This is my first message in the new forum, so excuse me if my message does not seem clear.

First, I would like to cong. my bro Kamakazy for the good work and also to all who have made this forum possible.

Now the topic I had mentioned. I know that a lot of you have studied abroad, and may have come to enjoy or hate the experience. I would like you to share what you have felt living abroad away from family and friends. What were the major thing you had missed while being away? What was the one thing you wished you had with you abroad? Have you come to experience something and it got to you in one way or another?
hmmmmmmmmmmmm...
I know that i wished that i could have my family here with me in the States, but i did not miss Oman.....i wanted what i had in Oman but in the staes....if this makes sense. I also missed the simple thing you take for granted like bo'7oor, arabic TV, il'athan, our food, our language and simply our arabic ways.
So share with me and tell me what you think, i will be gald to read all that you have to say.
Salam,
:) Wardat_il'7leej

I lived many years overseas and I still living here ???

Oh about missing I miss alot alot alot things

But mainly ( My mother ) but I worry more than I miss sometimes.:(

missing my shellah ,,, my lovely car ,,, family ,,, old soqs like mutrah ,,, etc

I am lucky I have bo'7oor arabic sattelite and took omani spices with me ( baharat )and even I choosed to live in a place where many families are arabs so it's good sometimes.

About hard times as usual the raciest people ,, driving on the other side in some countries ,,, praying on time ,,, etc

But hey I think the most good thing is to know the value of your country while you are overseas.:)

Thankx for replaying HQL....and i wanted to tell you that it was an interesting story about your nick name......wish i was there.

Well i guess i understand what you are saying......i miss my Mum soo mcu when i am here and i do have all the stuff you have mentioned. There are a lot of students from Oman here..... <trust me a lot>, but my piont was that you still miss being around your familure surrondings.

First off all people travel and emigrate for many reasons including: to seek education, better jobs and living conditiones, tourism, political unrest, ...etc.

Whatever the reason it is difficult to live a broad. It is said that one goes through 3 different stages or moods:
- excitment
- shock
- adjustment

Once you are about to go back home for good you go through similar kind of stages.

The first mood is well understood, especially if you are a student. Young full of ambition, curious and so forth. Once you settle down and become more oriented to living abroad then you might go through the shook mood. I guess for us, who come from conservative societies it takes us a while to get used to the libraL ways of countries like USA or Europe. Finally, once you become really familiar with the new soroundings and envirement you begin the process of adjustment.

I must admit, I have gone through simlar kind of experiences when I was abroad. Did you? you might do

I think there are advantages and disadvantages going adroad.
to name some ads: you gain knowledge that might not be a vailable at home, learn a new language, get new experience, and so forth.
To name some disads: homesick, gain some bad habbits, or even forget home.
Study hard for those of you who are students to overcome some of the disads.
Take care

I understand people leave for many reasons and that it is difficult to be abroad.
i know the stages you are talking about.....i have experienced them even though i do not think that i felt it that much comeing from a orivate school...and being exposued to many things.
I must admit that there are a few things that did shock me...but i did not come across it when i first came i experienced it more after going and coming back from Oman. I realised how much i was proud of who i was and what my culture was about. I realised how corrupt things around me were and how safe and protected i was back home.
Going back to Oman means going through the same stages you mentioned but in reverse....you sort of not accept what you are presented and find the smallest things offensive or shocking to you...becuase you are used to seeing things in another way.
I know that i am going to go through that process, but a part of me does not accept it and does not want to believe that i would go through it. I do not know if you felt that way?
take care,:)
Wardat_il'7leej

Living abroad is only fun if you have money and thats that. Living in Oman is like heaven becasue nothing moves in this unorganised shamble of a so called "renaissance" country. Things are soooo slow that if i was to walk all of the great wall of China and i wanted to fill out a form for my ID card (betaka shaqsiya) by the time i got back from my walk the form still would not be processed. Now you can't really get more relaxed than that right? Everything jsut goes nice and slowly here no rush , jsut have a seat take it easy. The things i don't like in Oman is the People, what a bunch of sad decrepid malfunctioning depressed people who have nuthing better to do than to gossip and talk ********e about there own friends. SAD SAD country. Also its too damn hot in summer and the price of petrol is higher than in other countries. THE OTHER THING WHUICH REALLY PISSES ME OFF IS THIS:
Oman exports all of its seafood to the UAE and we Omanis have to pay through our noses for seafood which is second rate. When i go to dubai, even the worst restaurant has better seafood than us. We pay higher prices than UAE who are improting our seafood. Thats jsut criminal. And whoever devalued the Omani rial is an idiot becasue it is now more expensive for Omanis to go on holidays. Sorry to divert into totally different areas of this topic but hey thats life.

