Thinking about studying abroad? It is not easy to stay away from your family, your friends and the environment you’re used to. But in the end the experience is all worth it – it makes you stronger and smarter.

Andjela Simic, personal blogger, went to the US to study in her high school years. She talks about what it takes to be a student in a far away country.

I graduated in December at the University of Missouri where I studied marketing but I moved to the States before that, in the middle of my junior year. It was kind of an out-of-nowhere feeling, but I just knew I couldn’t stay in Serbia anymore – it’s not for me. I love big cities and right now I live in the best one, Los Angeles. LA has my heart forever.

I’ve found my place now but the start was really not easy. Do you want to study abroad?

Be ready for a big change. I came from a very small city, Belgrade, to this beautiful, huge country and I did not even think that it could be like this. Be ready to cry all the time in the beginning and be ready for a different culture, people, food… USA is very different from Europe. But once you are over some things, you will get used to it and you will never want to go back. You will always miss your home and you will always be a proud European but you will not want to go back!

You grow up faster and there is no mommy or daddy to help you with anything. Just you. You will realize things that your friends won’t and you will learn a lot and get the best gift you could ever ask for – experience.

You will be challenged a lot without having your family behind you. You will have to learn about others and about yourself a lot! You will learn to respect people around you more in order to have someone who you can talk to because you don’t want to be alone in a foreign country. Just an example: people at my college or high school would tell me that I was rude or I always looked mad or something… but it’s just my culture and the way I look. Nothing personal. So I always had to be extra polite so people didn’t think I was mad or rude!