The first few weeks

When you first come to Sri Lanka for your studies, you might experience some degree of culture shock. However, Sri Lanka has an interesting balance between traditional values and modern thinking, especially in the cities, so it should be easy to adapt no matter which type of environment you’re accustomed to.
One thing that you might find confusing is the way places are named; outside of Colombo, most places are named in Sinhala, which can prove to be difficult to read or pronounce, even though they’re spelled out in English! Fortunately, locals will usually be willing to help you out if you ask.
Since Sri Lanka has such a multicultural population, it won’t be long before you find a group of like-minded people who will be able to give you valuable advice and provide you with a sense of community. What’s more, when you join college or university, there will be a series of orientation events and parties to help you settle in and make lots of friends.