Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Bringing the World to the United States
Take a Moment to Ponder:
Take a minute to think about your life. Your family, your home, your job, your car, the local supermarket. Chances are you have settled into a routine and have been living this way for a while. What if you now had to pack everthing and move to another town, another city?
It probably wouldn't be such a big deal because Americans are a pretty mobile community. They move around frequently during their lifetime, holding different jobs and living in different homes. Many American students move away from home every year to go to college in different parts of the country.
But what if you had to pack and leave to another country? No, not for a trip or a professional assignment, but to live. To have a home, a job, attend school and form a brand new social circle in.
Daunting?
What if you were only 20 something or younger when you decide to?
The Facts:
Several students from all over the world choose to pursue school and higher degrees at foreign universities every year. The U.K. and Australia are just some of the popular picks. But one of the most-sought destinations is undoubtedly the United States. Students from over a hundred countries flock to America's world-class colleges, offering numerous opportunities and the learning of a lifetime.
The Concerns:
However, while a foreign education is usually a great experience, international students have certain unique struggles to deal with. I speak from personal experience being an international student from India and currently attending an American university.
For example, international students have to find accommodation before they arrive in the country. Although many universities do provide student housing assistance, international students usually decide on a place to stay without even looking at it. All transactions are done online and they have to use good judgment in deciding whether its a secure one or not. With most rental leases having a fixed time period, it usually means
they have to take what they sign up for, at least for a while, even if they may not like it entirely.
They have cultural issues to encounter when they reach the United States. You don't need to remove your shoes at the entrance when you enter someone's home? This is the custom in India. It is so hard to find good arepas in Boston. This is a favorite food in Venezuela. It's kind of like a sandwich. Where will I go for my weekly prayer service? Will I understand the United States if my native language is not English!
A professor of mine told his class of international students, "You look at the glass as half empty. I look at the glass as half full." He was giving us a pep talk to not wallow in the helplessness that many of us feel at the disadvantages we perceive in comparison to American students.
Apart from the obvious ones of language difficulties and coping with the course load along with an entirely different teaching system as compared to the ones that they may be familiar with in our home countries, international students are not eligible for most kinds of financial aid. This means that they must be able to pay the full amount of their tuition on their own.
International students cannot be registered as part-time students and are granted only 60 days to find a job after they graduate. If those 60 days come to an end and they still haven't found a job, they must return to their home country. At the end of the first year of work, they have to find an employer who is willing to sponsor their visa. Failure to do so again results in them having to return to their country.
Along with these concerns, international students have to battle with feelings of homesickness, having left family, friends and all things familiar miles and miles away.
On the Up Side:
Besides having the chance to study in a foreign country and that itself being a fabulous opportunity, international students also enjoy several benefits.
For starters, the experience allows most to gain a fresh perspective, because of being thrust into an alien environment. To say that the process opens the mind would be an understatement. It's more like it gets blown open.
The chance to meet and become friends with people of markedly different backgrounds than themselves makes many international students more tolerant of others differences and more appreciative of different cultures.
As ironic as it may seem, living away from home in a foreign country often facilitates the realization of one's own sense of belonging. Most international students didn't need to reflect on the culture they most closely subscribe to. But now that is an inevitable process. They become surer of the culture they want to adopt, whether it's the one they originally came from or the new one they have recently discovered.
The Conclusion:
It's clear that being an international student is an interesting experience. There are plenty of difficulties to solve but the enormous advantages usually make it all worth it.
So despite the odds, foreign universities will continue to remain a top choice for students around the world.
Because learning often begins when we decide to step out of our comfort zone. I'm an international student and loving every minute of it!
