Abbey Francis/Opinions Editor
According to the U.S. State Department’s website, Third-Culture Kids like me “have spent their growing up years in a foreign country and experience a sense of not belonging to their passport country when they return to it.”
I am international, but I have never lived in a place for longer than four years. I am also American, but I’ve never felt at home in this country.
I, like others, find myself prone to culture shock. When I was interviewing both international students and other third-culture kids for this article, I felt a sense of relief. Through listening to their stories about acclimating to the University, I’ve uncovered and assuaged my own feelings about the transition.
I first visited the Associate Dean for International Student Affairs Alice Hadler. She smiled as she described this year’s international orientation.
“It was pretty much like last year,” she said. “The whole disruption [of Hurricane Irene] set us back a bit, but everyone got here. ISO [International Student Orientation] was a little rushed, but anything that might have been missed can be fixed with a one-on-one session.”
With this in mind, I asked students how they felt about orientation.
Achiaa Prempeh ’15, who is from Ghana, has been quite happy with the University experience thus far.
“It’s been great here, but surprisingly hectic,” she said.
She chose Wesleyan to please her mom, but has grown to love the place.
Tai Dupree Tan ’15 had a similar experience.
“Wesleyan was among my top choices, and an alum recommended that it would be the best place for me,” he said.
As an American-Malaysian living in Guatemala, he is still getting used to the lifestyle here. Marco Martinez ’15 is one of many students who share this feeling of culture shock.
“It’s hard getting used to the weather and the legal drinking age,” he added.
ISO has proved to be a useful tool in getting the international students to embrace their new lives at the University. Now that they have arrived at the University, the international students are participating in activities as disparate as working at the women’s health clinic in Hartford and engaging in parkour. They want to experience as much as they can, since the University’s environment is drastically different from the cultures they are used to.
As an international student, I understand the difficulties of transition, and getting used to a whole new location without prior preparation. It may take a while to adjust to life on campus, but with the comfortable environment and easily accessible resources, most international students will inevitably begin to feel that the University is a second home.