Dear international student friend,

I know how ecstatic you were when you found out that you would be studying in a new place. You are filled with so much joy to have this opportunity, but you are also a little worried. Worried about making friends, fitting in, adjusting to life so far from home. But now here you are, experiencing the culture. It's great, but you get homesick. You'll get lonely during holidays when everyone is home with their families, but you're too far away to be able to travel home just for the holiday.

You sometimes worry about jobs and internships because your visa doesn't always allow you to qualify for them. You might have issues continuing your education because, again, you're not a citizen so you aren't able to get loans to pay for it all.

Anxiety gets you sometimes because eventually your visa will expire, but you are still struggling with the job situation. Going back home never sounds good because you feel like it doesn't have anything else to offer you.

You'll feel like you're at a disadvantage sometimes because you're not from this country so the system almost seems to work against you. Where you're from, things like this were never an issue, but living in a new place, as a foreigner, everything isn't as easy to obtain.

These are things that us international students have to worry about. These are the things that worry us and keep us up at night. These are the things that plague us and our families.

But you're not alone.

All of us international students have to deal with these things. Just hang on because the struggling won't last forever. You'll come out with success. Just hang in there.