Rebekah Nathan's My Freshman Year

In the article, “Colleges Adapt to New Kinds of Students from Abroad,” Karin Fischer (2011) explains the increase of foreign students in U.S. universities leads to make more problems in campus and how universities are trying to overcome those problems and help foreign students to adapt to campus. Fischer explains the increase of the foreign undergraduate students due to the support from foreign governments. Fischer quotes Wesley Young, the director of services for international students and scholars at the University of California at Davis, to discuss that the increase of foreign undergraduate students especially requires more care and help than graduate students. While older students know what they need to do and what to do in U.S. university,

Why does international students tend to group themselves away from American students? What are some possible aspects that cause difficulties for international students to make American friends? In Karin Fischer’s article, she used the online questionnaire that professor Elisabeth Gareis conducted on international students in America to answer those questions proposed above. This survey’s result claims that cultural and regional differences affect international students to have difficulties when trying to make American friends. This research was conducted on various non-American students with different genders, cultural backgrounds and circumstances. Not even half of the participants responded that they have a good friendship with American students. Karin argues that students’ home region, university’s location and language differences took critical roles which made a barrier between international

In Frank Bruni’s article “The Real Campus Scourge,” the main argument that many college freshmen are extremely lonely at the start of their college careers is supported by numerous testimonials and statistics, which add to the credibility of the argument and ultimately make the argument very believable.

When I first come here, it is tough for me to make friends because all of the students here come from different backgrounds. I managed to overcome that problem by engaging with the clubs’ activities and participating in volunteering programs. I improved my self-confidence by make a lot of friends from day to day. This gives me a good impression that being in a wonderful college like Bunker Hill Community College really helps students to build themselves by brushing up their potentials. By connecting with people every day and knowing others, we can brush up our communication skills as well as widen our knowledge. Based from these experiences, I promised to myself to help the new students adapting themselves in the new world attracting them to get involved with clubs, activities and volunteering

In these dorms, the initial interactions that socially code us throughout college are initiated. These social interactions create and solidify bonds between students that can continue for the rest of their lives. A change to the demographics of the freshman dorms doesn’t just create an immediate effect, but also affects every current and future resident of UC Davis. A freshmen social group that is initially less diverse will lead to a less diverse group of friends throughout the remaining years of their undergraduate studies. This reduces their social group to a less diverse group of individuals, which reduces the chance for them to interact with other cultures and overcome any form of culture shock that they are affected by, whether it be here in UC Davis or later in their careers. Freshmen dorms are the only place that nurtures cultural interaction to create a UC Davis community that is ultimately more unified, accepting, and respectful of all people and their different cultures.

The students not involved with athletics made most of their friends freshmen year by living in freshman dorms. Jen Pascarelli, a middler physical therapy major, and not an athlete, said “I made most of my friends freshman year, I lived in White Hall, and everyone just left their doors open.” She also made many of her friends because of her major. “My major is so small, all of my classes have the same people in them, so we all get to know each other,” said Pascarelli. Most non-athletes spend the majority of their time in their dorm rooms freshman year, because they haven’t gotten to know the area very well yet, and are not able to go to many clubs and bars. The problem with this mode of making friends for athletes is the fact that very little time is spent ‘hanging out’ within

As the widespread population of teenage international student body growth, many more promising and upstanding students came to America to develop their better selves. When the first year they come, the very different environment would be a challenge for this young generation of student who just left the protection of their parents and familiar teachers and friends. The adjustment of academic will be a fundamentally challenging for them in many different aspects.

