What difficulties and opportunities do international students face when studying abroad?

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research project was to find out about the difficulties and opportunities that students face when studying abroad. This was attempted using appropriate research designs and conducting semi- structured interviews, the results show many similarities in the students' experiences including phases of loneliness, struggles to interact with other individuals as well as cultural differences. The main themes of this research project include the roles of language, identity, identity transformation as well as culture in the experiences that are discussed.