Proving that you can take the student out of the Sociology Department, but you can’t take the Sociology out of the student, I found myself attending a Sociology seminar this morning at Sabaragamuwa University.The topic: “University and Stress” an experience that seems to be a cross cultural universal! Acting as discussion facilitators we were asked to talk about stressors experienced by students in the United Kingdom. We discussed numerous topics ranging from examinations and dissertations, to financial worries, homesickness and house “mates”, before comparing stresses experienced by students in Sri Lanka. The discussion highlighted lots of interesting differences experienced by British and Sri Lankan students, namely differences in funding for Higher Education, in Sri Lanka university education is free! However, I soon discovered student life in Sri Lanka is far from stress free, many students talked of the stress of having to learn English in addition to Sinhala and Tamil, whilst others talked of the difficulties of living and studying in dormitories housing seven other students. We then focused on coping strategies, discussing both formal welfare programmes at the University and College level and practical advice about eating healthily, getting enough sleep, talking to friends and playing sport.We found ourselves practicing what we preached in the afternoon when we joined some students in a badminton practice. We were once again overwhelmed by the generosity of the students, giving up their equipment and time to coach us. After some training we partnered the students for a game of mixed doubles before letting them show us how it was really done! After a few games of badminton we exchanged phone numbers and promised a rematch. The students here are so welcoming that they agreed to subject themselves to our attempts at badminton again the following day and I am sure that we will keep in touch with many of the friends we have made here through playing sport and leading discussions for years to come.