Chapter eight shifts focus to the qualitative findings of this study, offering an in-depth narrative exploration of the lived experiences of international students in South Africa and Germany. Through interviews, this chapter captures students’ personal stories as they navigate acculturative stress, engage with coping mechanisms, and interact with institutional support systems. These narratives provide a contextualised understanding of the patterns observed in the quantitative data, shedding light on how systemic barriers and personal resilience intersect in real-life settings. Chapter eight enriches the discussion by emphasising the students’ voices and perspectives, offering a human-centred lens to complement the statistical results presented in the preceding chapter.