MAN OR BEAST ITS ALL A FEAST

Salam all...
i am one of the students who study abroad. i hope that you will accept what i will write .well, At first when i was back in oman i was really so happy to when i was offered to study in a western country but after 3 months over here i started missing everything back home. There some advantages to live over here but in the other hand if you didn't control your self you may fall in a lot of problems. in the place where i live , i don't know any arabs but every one who lives here is a western citizen and i hate the look at their faces when they know that i am arabian. Some times i start thinking about my choice of studying here was it a wise choice or not. it is not that sad over here as well, i have some friends from other forign countries and i am having a good time with them. i think that i am talking too much.
bye for now...

Living abroad taught me so many things that I wouldn't have learnt staying back home. It isn't the same as just watching the news from Oman. You really learn surprising things,funny things, horrible things, and amazing things. You mix with different cultures if you want and so learn how to be with them. You understand their thinking, their jokes, and you can decide what are the differences between you and your culture ,and them. I am at ease now with different people with different ideas. If I had never mixed with them I probably would feel uncomfortable with them if I ever met them through work or holidays etc later in life. Also, I am glad to have seen things earlier rather than later, because at least I'm not walking around like a child, shocked at every thing I see. Education is not just in the classroom, it is also out there in the world and on the street.

I liked this subject ..
well iam studying abroad .. and the most important thing i have learnt in the country iam in is that i have to value everything our country has, maybe people who are in the states ot UK dont really feel it . but when you go to a country less developed than yours you feel satisfied that ALLAH has given us something ..
ofcourse it is not easy at all to study aborad .. but at the end of your journey you feel that you really learnt something in the best years of your life .. you beome much more matured and learn to handel your own life without depending on anyone ..
I agree with plain truth in the four stages he mentioned .. especialy on the adjusment part .. when you learn to adjust .. you also feel it is dificult again to go back to your own country , ofcourse you have to but you go thrugh the process again ..
I do support leaving hecountry for studies because it is teh only way to learn about life, cultures, and everything as warda said ...

well..
life abroad is not easy at all...but it's so much fun in the same time..
the best thing you learn here is how to depend on yourself and i really needed that when i was in oman..
i'm glad i came here...but i miss oman so much
good luck all

hala,

well,this is my first reply to anyone,it has been few weeks only that I've been visiting this web site and I think It's great :)

I'm a student studing abrod a way from my friends and family,and to be totally honest the only thing that I really really really miss is being with the love ones.This is my second year here in the UK and i love it.I don't miss oman at all,it's the little things as you said that really means alot .

I do miss my family,but the thing is I know that I'll be back one day and everything will be as normal,but i'll miss my friends"my British friends"whom were there for me when I needed friends the most,and the thought that I might won't see them for a long time again really puts me off coming back home.

Nikita,

I know what you mean about missing friends. I really loved the UK when I was there, and all my friends were great. Now I'm in Canada and the people aren't so nice.

No :)

slam,,
If you want to study abroad, choose England, it's simply the best :).
nzwani

The UK is great because it's easy to just blend in and do your own thing and not meet too many racist people. Ofcourse it depends which city you're in. London these days is absolutely overboard with how expensive it has become. Even your average supermarket is expensive.The international population is diverse and it's quite easy to find friends.
I have found the part of Canada that I am in to be not so easy to live in. It's soooooooo cold in winter -30 degrees! There is more chance to meet rude people here too. I have met more rude people here in the last 5 months than I have ever met in my 12 years in Britain. There are also many nationalities here but there is more of a bad feeling because the Canadians think that every foreigner is a poor immigrant which ofcourse is not the case.

salaam,
i'm studying in the uk and i think there are many things one can miss when living abroad..
the most thing that i really miss is my family and i think all of you agree with me..but as some of you have said i miss some little things like the omani food ahhhhh.. although i cook the same food abroad but it doesn't have the same nice taste..and other things my friends, arabic TV..the beech and of cuarse the hot weather!!!!..
but living abroad is nice sometimes

Hi everyone... :)

Boy I think this is a very interesting topic to discuss...

I used to be a student who had many different experiences while being abroad and away from home... Most of you'll would think that I might be kinda nutts or actually crazy... I loved being in a totally different place with different people from all kind of different backgrounds and cultures... must be honest with you all, I never missed home or the family... While being brought up by my family... I was taught to live on my own and so I really didn't feel the difference when I moved out and was away... I've studied in several different countries between Arab countries and North American... I must say that the life was very interesting and full of new experiences that you don't usually experince when you are home... The best thing was learning how to be independant and getting matured...

