Most British people are friendly when you get to know them but cross-cultural friendships can take time to build. You may experience culture shock during your first few months in the UK.
Culture shock
Culture shock is more than feeling homesick and it is a normal reaction to living in a different country. You may find that you will go through many changes of mood, attitude and levels of contentment / discontentment / happiness and despair in the first few weeks and months of being in the UK. At first you may go through a 'honeymoon period' where everything is new, different, quaint and exciting. As time moves on, these new things (for example, different food, different weather, different customs) can change from being interesting and exciting to being irritating, annoying, confusing, frightening or depressing. Hopefully this stage of adjustment will not last too long.
Student support
As you start to adapt to being here, your confidence will grow as you begin to understand British culture and the environment you find yourself in. At that point you should start to enjoy and appreciate the new life you are leading and gain a lot from it. If you really struggle with homesickness or culture shock you will not be left to cope alone. The International Student Officer will be happy to listen and will help you to find ways to work through it.
For futher information about life in the UK, please visit: UK Student Life