As you prepare to spend your study years abroad, know this — packing your whole life into a few suitcases and leaving your hometown behind might just be the best decision you’ll ever make.
By choosing to live in a country that’s completely unfamiliar to you, you turn your life into a journey full of unexpected turns — a journey that will gift you with the most incredible experiences and personal growth. Living abroad, you’ll face new challenges every single day and get to know yourself in ways you never imagined. You’ll learn, expand your perspective, and come to accept that the world isn’t always the way you once thought it was. Some lessons may be tough, but they’ll help you grow. Each of these experiences will shape you into a stronger, more self-aware version of yourself. There will be moments when you miss home — deeply. But at the same time, you’ll be creating new memories that will stay with you for a lifetime.
Living far from home or setting off on a long journey abroad, you’re guaranteed to experience these 17 things — and each one will change you and the way you see the world forever.
1. Adrenaline becomes a part of your everyday life.
From the moment you decide to move abroad, your life fills with powerful emotions: every day becomes a lesson in learning, improvising, and handling unexpected situations. All your senses are heightened, and for a while, the word "routine" disappears from your vocabulary, replaced by surprises that trigger bursts of adrenaline. New places, new habits, new people, new challenges. Starting your whole life from scratch may seem scary at first, but very quickly, it becomes an exciting and fulfilling experience.
2. But when you come back home... everything feels the same.
When you have a few days off and return home, you’re surprised by how little has changed. Your life has been in constant motion, filled with stories and new experiences from living abroad, and you’re eager to share them all. Meanwhile, back home, everything flows just as it always has — people are busy with their usual routines, and nothing seems to have shifted. That’s when it hits you: your life won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
3. You find yourself short of words — and yet, somehow, you have too many.
When someone asks about your life abroad, it’s hard to sum it all up. You want to share everything, but where do you even begin? Then, in the middle of a casual conversation, a memory hits — “that one time when…” — and suddenly you have to hold yourself back from hijacking the whole conversation with your endless stories.
4. You begin to realize that courage is overrated.
Many people will tell you how brave you are – they’d love to move abroad too, if only they weren’t so afraid. And yes, it was scary to make that decision, but you know the truth: courage was only 10% of it. The other 90% came from the fact that you truly wanted it with all your heart. From the moment you decide to go after something, you're no longer just a coward or a hero. You're someone who takes action – and simply handles the challenges your choice brings, one by one.
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
5. And suddenly… you're free.You’ve always been free, but now your freedom feels different. Now that you've stepped out of your comfort zone and built a life abroad, you feel like you can achieve absolutely anything. The cage has opened, you've flown out — and now, you can't stop soaring. |
6. You no longer speak just one language
Sometimes a word slips out in another language without you even noticing, or you think of the perfect word to describe something—but it turns out it’s not in the language your conversation partner understands. Using and hearing foreign languages every day means you're constantly learning something new while slowly forgetting things you once knew. As you try to absorb as much of the new language as possible, while also trying to keep up with your native one, the languages sometimes blend into a unique personal mix only you understand.
7. You learn to say goodbye... and even enjoy it
You soon realize that many things—and many people—in your life are just passing through. Naturally, you start placing less emotional weight on certain situations. Eventually, you learn to find the perfect balance between forming meaningful connections and knowing when (and how) to let go. You begin to live in a delicate balance between pragmatism and nostalgia.
8. You have two of everything
Two SIM cards (one filled with phone numbers from all over the world), two library cards, two bank accounts... and two types of coins that constantly—mysteriously—get mixed up in your pockets.
9. Normal? What is normal?
Living abroad—just like traveling—quickly teaches you that “normal” simply means “what is socially or culturally accepted.” Once you immerse yourself in a different culture and community, your understanding of what’s “normal” begins to shift. You realize that there are many ways to do the same things, and before you know it, you’ve picked up habits you never imagined having. You also start to understand yourself better—discovering which beliefs are truly yours and which were simply inherited from the culture you grew up in.
10. You become a tourist in your own city
The “tourist traps” you probably never bothered to visit in your hometown suddenly become must-see landmarks in your new city. Before long, you turn into a local expert on the top spots to visit. And when someone comes to visit and asks for recommendations, you struggle to pick just a few—because if you could, you’d tell them to see everything.
11. You learn to be patient and ask for help
Kai gyveni svetur, net paprasčiausios užduotys gali tapti iššūkiu: susitvarkyti dokumentus, rasti reikiamą žodį, žinoti, kuriuo autobusu važiuoti. Visada iškyla streso ir nerimo akimirkų, bet greit išmoksti būti joms kantresnis nei kada galvojai kad galėtum būti. Pamažu priimi faktą, jog prašyti pagalbos yra neišvengiama. Natūraliai išsivysto įprotis pasitikėti kitais žmonėmis ir jų gerumu.
12. Time is measured in fleeting moments
It feels like looking through the window of a speeding car—everything behind you moves slowly, while what lies ahead rushes toward you at incredible speed. On one hand, you receive news from home—birthdays you missed, people you didn’t get to say goodbye to, holidays you can’t attend. On the other hand, your new life is racing forward at full speed. Time becomes so distorted that you learn to break it into small, tangible moments: a video call with family, a message from an old friend, a beer shared with your new roommate. These short bursts become the milestones of your life abroad.
13. Nostalgia hits when you least expect it
A dish, a song, a scent. The smallest trigger can awaken a deep, aching homesickness. You find yourself missing the tiniest things you never imagined you’d long for—and in those moments, you’d give anything just to return home for a while, or to share that feeling with someone who truly understands what you're going through.
14. But you realize it’s not about where, but when and how
Deep down, you understand that what you miss isn’t a place—it’s that magical, fleeting feeling of being in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. Little pieces of you are scattered across all the places you’ve visited, lived in, or called home. And sometimes, simply returning to a location isn’t enough—because the longing isn’t for the place itself, but for the moments and the people that once made it feel like home.
15. You change
You’ve probably heard people talk about life-changing journeys—and it’s not just a cliché. Living abroad is one of those experiences that truly transforms your life and yourself. It shakes up your beliefs, confronts your fears, and forces you to grow in ways you never imagined. Many students who have lived abroad describe their decision to move to another country as a pivotal one—one that gave them the skills and mindset needed to navigate every challenge that came afterward. You may not notice it right away, but when you look back on your time living abroad, you’ll clearly see how much you’ve grown, matured, and changed.
16. Your whole life fits in a suitcase
From the moment you have to pack everything you need for your new life into a single suitcase (or two, if the airline is generous), the idea of “home” as a fixed place begins to fade. Almost everything you can touch becomes replaceable. With every move, you start collecting what’s essential all over again. But despite the ever-changing material things, one day you’ll find yourself walking down a street in a new city and feel… at home. You realize that home isn’t walls or belongings—it’s the people you meet along the way, the ones you left behind, the streets you explore daily, and the little habits that fill your everyday life. Home is in those temporary things you’re willing to let go of, in the memories you carry, and in every call to someone who still feels close. Eventually, you’ll understand: you can feel at home anywhere—because home lives within your experiences, your rhythms, and your memories, not in a specific place.
17. And… there’s no turning back
…once you’ve tasted what it’s like to leave your comfort zone behind, to start over from scratch, and to marvel at the world’s diversity every single day. The world suddenly becomes huge—nearly infinite—and once you realize that, standing still feels impossible. You’re drawn to keep moving, exploring new places, chasing new experiences, and embracing every opportunity to grow. There’s a restlessness that settles in—a beautiful one—because now you know just how much is out there waiting for you.
