Studying speech and language therapy as an international student

Jasmine is a Year 3 student on the BSc Speech and Language Therapy course at Manchester. Here, she talks about her experience of starting the course as an international student from Hong Kong.

While there are not many international students in speech and language therapy, I can still proudly say that my learning experience and my time at The University of Manchester has been wonderful.

Arriving in Manchester

It is true that I found it quite hard to make friends in the beginning. Having just arrived in a new city, I was a bit overwhelmed by the different culture, and it was a few months before I started to feel like I was used to living here.

I was also a bit worried that I would fall behind in my studies because English is not my first language. However, I was really lucky to have extremely friendly course mates and lecturers who supported me through my journey.

I still remember that, when I first started the course, I was very shy and quiet. My academic advisor spotted me and emailed me to check if everything was going alright. The feeling of being looked after and cared for gave me the courage to talk to my course mates and make new friends!

Having small group tutorials every week in my first year, I have had the opportunity to get to know some of my course mates better, and develop friendships. In the first and second years, we sometimes got lunch breaks that were two or three hours long, allowing us more time to grow closer to one another and build strong peer bonds.

The city of Manchester

While it is true that studying abroad can be a surreal journey of discovering one’s true potential and realising talents, it can also be quite intimidating to have to live in a foreign country and build your social network from zero.

Manchester is absolutely one of the best cities to study abroad in. Being a multicultural city, here we celebrate diversity and welcome people from different backgrounds. People are generally very friendly, and there are all sorts of cuisines and grocery stores from all over the world.

As a student from Hong Kong, I can easily find Asian restaurants and buy ingredients for cooking dishes from my hometown. The opportunities to meet people from other countries are also massive. In our first year, me and my friend joined a cooking workshop organised by the Taiwanese Society, and shared wonderful memories with students from Taiwan.

I also participated in activities at the Korean Student Society, and made friends with people from other countries. Last Christmas, I went back to Hong Kong and enjoyed a wonderful time of reunion and relaxing from my studies.

The challenges of studying abroad

Of course, there are downsides to being an international student. The feeling of homesickness and loneliness can indeed hit strongly, especially during festive seasons like Christmas and Lunar New Year, when I tend to miss Hong Kong more.

Fortunately, as I have mentioned, I have made amazing friends. Now, I can rely on them whenever I need someone to count on. Studying abroad is never an easy thing to do, but after three years of staying in Manchester, I can firmly say that it is totally worth it!

It does take a lot of courage to make the decision to come, and it was surely a huge step out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, with excellent student support, studying in Manchester is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Learn more about studying speech and language therapy at Manchester.