An American adventure, international style

By Jakub Szymanski
Cardinal Staff

You may ask why I am writing about international students. I write because I believe that every student at Saint Mary’s University is their own breed of international student, either because of the distance from home, different cultural background, or simply because they feel alone and alienated.
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Diversity in the student body is an important factor in providing education to all students because we have the opportunity to learn from different experiences, beliefs and perspectives. These differences challenge stereotyped preconceptions and encourage critical thinking – essential skills of an educated person.

I believe that SMU and its students are extremely lucky to be a second home for students from over 10 different nationalities. Those international students may have different ages, backgrounds, cultures, or religions. They may come here to improve their English or get their master’s degree, but they all have one thing in common.They are people in transition who decided to live in a foreign academic setting to realize their educational objectives, away from friends, families and relatives.

For most of them, the first weeks are a phase of excitement when they are discovering a new place and new people. However, after a couple of weeks, they start to feel frustration, boredom and homesickness. Can you imagine coming to a college with only 70 pounds of luggage, and the thought of not seeing home for the next couple of months? How would you feel if you had to spend Thanksgiving or Easter several thousand miles away from your family, sitting in your dorm over break? What about leaving a girlfriend or boyfriend that you dated for the last couple of years? A long-distance relationship is extremely hard to maintain.

For me , the transition from the European way of life into the American one was a long and exhausting process. College education in the United States is different from a European university. Homework, in-class discussions, presentations, essays, and pop quizzes are not a part of the academic routine in Europe. Both systems have their positive and negative aspects, but I believe that most students from Europe and Asia find the American education system less rigid and friendlier. Add differences in culture, language, or even food to that and you will have a feeling of it means to be an international student.

From a personal aspect, I regret that it took me two years to adjust to a new environment. To avoid the mistakes I made because of my fears, freshmen and returning students should get involved in the huge variety of activities at SMU. We can build a friendly environment and a safe community, which helps us appreciate that we are all uniquely different.