You don't know where you can get drugs =) (joke)

Westerners enjoy talking about "integration". However, most of the time when you try to "integrate" you just get dirty looks. In my opinion, when you are living abroad you have to attach yourself to a goal and don't let anyone or anything bring you down, and learn from every single experience.

 

Most difficulties tend to be in adapting to change.  Most people are creatures of habit and live their lives with routines and being comfortable in theit surroundings.  For example, In North America (Canada & USA) most people are used to having super markets and super stores such as Walmart open 24 hours a day.  If they want ice cream or beer at 0300 they can go get ice cream and beer at 0300.   It is difficult for people who are used to this type of accommodation when living in a town or city where all stores close in the late afternoon or early evening.  Most people adapt quickly, it's just difficult when learning how things work in a new environment. From my experience the best thing to do is embrace the change and treat all challenges as a new adventure and everything will work out for the best.        

I think the most serious difficulty in a new country is the language. If they speak the language that you cannot talk and understand, you cannot communicate with people and ordinary activities such as shopping can be very difficult. I remember when I traveled to Turkey, Turkish people were extremely nice but It was really hard to talk to them. Sometimes you can speak the native language of the people but you are not proficient so you don't feel very comfortable and it is hard to convey your thoughts to the people. For instance, it has been almost two years that I am living in Canada and I am not still comfortable with English!