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Is it hard for international students to fit in at university ?

I'm a girl from France and I'm a bit worried British people only hang out with British people and won't really be friends with people from other countries.
I don't want to hang out only with french people (plus there won't be a lot of them probably)

from your experience do you think it's harder for international students to fit in ?
like if you're british do you think they're often isolated, and if you're not British was it hard for you ?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by edenlny
I'm a girl from France and I'm a bit worried British people only hang out with British people and won't really be friends with people from other countries.
I don't want to hang out only with french people (plus there won't be a lot of them probably)

from your experience do you think it's harder for international students to fit in ?
like if you're british do you think they're often isolated, and if you're not British was it hard for you ?


Hey :smile:

I'm also French and I'm spending a year abroad here in the UK (in Wales).
From what I've been through so far, I've had no problems making friends with British people. I live in shared uni accomodation with eight other flatmates of which five are English or Welsh, and I get on well with two or three. Also, the British people who are on my course are nice and outgoing so you have nothing to worry about. May I ask which uni you'll be going to?
Also, there are quite a few foreign people on my course (translation and interpreting) and I've made friends from various countries other than the UK - that is, Romania, India, Norway and the US. I've made a couple of French friends and know a few French people but I mainly hang out with non-French people.

I would say you probably don't have much to worry about, just enjoy yourself! :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by clockwork_orange
Hey :smile:

I'm also French and I'm spending a year abroad here in the UK (in Wales).
From what I've been through so far, I've had no problems making friends with British people. I live in shared uni accomodation with eight other flatmates of which five are English or Welsh, and I get on well with two or three. Also, the British people who are on my course are nice and outgoing so you have nothing to worry about. May I ask which uni you'll be going to?
Also, there are quite a few foreign people on my course (translation and interpreting) and I've made friends from various countries other than the UK - that is, Romania, India, Norway and the US. I've made a couple of French friends and know a few French people but I mainly hang out with non-French people.

I would say you probably don't have much to worry about, just enjoy yourself! :smile:


Thank you, I hope I'll be as lucky as you aha :smile:
I don't know which uni I'll be going to because I don't have offers yet, but I'm hoping Leeds...
Original post by edenlny
Thank you, I hope I'll be as lucky as you aha :smile:
I don't know which uni I'll be going to because I don't have offers yet, but I'm hoping Leeds...


Awesome! Leeds looked great, it was on my list originally and I got in but I ended up accepting an offer somewhere else.
Good luck with your applications and have fun! :smile:
British students tend to get on very well with Europeans, you'll have no problems socialising :smile:

The groups which have the biggest problems fitting in are Chinese and Malaysian students (because there's loads of them so it's easier for them to end up just hanging out with other Chinese or Malay), and Americans (because Brits just don't tend to get on with American students over here, mostly because of religion and politics).
I think its easier for international students to fit into british universities as more teenagers are obese in Britain :P.
Joking aside... it depends on your personality...some ppl are good at making friends and some need a little help. Just remember most of the other students will also be moving from home. Good luck
I had plenty of international friends at uni :smile: the only problems tend to come when a student has a hugely different culture at home, I don't think anywhere drinks like brits do but east asian students (for example) tend to be far more reserved and work focused which can make it hard for them to make friends. It has nothing to do with language or nationality though - there are some english people with that attitude and they also struggle to make friends!

From my experience, a lot of international students I knew were VERY quiet at first and later explained that they were quite conscious of their English skills - if you've got into an English then your English is good enough so don't worry about that! People are generally pretty patient and happy to explain an idiom if you don't know it and won't mind if you don't speak 100% correctly. The best thing is just to go for it, the more you speak the better your spoken English will be.

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