What culture shocks have you experienced studying in or visiting the UK?

I hope you don't mind if I bump this as I'm curious

International students and visitors to the UK, what culture shocks have you experienced studying in or visiting the UK?

As a follow-up question, what advice would you give to other to help overcome those culture shocks?

I look forward to seeing what you found different to your home countries!

Hi, I was definitely shocked from what I have experienced in the UK.

I am from a small town in Ireland. A lot of people are local that we know of because we got quite a small population in the town compared to the towns of England. In Ireland we usually greet people with hellos or how are you and things whenever we pass someone down the street. It's a normal culture thing we have here, just greet anyone who passes us outside when we walk down the street to go to the shops etc. In England it was different, it was either people looked at you weirdly or tried to avoid looking at you and minding their business. Or sometimes you "nod and smile" is what my girlfriend told me. I found that really strange but I mean I am from a different culture.

I've went this year to Manchester for my holidays (well mainly to meet my girlfriend because she lives in the UK). In Ireland we usually are quite loud when we are outside or like if you were in a shop for instance people would speak very loud but my cultural habits of speaking quite loud was not accepted by my girlfriend. She tells me to "quite down because I'm speaking to loud" every time I forget haha.

The slang in England is a whole different experience as well. We've got our own Irish slangs, such as "What's the craic" or "What's the story" and many more for how are you. In the North West of England (I don't know if people in other regions say this) they greet people with "you alright". England is definitely a much bigger place and there was many things compared to my town! (My city is quite big but I still live like 2 hours away from it). My first time in Nando's in England was amazing. I chugged down couple of "peri-hot sauces" or something like that I can't remember.

Well, I guess I kind of forgotten some cool things in England I've experienced but I'll put more down soon again. It was a fantastic experience and I did enjoy being in England, just a bit over-populated and I'm not that used to that because of my tiny town ahaha.

I'm glad you enjoyed your time here!

I must say that in villages people definitely say hello, it's just in larger population centres where that's not a thing.

International students and visitors to the UK, what culture shocks have you experienced studying in or visiting the UK?

As a follow-up question, what advice would you give to other to help overcome those culture shocks?

I look forward to seeing what you found different to your home countries!

Hi! Student from Spain hoping to study at the UK in 2023.

I visited some UK unis in december and the thing that most surprised me was the environment and atmosphere at the universities! I guess it's just different from Spain, where we don't have clubs or societies, and uni accomodation etc isn't very common, so university is more of a transactional thing: you go in, you go to class, and you get out

So, I really enjoyed seeing all the study spaces and community areas and just seeing so many people together around the university!!!

International students and visitors to the UK, what culture shocks have you experienced studying in or visiting the UK?

As a follow-up question, what advice would you give to other to help overcome those culture shocks?

I look forward to seeing what you found different to your home countries!

Hi,
I am an international student ambassador from India currently studying in the UK at Swansea University. I was actually quite shocked by the difference in study environments between my home country and the UK. I have now experienced higher education in different UK universities and can honestly say that there are vast cultural differences from uni to uni. To name a few - university halls are more than just where you sleep and store your clothes. It was quite welcoming to be away from home and yet be accepted in your own little community made up of students from all over. Another culture shock was how integral the Students' Union is to your years at university - they help you with wellbeing and welfare concerns as well as provide opportunities to socialise with people from different backgrounds regardless of what degree you come to study.
My advcie to anyone moving away from home for university, especially international students - is to be open to new experiences. You will find out that you are never alone - there are many of you experiencing the same culture shocks. To help you settle down, join student societies, take advantage of day trips organised by your chosen university's students' union, research and make use of all the facilities offered by the university. For example - Swansea University is surrounded by or close to beautiful nature sites such as the Gower, Snowdonia National Park, etc and the staff organises trips for students to visit and enjoy the great outdoors. These provide you with opportunities to interact and socialise with students as well as support your mental health with breaks from studies.
If you are looking for more tips and advice about starting university in the UK - check out the following pages from Swansea University!
Life in Swansea - https://www.swansea.ac.uk/study/student-life/
International Student Support - https://www.swansea.ac.uk/international-campuslife/pre-arrival-information/

Ruchika Yadav - Swansea Student Ambassador