Shifting Identity of an International Student

Shifting Identity of an Inter home(a) StudentOver the last two decades the immigration for check by long-term migrants grew from 40,000 in 1990s to 192,000 in 2015 (Population Briefing International student migration What do the statistics tell us? January 2016). This paper aims to examine the reasons behind the students decision to immigrate for higher education, the challenges and issues they power encounter, as well as how having to live far away from headquarters, in a disagreeent country, facing a whole sensitive culture and new mentalities ultimately shapes their own personality.Immigration provides the immigrant with a new first gear in deportment and more growth opportunities than were previously available. The reasons behind this decision are complex, and differ from student to student, but what all of them have in common is the idea of a brighter future, of more opportunities and the chance to a better life than they would have in their country of origin. As it emerge s from my interview, the participants decision to move to England was take holdn based mostly on the fact that the level of education in universities in England is higher than the one(a) in her country of origin, Egypt, offering a broader diversity of courses and more career options and opportunities. Also, other factors that counted for this decision were the political affairs in Egypt, the revolution, and the fact that her country was not real stable at that moment in time.But apart from its benefits, thither are many complex challenges associated with immigration, most of them regarding the assimilation into life in the host country. Migrants, almost by definition, move with the future in mind, but their journeys inevitably involve taking their past with them. Immigration is not only astir(predicate) changing countries, but also about shifting identities, bangn as the phenomenon of hybrid identity formation. They develop their personal identity as they face unconnected ethn ic, personal and national identity options. They deal with both host and origin social constructs, contradicting expectations, traditions and norms during the process of individual identity formation. This phenomenon faecal matter be observed in the respondents answers as well. She identifies with some ideals of the British culture, but she feels that she does not belong here. She finds British population too free and uncensored in their thoughts and actions and sometimes even offensive. in that respect is also a great discrepancy between the way in which women are treated. While in England girls are allowed to dress as they want, smoke, attend parties, or walking alone at night tone safe, and without creation judge, in Egypt people have clear, strict standards when it comes to girls clothing and behaviour, and if these are not respected people would stare and judge. Moreover, she faced a significant contrast regarding peoples religious beliefs and practices, as well as the le vel of religiosity. This affected her life on many levels. Things considered very bad, or even sin in her culture, are seen as normal in England and more, people would consider her weird and treat her differently if she would not take part in those activities or behave as they do. This is why she feels a constant pressure from the contradicting expectations people from the two countries she now belongs to have from her. Thus, migrant students can normally experience alienation of the culture of origin and the loss of meaning concerning traditional values and norms, or they might feel an exclusion from the host majority society.The shift in migrant students personalities and formation of a dual identity can be observed as well very clearly in the evolution of their home friendships in contrast with the new relationships make in the host country. While they adapt to the new environment, their attitude and views inevitably change and so, their home friends will start facing difficult ies in understanding their new ideas and acts. Meanwhile, their new friends from the host country will never be able to fully get across their distinctive character, as they do not understand the international students past, including the mentality and culture in which they were born and raised. This is further supported by the forbidding purpose in the research on international education that for many international students, a major disappointment is their failure to establish meaningful local friendships. Therefore, the migrants start developing feelings of alienation and isolation because neither friends can relate to them completely. As my interviewee admitted, she cannot be entirely honest with either of her friends because there are things only the ones from here would understand, and other things only the ones from Egypt would.However, the crucial characteristic, defining people with hybrid identities is the fact, that home is neither represented by their country of origin , nor by their host country. The migrant quite a feels affiliated to both trusts, with both cultures, phenomenon called by sociologists bilocalism. The international students develop familial affiliations, relationships, cultural and material roots in two countries they identify themselves with two place at the same time. The German-Turkish poet Zehra rak depicts this fact by using the metaphor of a bridge the two ends of it symbolize two different cultures. People presenting hybrid identities walk on this bridge freely, from one culture to another. At some points of life one culture might be dominant, later on the other one. Nevertheless, necessity for hybrid identities is the permanent presence of both cultures, no matter to which extent. This idea is further supported by Glick Schiller and her colleagues, who argue that nowadays migrants lives cut across national boundaries and bring two societies into a single social field. As my respondent admitted, she often faces contradic tory feelings regarding her migration in England. On the one side, she misses home and everything that is related to it, feeling that she does not really belong in UK, but on the other side, there are things in her host country that she got attached to, that make her expert and without which she would not imagine her life now.Many international students might face difficulties in accommodating to the new environment and more importantly in assay to be academically successful in this new environment. However, studies have shown that they are conspicuously better motivated, focused and more aware of the benefits of higher education because they know the sacrifices they had to make in order to get where they are and the struggles they faced in adapting in the host country, so they appreciate more what they have and try to pay off their best in order to make these efforts worth it. These findings are consistent with my interview research. The respondent declared that she often feels unaccomplished and pressured to work hard and be persistent until she achieves what she wants because she had to leave everything behind in order to come here, and does not want these sacrifices to be in vain. But sometimes she is not as motivated to study and work as she usually is, or as she thinks she should be because she feels isolated, alone, away from home and family, further developing a guilty conscience during these moments.Moreover, migrants can usually experience alienation of the culture of origin and the loss of meaning concerning traditional values and norms, or they might feel an exclusion from the host majority society. From my interviewees experience, she considers that in general British people are colder and more interested in sticking together, than getting to know the international students. Moreover, she does not really like the life here as she considers that moving to UK does not help her accomplish what she really wants. She feels pressured by her identity to learn more about her culture and not being able to do so here bothers her. She could not say if she would change her decision to come to England if she could go back in time. What makes her happy here is what she studies and the friendships she has built so far and she is aware of the fact that she would not be able to continue her studies somewhere else, or leave her friends behind.