Teaching in a new country initiates a process of adaptation requiring emotional, cognitive and behavioural adjustments. This qualitative study explores international lecturers' perceptions of their adaptation process in a South African university. The findings, based on semi-structured interviews with six lecturers from six different countries, indicate that teachers' agency and collegiality are crucial interrelated factors of adaptation. Agency and collegiality enabled lecturers to receive context-relevant information and decide how to modify their pedagogical practices. The description of the adaptation process provides new insights for staff induction programmes.