Abstract: The research is to identify all potential barriers that result from the lack of proper preparation of students before studying at a foreign university and make full and effective adaptation in the new environment difficult. One of the research tools is in-depth interview. The objectives are the identification of factors that impede the students’ full and effective adaptation in the new academic environment. These factors are: communication in a foreign language; different teaching and evaluation system; incorrect flow of information and cultural differences. The findings confirm the project’s main hypothesis about the students’ difficulties when going international for their studies. The problems are more or less the same no matter the nationality and the sex of the students. The basic problems have to do with the communication, culture and everyday arrangements at home and at the university, e.g. secretariat or academic staff announcements and course organization.