Student Voice | How Should We Balance Our Study Abroad Journey?

Maintaining a balance between studies, sports, and personal life can be difficult for high school students studying abroad in the United States. You can efficiently balance all three, though, if you manage your resources and your time well. The following advice can assist overseas students in finding a balance in these areas:

 

  1. Create a sensible timetable. You can utilize some helpful tools, including Google Calendar. To ensure that my strategy is obvious at a glance, I prefer to write down my daily to-do list in real notebooks, including any tests that need to be reviewed. Ensure that there is sufficient time allotted for every task to prevent packing the schedule too full.
  2. Establish priorities: Recognize the most crucial things and focus on them first. To guarantee that training and learning objectives are fulfilled, this can occasionally require giving up personal playtime or social activities. 
  3. Communicate effectively: To help others understand your requirements and schedule, communicate well with family, school, and coaches. Seek assistance, don’t put all the pressure on yourself, and get in quick contact with parents and teachers. This can lessen the likelihood of stress and conflict while also gaining support and understanding.
  4. Manage energy: To prevent extreme exhaustion, learn how to distribute energy in a reasonable manner. Sustaining sound sleeping practices, eating a well-balanced diet, and engaging in moderate exercise can enhance both mental and physical well-being.
  5. Be flexible: Recognize that unexpected situations or changes in plans will inevitably occur in life. Remain flexible and adjust schedules and priorities promptly to respond to unexpected events.
  6. Combine learning and movement: Search for ways where learning and movement are similar, such as using movement to unwind while studying or thinking about movement tactics during study time. This raises the standard of living in general and increases the effectiveness of exercise and learning.
  7. Stay Positive: Despite the challenges you face, it’s crucial to stay positive. Believe that you can overcome difficulties, continue to make progress, and enjoy the fun of learning, sports and life.

 

The aforementioned abilities can help international students succeed by better balancing their academics, extracurricular activities, and personal lives.

 

Written by: Sandy Sun