2008 Woodie Awards
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The Scene
International students adjust to AU
By ARLIENE T. PENN on 4/10/08
There are only a few more weeks to go before the spring semester comes to an end. Some students are preparing for graduation, and others are preparing for upcoming exams and projects. Unfortunately, while all that excitement continues to spread on campus, many students, especially those studying on international student visas, are faced with an added task: They are experiencing culture shock. And many are still not adjusted to their new environment.
As an international transfer student from the British Virgin Islands studying communications, I surely suffered my fair share of culture shock. My first semester was a complete disaster. Moving away from the 59 square miles I had called home and finding a place in an enormous foreign country was completely frightening. So, it got me thinking: What is the whole experience like for the hundreds of other international students attending AU today?
"I had underestimated the challenges I would face being away from home," said Stephanie Ayeh, a sophomore in the School of International Service. "I found it difficult to converse with other students because I had a different accent."
Ayeh is from Ghana. The social values in her new environment conflicted with her own, she said.
"People seemed more independent of each other in friendships, and there is less personal contact than I am use to," she said. "In Ghana, your friends were people you were in class with and so on. But here I found that many people rarely forged any relationships inside the classroom."
Maxine Ariot, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the differences between her home country of Haiti and the United States took some getting used to.
"I had to get accustomed to not saying good morning and afternoon all the time," she said. "I just learned to smile more."
Greeting a person in Haiti is a must, she said.
"It is an important part of the West Indian culture," she said. "I was shocked when people hardly answered me as I walked on campus, but I am over that now."
As an international transfer student from the British Virgin Islands studying communications, I surely suffered my fair share of culture shock. My first semester was a complete disaster. Moving away from the 59 square miles I had called home and finding a place in an enormous foreign country was completely frightening. So, it got me thinking: What is the whole experience like for the hundreds of other international students attending AU today?
"I had underestimated the challenges I would face being away from home," said Stephanie Ayeh, a sophomore in the School of International Service. "I found it difficult to converse with other students because I had a different accent."
Ayeh is from Ghana. The social values in her new environment conflicted with her own, she said.
"People seemed more independent of each other in friendships, and there is less personal contact than I am use to," she said. "In Ghana, your friends were people you were in class with and so on. But here I found that many people rarely forged any relationships inside the classroom."
Maxine Ariot, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the differences between her home country of Haiti and the United States took some getting used to.
"I had to get accustomed to not saying good morning and afternoon all the time," she said. "I just learned to smile more."
Greeting a person in Haiti is a must, she said.
"It is an important part of the West Indian culture," she said. "I was shocked when people hardly answered me as I walked on campus, but I am over that now."
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