On America
story by Amy Cooper :: photos by Emily Horne and Abra Williams-Witkzy
Facing a foreign country and culture where you can’t speak your native language is a challenge. Five international students share their experiences.
Xinyue Yao
Sophomore international relations and affairs major from China
Expectations before she arrived: Xinyue says she thought the United States was the land of freedom, but also a place where the law is strictly enforced. She imagined a place full of big cities with tall buildings. Instead, she got miles of countryside and animals. “The only tall building I have seen is the library on campus.”
How people react to her: She says, although people are very friendly and accommodating, she finds it difficult to make friends with American students. It is tough for her to find topics to discuss with them in social settings. She says it’s easier to interact with other international students who go through the same challenges that she does. “I think it is just two cultures with different interests.”
Challenges in class: Xinyue struggles to keep up with the lectures in class because English is not her first language. “Americans can get through assigned reading quickly, but I take hours looking up the words in my dictionary to get through it.”
Teejay Avans
Freshman aerospace systems engineering major from Kenya
Expectations before he arrived: Avans says he expected a lot more culture and advanced technology than what he found when he arrived here.
How people react to him: He says people are very inquisitive about his culture and ask a lot of questions about his country. “People have asked me if my dad is the king of Kenya and if I hunt. They call me ‘Kenya.’ Everyone wants to hang out with the kid from Africa.”
How Americans are different: He thinks people are very open and tend to show more emotion. “It is unacceptable for men to cry or show any emotion in Kenya. Even if your mom or sister died, you are not allowed to cry.”
Andreea Patrasc
Freshman sports management science major from Romania
First impression of America: Patrasc thinks everyone is intelligent and different from the people in Romania. “People in the United States work as one big team.”
How people react to her: She has found Americans are sociable but admits to getting frustrated, as she is struggling to be herself because her English is not very good. “I miss my personality. I am normally outgoing with my friends at home.”
Challenges in class: “I can’t understand the teacher sometimes, and I do not like having to do speeches in front of the class,” she says.
Teta Gisa
Freshman international relations and affairs major from Rwanda
How people reacted to her: “They are so friendly, but they talk so fast it is hard to keep up with them at times,” Gisa says.
Does she believe in the American dream? “The American dream definitely does exist. It just is something that is acquired with time and lots of hard work.”
Hanging onto her identity: Gisa says she thinks she’ll always keep her identity as a Rwandan woman, but being exposed to so many cultures in the United States will also be better. “Learning about all different types of people helps me to be more accepting of different cultures,” she says.
Meenakshi Das
Junior psychology and pre-med major from India
Expectations before she arrived: She was worried that American teaching styles would be different. Another major concern was being alone in a foreign country. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do basic stuff because, in India, my family had maids to do everything for us.”
How she adapted to the food: Das ate fruit for a whole month when she first arrived because she found American food too unhealthy. She didn’t have access to home-cooked meals, so she had to settle for fast food and what was available on campus. “I got sick a lot and had to gradually find healthier places to eat.”
John Kamau
Freshman biology/pre-med major from Kenya
Expectations before he arrived: “I thought America would be this paradise and futuristic,” he says.
First impression of America: “It is a lot like Kenya, just much colder,” he says. “It is overrated.”
How people react to him: Kamau has made many American friends and has found it easy to be socially accepted. “People get very excited when they hear I am from another country.”
Malik Fakhar
2009 alumnus in psychology from Pakistan
Expectations before he arrived: Fakhar thought America was diverse and full of endless opportunities. “I thought America was a very fast-paced country,” he says. “My image of it was based off New York City.”
First impression of America: He found that different regions, states and cities were unique in their own way. “Your lifestyle can be drastically different depending on where you live in America,” he says.
What he dislikes about America: Fakhar does not like the social hierarchy of America. He feels there’s a huge gap between rich and poor, as well as many stereotypes. “I think people’s lives here are setup so they are constantly working, where as in other countries, people do not work so much.”
I am not happy about how my words have been portrayed in this article. I have so many good things to say about America, but the only things that have been quoted are the very few negatives I mentioned (and I probably had one or two negative things to say among the many many positive things I said). I love my experience hear and consider myself very fortunate to receive the kind of education I am receiving in America. I don’t want to speak for the other international students, but I feel this article is very stereotyped, showing how all international students have a hard time here. That is not true at all for my case. It’s a definitely different experience, but different is not bad!
Did I learn to adapt to the new lifestyle? Of course! But it was my choice to come here and I absolutely love it. So for the editors and writers of the magazine, I hope you realize this article reflects very very poorly on Kent State International students’ experience…and I am pretty sure MOST of them have a lovely experience here and don’t only look to criticize America.
i think much of what meenakshi has said has been misinterpreted. that is definitely not how she feels about america.