyed hair, will you need a touch up? Immigration sure sounds nice when you’re reading the “Arrival in Galway”, then you realize that’s another €300, plus the taxi ride to and from. Money, money, and more money, that’s the true life of an international student. Now don’t get me wrong, I was well aware of the funding it would take for a student to cross seas, but boy does it kick you in the rear when it’s realized.
Life abroad in generalities isn’t all that bad though. There are new friends to be made, new walking paths to find, new cups of tea to try, everything imaginable is new. Now some may argue that this isn’t a necessarily great thing, and in retrospect, it sometimes isn’t. The things I would do for a hot cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, or to have some juicy Taco Time are sinful. And I don’t know what I was thinking when I used to say “Oh, I love rainy days!” Clearly I had never lived in Ireland before.
There isn’t a single day that goes by where I don’t miss something about home. I daydream about hiking Knox Mountain, or talking a walk alongside the lake with my dog. I think about my friends I left behind, my Mom, my Dad. Sometimes I question myself and ask if I made the right decision in leaving home. Was I running away from something? What was I missing that gave me the urge to leave? I still can’t answer these questions, but what I can confirm is that the experience and opportunity of a life time that I have presented myself with make the expenses, lack of decent coffee, and the temporary loss of my car worth it. Most people in life never look outside their doorstep, and I feel a deep sadness for them. There are so many lessons to be learned, and beautiful things to see when you take that first step outside of your comfort zone.
The world is waiting for you.
Then, there are flights; are you going home for Christmas? How do you fit your life into fifty pounds? (Yes, fifty pounds is all you can carry in a suitcase without paying ridiculous baggage fees.) Are you planning on getting your hair cut? What about if you have dyed hair, will you need a touch up? Immigration sure sounds nice when you’re reading the “Arrival in Galway”, then you realize that’s another €300, plus the taxi ride to and from. Money, money, and more money, that’s the true life of an international student. Now don’t get me wrong, I was well aware of the funding it would take for a student to cross seas, but boy does it kick you in the rear when it’s realized.
Life abroad in generalities isn’t all that bad though. There are new friends to be made, new walking paths to find, new cups of tea to try, everything imaginable is new. Now some may argue that this isn’t a necessarily great thing, and in retrospect, it sometimes isn’t. The things I would do for a hot cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, or to have some juicy Taco Time are sinful. And I don’t know what I was thinking when I used to say “Oh, I love rainy days!” Clearly I had never lived in Ireland before.
There isn’t a single day that goes by where I don’t miss something about home. I daydream about hiking Knox Mountain, or talking a walk alongside the lake with my dog. I think about my friends I left behind, my Mom, my Dad. Sometimes I question myself and ask if I made the right decision in leaving home. Was I running away from something? What was I missing that gave me the urge to leave? I still can’t answer these questions, but what I can confirm is that the experience and opportunity of a life time that I have presented myself with make the expenses, lack of decent coffee, and the temporary loss of my car worth it. Most people in life never look outside their doorstep, and I feel a deep sadness for them. There are so many lessons to be learned, and beautiful things to see when you take that first step outside of your comfort zone.
The world is waiting for you.