Remember when you thought being an adult meant unlimited freedom — buying anything you want, staying up late, going on spontaneous trips?
It’s not. It’s mostly managing money, juggling stress, and existential dread at 3 a.m.
Tep Khemarin Chan, from Siem Reap, Cambodia, figured that out early.
He’s being living alone abroad since he was 15, when he left home to study at Leysin American School in Switzerland (LAS) in Switzerland.
Chan graduated from Leysin American School as the Salutatorian of his class. Source: Tep Khemarin Chan
What no one tells you about going to a boarding school abroad
Chan’s journey to living alone abroad at a boarding school was not on his 2018 bingo card.
He had a friend studying in Italy and was curious how he got there. The answer? A boarding school scholarship
“Not a lot of people know about this,” he says. “Most assume boarding schools abroad are too expensive. But a lot of them offer scholarships because they want to encourage a diverse student body.”
So Chan gave it a shot. He applied to LAS, passed the interview, and became the second ever Cambodian to join the school.
“No one believed me at the time, because everything was done online,” he says. “Right up until I left, everyone in my family thought I was getting scammed.”
Living alone abroad gave Chan chances to try new things, like going to a Model United Nations (MUN) conference at Le Rosey. Source: Tep Khemarin Chan
A second home in the Alps
LAS is a family owned and run boarding school in the heart of the Swiss Alps that offers an American-style education.
“They really emphasise family values,” Chan says. “That made being away from home so much easier.”
One of the ways LAS fosters this support is through Faculty Families.
Every student joins a “family” made up of faculty “parents” and 20 to 30 students from different classes.
Together, they form a mini community, and these families would meet weekly for dinners, movie nights, tobogganing and more.
“In a way, I was living alone abroad,” Chan explains, “but I always had people I could turn to. And that made all the difference.”
@tepkhemarin Your boi got a Bachelor of Architectural Studies now!!! #architecture #graduation #graduation2025 #uoa #auckland ♬ original sound – tepkhemarin
Is living alone abroad a good idea?
In 2024, Chan graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, surrounded by his close friends. Source: Tep Khemarin Chan
1. Better learning environment
Education systems in Asia are notorious for being strict and competitive. There’s the Gaokao in China, the hardest college entrance exam in the world.
In South Korea, middle and high school students attend “hagwon” (학원), after-school cram schools.
They take multiple subjects, commonly English, Korean, Maths, and Science and study till 10 p.m. everyday.
This is because they are under extreme pressure to secure spots in the country’s most prestigious SKY universities: Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University.
In Cambodia, Chan faced his own version of this system. He was under constant academic pressure, with little time for anything else.
At his school, students took exams every month, and the results were posted on a board for everyone to see.
“One time, I got a really low grade in chemistry,” he shares. “That really affected me. Everyone could see it. No one said anything, but I felt a lot of pressure to do better.”
Study and living alone abroad in Switzerland was much easier for Chan.
He had fewer subjects, and in Year 10, he was already familiar with the topics in class because he had already learned them in Cambodia.
He just had to relearn them in English, and this helped him get comfortable living in a new language.
He then enrolled in the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) programme and chose six subjects: English, Spanish, Geography, Physics, Maths, and Visual Arts.
“This time, I got to study what I actually cared about,” he says. “I picked subjects that matched my future goals — I wanted to be an architect.”
And with no extra tutoring or cram classes, Chan found a better study life balance.
“There were office hours if we had questions,” he explains. “But other than that, I had time for hobbies and to just live a little.”
Besides architecture, Chan is committed to giving back to his community. He’s designed a mobile library for Roots Cambodia, an NGO that provides free English classes to over 100 students. Source: Tep Khemarin Chan
2. Understanding me
Living alone abroad wasn’t always easy for Chan. Being far from family, he often felt lonely — but it also gave him the space to figure out who he really was.
For one, he realised he’s more of an extrovert than he thought.
The Western classroom helped bring that out in him.
“Teachers often ask for our thoughts during class,” he says. “It was so different from what I was used to in Asia, where I kept my head down and stayed quiet. I was too nervous to even ask questions.”
So for other students unsure about studying abroad, he says to go for it. He sees his time living alone abroad as life-changing; it was a chance to grow, find his sense of self and the confidence to express it.
Chan also used his design skills to create “Extraordinary People of Cambodia.” It’s filled with illustrations of 20 people who made a big difference in Cambodia or for Khmer communities. Source: Tep Khemarin Chan
Growing from adulting abroad
After three years living alone in Switzerland, Chan moved to New Zealand to study architecture at the University of Auckland.
He’s always loved drawing and being creative, and it helped that architecture was a perfect mix of art and science.
“In Asia, people see architecture more of a STEM major, something very technical,” he says. “It’s true that I still use maths and physics, but it’s a lot of design as well.”
He was also inspired by his hometown, where he grew up next to Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest religious monument in the world.
Surrounded by centuries of architectural legacy, he developed a deep appreciation for design and its impact on people.
Moving to New Zealand, Chan figured he had living alone abroad all figured out. After all, he’d done it in Switzerland.
But he quickly realised that life here would be very different.
“In Switzerland, I was in a bit of a bubble,” he says. “Everything was paid for, classes were downstairs and my dorm’s upstairs. I didn’t have to worry about bills or work and got three meals a day. I just had to focus on my studies.”
In New Zealand though, Chan no longer had the safety and comfort he had before.
Here, most first-year university students live on campus first before moving out on their own. Universities encourage this for students to get used to living on their own.
But Chan started living off campus right away. He stayed in an Airbnb and then found a flat. And this time, he had more things to worry about, like paying bills, sticking to a budget, and working a part-time job.
“It was tough coming to terms that I was now a full-on adult,” he says. “But it was also really liberating.”
Chan worked 20 hours a week during the semester and full-time during summer break. “I was able to cover my living costs and I’m grateful that my parents could help with my tuition. That was one less thing to worry about.”
It was hard to keep up that routine, but he’s proud that he could earn his own money.
“It’s just one of the challenges of living alone abroad, and I’m very happy that I had this experience to grow.”
