在國際化趨勢之下，留學在現代已成了一愈來愈普遍的現象。從客觀面向來看，留學是一種學位取得的方式。但若從個人的角度出發，留學生活中所要面對的種種挑戰與磨練，以及留學生在其中所得到的收穫與學習，恐怕就非學位取得一事所能含括。本研究透過傳記研究法，訪談6位在德國留學之女學生，試圖從兩個切面來探討留學這一現象。一方面，將留學看成是一重大生活事件，試著從發展心理學的角度來理解女留學生在留學中所面對的挑戰，以及在其中所發展出來的因應策略；另一方面，異國的生活則被視為是一種與陌生世界接觸的經驗。在此兩面向的關照下，本研究進一步闡釋留學所具有的教育意義。

With the trend of globalization, studying abroad has become a universal phenomenon in modern society. From the objective viewpoint, studying abroad is a kind of acquisition of an academic degree. But it doesn’t narrate the whole story of studying abroad, if we take all the challenges, with which students are confronted, and the lessons they learn during their staying abroad, into consideration. This study, in which six Taiwan female students in Germany have participated, uses biography as research method and tries to analyze their life abroad from two aspects: on one hand, studying abroad is viewed as a critical life event. The challenges these students faced with and the strategies they develop are analyzed from the view of developmental psychology; on the other hand, the life in a foreign country is regarded as experiences, in which the contacts with a strange world take place. At last, based on these two viewpoints we will interpret the educational meaning of studying abroad.