I really advise people to live abroad and away from home, because it will make you learn many different and exciting things...

Thankx all...

annaya3

Hi,

Most of my life i was abroad mostly UK only 98 were i return to Gulf...
1994 until 1998 My Family was with me, still i felt strong desire to return to Gulf, you know what i miss, it is Adhan ( call for preyer), even thow i'm not deeply religiest.
When i was early twenties, i was always glad i'm away, simply no restriction i just can be an Animal(Hawa alnafs) what ever i want no one can stop me, it is nice to be away from traditions, no body say this is Haram, simply i was Too free...until i start to realise that my life start to be soo westernize, i start to feel joulise of my language, i start to hate speaking English, hence thier life style... to make it short, We as Arabs Muslims we have our own way of life, thinking we should not adopt and be influanced by others.
While abroed we can learn so many postive things, that can help us in the future, rather to be like a pupets.

I would like to thank all of you for your contribution to the post. I would like to encourage you to continue posting you messages about the topic.
:) :) :) :)
Thank you all again.
Wardat_il'7leej

out to more then 17 countries
12 years in between them
and waiting to make it home once and for all
nothing compares to OMAN nothing.

..I see you love Oman, can you tell us where you have been all this time away from your beloved country? I mean hey 17 countries and 12 years is a lot son't you think?

I guess i've got a different story from all of u as i was born in Oman and my family moved abroad when i was a baby.

Ur all saying that when u first go to a foreign country its fun, but when that wears off u start missing home. For u all Oman is ur home, but i find that my brothers and i will always say that Oman is where we come from but its not our home.

We only ever go to Oman on holidays, which is once a year or once every two years. When we first get to Oman, its great coz we get to see our family and the country. Although its really good, i find my brothers saying that they want to go home after 3 or 4 weeks of getting there. We are just so used to living abroad that its the only life we know. I find that my brothers are more affected than i am, coz they think of Oman as a holiday place.

Going back to Oman for good will be a really difficult transition. I dont really know when that will be, but as u say we will always be thinking of our home.

I for one want to move back to Oman...........sometime.
Even though i know it will take a long long time until i start calling it home.

For those who said England is the best i say, wait till you see USA. And those who said USA is the best i say, wait till you see Australia. And after all, go east go west, OMAN is the best!!!!!

This is my seventh year in England. I still go back home for every holiday that I get, I always say that I should go somewhere in Europe for Easter or christmas but I always end up in Oman, I love going back home, every time I go there its like seeing my family for the first time in years (but the fact is 3 or 4 months) if i don't then I'm miserable and sad. I can't wait to start working in Oman.

I enjoy my self here sometimes, I have freinds and relatives and there is lots of things u can do and see in London. I love the fact that no one cares what u do, wear, say or think. its very nice, that is the only thing that I'm going to miss when I'm in Oman....Freedom. I can , and I do, walk on the streets wearing jeans and T-shirt and no one would even look at me, can u imagine what will happen if I dress up like that and walked in CCC ?! For my own sake I don't do that.

Living on my own for so many years has tought me to be independent and I learnt to cook: thankfully!


Take care guys
and
Be proud, for you are an Omani, and always will be.

Well Wardat_il'7leej,

Its not that important where I have been. What’s important is what a person learn or what he/she gains from all this. In another way its what u do with what happens to u, not what is done with u by things. I maybe hinting to where I've been by my examples.

I’ve noticed that only countries that are PROUD of their cultures excel. Countries who try to adopt western cultures collapse quickly, just like the Iran of Shah. Just look at Japan and how they are deeply in touch with their culture and beliefs. That’s Japan secret to their success. On the other hand look at what is left of USSR a human disaster from leaders who wanted to abandon deep culture roots and tried to invent something all new. Which untimely all collapsed.

To be continued….

I understand and see what you are saying...but my topic was specific and i think you have opened the door to another topic which can be realted to this one.
A person grows and learn from the places he has been to and visited. I know that i have changed in one way or another since i have come to the states. I have learnt to be my own person and i have come to judge for myself as to what is right and wrong.
I know that there are those who would rather abandon all thier cultural belief just to be able to fit into their new environment, i feel soory for these people since to me they did not have any love or bases to be related to in the first place. They did not belong to the old culture then what would garantee that they will fit into the new.
Be proud of who you are and make the choices that best it you, but do not forget how you are brought up and raised, it is the roots that always pull you back no matter what.