{"id":3387,"date":"2020-03-02T05:38:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T05:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/practicing-self-care-as-an-international-researcher-4-researchers-share-their-experiences\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:30:17","slug":"how-i-practiced-self-care-as-an-international-researcher-4-researchers-share-their-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/how-i-practiced-self-care-as-an-international-researcher-4-researchers-share-their-experiences","title":{"rendered":"Practicing self-care as an international researcher: 4 Researchers share their experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love mangoes. Unsurprising, given the place they occupy in Indian culture. However, as an international student in Syracuse, New York, I got more rain and snow than mangoes. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A week before my graduation ceremony I was standing in the chilly aisle of the local supermarket, feeling homesick. My family could not make it for my graduation. It was summer back home in Mumbai \u2013 the height of mango season. That\u2019s when I saw them \u2013 dried mangoes. I grabbed a packet. As I passed the juice display, I grabbed some mixed mango juice. I stopped at the freezer and got some mango sorbet ice cream (Pro tip: Talenti is pretty close in taste to Alphonso Mango). As if this wasn\u2019t enough for my mango cravings (or homesickness), I even made a quick stop at an Asian supermarket to pick up some mango rice pudding, just because I was feeling adventurous. I wish I could say I celebrated with that sorbet and juice on graduation day, but I finished the entire lot over that weekend. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When you\u2019re missing home and #mango season #India #summer #indiansummer<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Alyssa G Lobo<\/a> (@lyslobz) on

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While homesickness is a common experience among all students who\u2019re away from their home town or home country, research scholars face their own, unique set of problems when working in a country that is not their own. Along with the typical academic stress associated with grad school, international researchers often deal with other problems such as isolation due to cultural differences, high family expectations, troubles adapting to new climatic conditions, and pressures that come from living in another country.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To know more, I asked a few researchers who had moved away from home a few questions about the problems they faced and how they practiced self-care to deal with them: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What were the biggest causes of stress for you as an international student\/researcher?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How did you deal with these stressors?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What did you think about self-care? How did you practice self-care?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Erin Dyer Saxon<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Projects Administration Manager, University College London, and researcher in conflict resolution <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The main causes of stress for me as an international researcher were bureaucratic, financial, and professional. I studied in Ireland twice: once in 2003-2004 and again from 2007-2010. In between those two times, the regulations changed and I had to learn new visa rules. Also, the system of becoming a legitimate student at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) was a maze – I found that by writing my own steps down, I could help other international students and researchers. At the time, TCD didn’t have any institutional body that served international students, so I became that person. I am happy to say that the university has since filled this staffing gap and taken much more of a leading role in supporting international students.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I self-funded my doctoral programme through US student loans, so unlike American programmes I was not funded by the institution and not beholden to terms of those contracts. I was restricted when it came to the number of hours I could work per week because of my student visa. Money was tight and I had to make it last – during a recession. I was so focused on the financial squeeze at the time, I didn’t think about the costs of borrowing later, and that had a lasting financial impact on me from my time as an international researcher.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, as an international student, many programmes didn’t serve me since I was a non-EU native. I found that there was little investment in ensuring their international students were confident about applying their very expensive degrees back in their home countries. Many times at career events the speakers essentially frowned when you were not an EU applicant. So, when I inevitably was unable to find lasting work in Ireland, I returned home with little guidance about my next steps.\u00a0 Smaller stressors for me were managing family relationships while afar. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I found that becoming a part of the college community helped me greatly \u2014 from the Junior Common Room and the Graduate Students’ Union, I could advocate for other international students and researchers from a position of influence. I also took my work seriously. I gave myself a 3-year deadline to complete my PhD and I succeeded in doing this. This ensured that these stressors did not balloon more than they already had.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I also made sure I treated my degree as a \u20189-5\u2019 job; this meant that I was able to make plans with friends in the evenings and weekends without guilt. I made sure I continued those social relationships and often switched to drinking non-alcoholic beer and opting for meet ups over tea and coffee rather than late nights. During my field research, I took brief time out for myself, including a weekend away and celebrating holidays with the host family that I lived with.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not sure I actively thought about self-care at the time. In retrospect, I practiced self-care by respecting the boundaries of when I was working on my research and when I was not. By funding my research degree myself, I was able to define my schedule. I was fortunate enough to work with a supervisor and a department that respected that, too. I made sure to see my family in the US once or twice a year, and they would make time to visit me too.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was through my involvement with the student-run bodies that I feel I got the most out of my time at Trinity. I think those experiences allowed me to explore friendships and camaraderie outside of my studies that was vital for my long-term health and wellbeing. Being a part of these student organisations helped me develop new ways of thinking and working with people and projects beyond my own research, and that creativity was a lifeline in itself.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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Amruta Ranade<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Senior Tech writer at Cockroach Labs<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Amruta Ranade had a different perspective on self-care among international graduate students:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n