My name is Tanishq and at 17, I packed my bags and moved to Ireland to study at TUS Moylish Campus in Limerick. Having been born and raised in different countries, moving wasn’t completely unfamiliar to me, what was new was doing it alone. For the first time, I was leaving home, stepping outside my comfort zone and starting a new chapter without really knowing what to expect. Now, I’m in Year 3 of my Bachelor’s in Forensic and Pharmaceutical Science, and when I look back, I realise just how much those first few years have changed me.
One thing that still surprises me about Ireland is the weather. You can leave home in sunshine, get caught in the rain ten minutes later and somehow experience all four seasons in one day. Talking about the weather eventually just becomes part of life here but my biggest challenge in those first few weeks was learning how to put myself out there. When you move somewhere and barely know anyone, you quickly realise that you have to make the effort to meet people. I had to push myself to become more outgoing, start conversations and step outside my comfort zone. It wasn’t always easy, but the friendships I made became one of the most important parts of settling in.
A normal week is a mix of lectures, labs, flexible working hours, assignments, studying and trying to convince myself that I definitely did not leave everything until the last minute but somewhere along the way, I also learned that university life cannot only be about deadlines and grades.
You need time with your friends. You need time to explore. You need time to laugh, switch off, and sometimes just sit somewhere quietly with your own thoughts. That balance matters, especially when you are trying to build a life in a completely new country.
Over time, Limerick stopped feeling like somewhere I had moved to and started feeling like home. Working with TUS as a Global Student Experience Assistant over the last few months has made that feeling even stronger. I’ve met some genuinely wonderful people and had experiences I never expected when I first arrived. The people around me have become like a second family. Even the thought that this chapter will one day come to an end feels strange. It has become such a big part of my life that imagining the day I eventually move on already feels more emotional than I expected. I’ve also learned that making another country feel like home does not happen overnight. It happens through people, friendships, experiences, routines and the little places you discover along the way.
If I could give one piece of advice to a new international student, it would be this: don’t expect yourself to have everything figured out immediately.
Homesickness may always be there in some form, but slowly you learn how to live with it while building a new life for yourself. Meet people, explore, make mistakes, ask for help and give yourself time to adapt. There will be difficult days and setbacks, but there will also be friendships, memories and experiences that shape you in ways you never expected.
At 17, I came to Ireland not knowing what to expect, today, I can proudly say that TUS and Limerick feel like home and I think that says more about my experience here than anything else could.