As I went through the research process for this paper I conducted many interviews with former classmates who are now either attending a four-year university or a local community college. The original intent was to find out their reasons for attending the institution they chose to attend. As I accumulated information I began to see a glaring trend in the relationship between the social group the individual was a member of and the college they ended up attending. This then drove me to further examine the influencing factors in these students’ social lives, in a hope of identifying the degree to which they are influenced by each other. Thus, the first part of the paper explores

College level requires students to be prepared at all cost to face various challenges and learn how to overcome them before it affects their future. College also instructs students to a higher level of responsibility and management at their work place, at their house, and everywhere they might be in contact with people. As an International Students, I have had ups and downs throughout my journey in High School, and college, and I have learned so much from my mistakes. My first

However, the change from home to college can be difficult for international students (Mesidor & Sly, 2016). While some international students find it easy to adjust to the transition, others international students find it challenging to adjust to the transition (Mesidor & Sly, 2016). Studies show that international students experience many challenges as a result of language and cultural barriers, academic difficulties, financial difficulties, medical issues, housing concerns, food differences, alienation, homesickness, lack of social support system, racial discrimination, and cross-cultural loss) (Akanwa, 2015; Guzman et al., 2015; Mesidor & Sly, 2016; Sherry et al., 2010; Smith & Khawaja, 2011; Tung, 2011; Zhang & Goodson, 2010). According to Prieto-Welch (2016), international students as a group are regarded as a main minority population in campuses

The students who do not adapt and choose to abstain are immediately labeled negatively. By choosing not to participate in the universal activity on campus, these students limit their social life. This is a tremendous sacrifice. College supposedly represents the best years a person’s of life. No one wants to miss out due to being perceived as overwrought and uptight. For this reason,

What if everyone sat alone for lunch, each company did not interact with other businesses, and everyone lived a life of solitude? During college, learning to interact with others plays a large role in shaping the individual. College life provides many opportunities for a student to become involved with others. This socialization can result in a person gaining many benefits, including preparation for the work world. Social development helps a student to meet new people as well as making a person aware of the diversity on a college campus like Saint Peter’s. Human traits have evolved because of the influence that our surroundings exert upon us. The manner in which a person socializes in his or her

In Nathan’s article, she keeps her principal focus on how foreign students interact with American students and the distinctive type of relationships that they build. It is quite strange to some of the foreign student’s that Nathan has interviewed about how non-committed American students are to the foreign students because American 's students do not socialize as much, and tends to spend more time alone. Furthermore, they will make small talk rather than being close friends or let it evolve into more. At that point, Nathan turns her center towards the difference between a relationship and a friendship between American and foreign students. She also discusses with different foreign students with different background and how they interact with their American roommates, and the relationship that they bond. In addition, American student’s family is a distinct subject from school but for international students, it is something naturally integrated into their social lives, which is why they care so much about their parents (Nathan 73). Furthermore, she discusses how many foreign students make comments about how different students look and the lack of attention that they give their professor compared to in their home country. Nevertheless, the social life and making companions in American can be quite troublesome for any foreign students. However, once you become acquainted with American students and get to be

This results in few friends and international students tending to isolate themselves or keeping to a group of the same language. Depression comes into effect for those that cannot find peers of the same language. Therefore being forced to have very or no friend which leads to loneliness and depression. The barrier between international students and English speaking students create obstacles that impede the building of interpersonal relationships with fellow students. International students not fluent with the English language experience difficulties that students who are fluent do not. They difficulties include needing extra time to read assigned reading, difficulties understanding class lectures and discussions, and difficulties communicating concerns and view points (Tam. K, Donghyuck. L, & Huang. L, 2007) International students tend to disconnect from their previous social life and find new connections to develop new social Support networks in their new host country (Tam. K, Donghyuck. L, & Huang. L, 2007). Pedersen (1991), point out that a loss of social support as an impact on the psychological well-being of an international student. The unpleasant experience of forming new support networks in host country leads to feeling of disappointment and discontent. Overtime, these feeling lead to social isolation (Mallinckrodt and Leong 1992).

International students face many different challenges when studying abroad. This is due to many factors. First, they are living in a country very far away from their own. The country they are studying at has a very different way of life than theirs. Further more, the laws in that country are much different than the laws in their own country. Due to that they face a lot of problems trying to adapt to this new culture. Me personally as an international student in the US studying at ASU, have faced three particularly difficult challenges that I was able to overcome through time. In this essay I will explain how international students can overcome tough challenges and situations.