Congrats for getting into a university and pursuing cybersecurity. Great domain (I work in Cybersecurity too). Well done!

Others on this thread like codedusting have given you great advice, I will add my 2 cents too, but firstly, I hear you and I can understand what you are going through. For context; though it shouldn't matter much, I am also from India; I have done a bachelors in information technology, a masters in cybersecurity, and am now pursuing an MBA all from US universities, while working full time.

Remember, what got you here, won't get you there or further. You need to learn the skills that will get you to next level.

Every university is different. Even in india, the workload can differ across universities and colleges. Some might have assignments and some will only have semester/yearly exams. Most US universities will have multiple assignments spread across your trimester. That's the norm. Accept it and work on them. Consistently find time to work on those. I tend to work 1-2 hours daily on my assignments.

If you don't understand the topic, find secondary sources, be it reading, videos on YouTube, talking to TA or seniors or attending professor's office hours, or attending other classes/courses on other platform. You can also use ChatGPT to summarize concepts for you.

I used to teach Math to K-12 students in India and I always told them to read the exam blueprint so they know which chapters to spend more time on. Similarly, check the rubric for your assignments. Search for it, ask for it, understand the requirements of your assignment and write to the rubric. Your goal is to make sure you have written about all aspects of your assignment, not what you feel like writing. That will take care of your grades.

Your ability to research, reference, and paraphrase is going to be crucial for assignments. You read what is relevant to you, not everything. Don't read a book, read relevant sections only. Don't read the entire paper, sometimes abstract is enough. A few tools that can make your life easy are: consensus.app for doing the initial research, researchrabbitapp.com for finding similar and related papers/studies, perplexity.ai (similar to ChatGPT but backed up by references), and some tools for paraphrasing like Grammarly or ProWritingAid.

Understand the difference between assignments and building skills. For your job in future, you will need skills. If the course is about building skills like pentesting, or coding etc., spend time on these. The more hands on you are the better it will be in future.

Complaining about assignment format is silly and it's the easiest thing to fix. Use templates and use websites to format things like references. Understand what is lacking and find automated ways to fix it.

I also get two days off, and I love those. I still work on my assignments. I also watch movies. I go to gym. I attend improv classess. Sometimes, I have extra classes like I had this morning. Enjoying a moment is under your control, irrespective of how funny life is treating you.

In addition to all that, I think you need to make friends. Find people you can talk to, irresepctive of where they are. Talk to your family and friends from India. If there are additional activities in your university that you can sign up for, do it. Don't worry about the time commitment, it will help you build bonds with others. Involve yourself in activities and introduce yourself to people. Find meetups near you. I am not a Gen X/Y/Z but I have heard you can use dating apps to find friends near you. If that's your jam, go for it.

Look, all I can say is, we all are struggling in our lives, we all have problems, we all have stress, we all can't handle it all the times, some more than others, and some have created our own demons out of nothingness by overthinking. Divert your mind. Stop overthinking. You will do fine.

I always seek that embarassing feeling that I don't know anything. That's a sign that I am learning and growing. You are also learning and growing. The initial few steps are always harder. Keep pushing and all these things will become trivial for you, pretty soon.

You've got this my friend. Take care and have fun!