When you think of people studying abroad you only see them posing with Big Ben, you see their selfies in class and you see them cooking Indian food with a bunch of Indian people, but those are just photo montages, not the whole truth. The check-ins you see at the airport when they pack their bags for the first time, don’t show you the full story. It doesn’t show you the apprehension, the nervous butterflies and the sinking feeling of leaving everything familiar on this side of the ocean. They don’t click pictures of their first day in class when they’re trying really hard to fit in and find people to connect with. They also won’t document the countless trips to Tesco, Seven Eleven and Wallmart, because they left out toilet paper, or grocery.

They’ve carried pepper spray in their bag more times than they’ve carried a hairbrush.

They’ve seen the unapproving glances, they’ve heard racial slurs, They know what it felt like to not fit in, until they learned to find a place for themselves. They’ve surrounded themselves with friends who are a second family, they’ve set up an apartment all on their own, which they now call home.

They’ve taken decisions before we’ve even chosen a major, they’re counting their savings while some of us were blowing our pocket money.

It’s been an uphill battle and sometimes it runs you to the ground, but they’ve managed to grow up, to become responsible for themselves, to understand the world outside of a safe cocoon. They’ve come out resilient and strong.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go