Every year, students move across the world for university. Some may only spend a semester or two studying abroad, while others complete entire degrees far from home. According to the U.S.-based Institute of International Education, the number of Chinese students in places like the United States jumped 29.9 percent between 2009 and 2010. UNESCO, tracking global education trends, calls sub-Saharan African students the "most mobile in the world." Hannane Ferdjani, a Nigérien student in France, and Wei Yi, a Ph.D candidate at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who recently returned from studying in America, explain the appeal of life abroad.

Complex Choices

by Hannane Ferdjani

Living abroad has never been a struggle for me. My childhood was spent traveling across West Africa, and my trips to Algeria, Guinea, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali taught me to adapt to new environments. It's not that I necessarily feel at home anywhere on Earth, but this ability helped me to leave my family six years ago when I moved from Niger to France for university.

After graduating from high school, many African students choose (when they have the financial means and the possibility) to study abroad – mostly in Western countries. Higher education in underdeveloped countries is fraught with issues, and there is a desire to discover the "North" and the opportunities people believe it holds.

Growing up, I understood that if I wanted to build a strong career, the only option was to get a degree from a Western country. As relevant as this argument was then, and may still be, I think it doesn't reflect the complexity of the matter, nor the fact that in Africa excellent education can be provided in a growing number of institutions.

Nevertheless, I still made the choice to leave. France was a natural destination – my mother tongue is French – and I chose to attend the University of Nice for my bachelor's degree.

There was definitely culture shock in the beginning. As an African coming from a very African family, France, with its living conditions and manners, seemed quite different. However, it was not as exotic to me as it might have been to others because of my language and travel background.

Living abroad symbolized a new era: I was seeing the world, on my own. It meant that I would make mistakes, but that I at least would have the freedom to make a whole new set of decisions that I had never made before.

I have the spirit of a wanderer. Since 2005, I have lived in Nice, Toulouse, Beijing and Paris. (And I may be moving to Wales this fall for more studies if all goes according to plan.)

There's one drawback. As a foreigner, it's relatively easy to study abroad but hard to find a job. I know that I will return to my home country to build a life eventually. That says, "I'm not sure I'll find opportunities there I am hoping for."

And after being away for so long, how will I make my way back? They say, "You can never go home again."

College Conversion

by Wei Yi

Last year, I was lucky enough to spend a year studying Western philosophy at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, the "second happiest city" in the United States.

Coming from a large city like Beijing, I was tired of crowds and noise. From the moment I arrived in Holland, though, the environment was pleasant, every day I breathed fresh air, and people were full of smiles. Lifting my head to the sky, I could see the spire of the Gothic chapel at our college. I felt a kind of religious awe and reverence.

There was a strong religious environment at Hope College. I have to confess that before my arrival, I had only a vague understanding of the Bible. I was trying to do research about John Ruskin, an English aesthetician whose religious belief strongly influenced his theory of beauty, and the college was a good place for me to gain more knowledge about the Holy Scripture.

I began to go to chapel every other day and to Manna denomination services on Sundays. I believe that the church is not only a place where the believers can worship God, but also an important place in ordinary Americans' life where they can reflect, pour out their sorrows and seek comfort.

At Hope, I found that professors' teaching methods were quite different from those in China. The workload was much heavier than in Chinese universities: lots of reading before class, balanced with many exams, essays and research papers. But there were lots of inspiring discussions in class. I learned the importance of being active and also humble.

My one year in the United States also improved my cooking skills. I lived at an off-campus house where I had a lot of freedom, and where I cooked by myself. This was great because I don't like American food very much. In spite of this, I still enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas at the home of one of my professors. We still stay in touch.

Studying abroad had a tremendous impact on my life. In the short term, it helped me to write my Ph.D dissertation. But moreover, my lifestyle, attitude, and way of thinking changed a lot. I learned to be more independent, creative and discerning. I also realized that although China is developing rapidly, there are still big gaps between her and developed countries like the United States. Filling those gaps is a great reason to go abroad.