You Can’t Get Here From There: Despite Challenges, International Students Arrive and Thrive

In my opinion, no segment of Penn State’s student body can match the determination of its newly-arrived international students.

I know, I know, the wrestlers and the football players—maybe all the athletes—put themselves through near-torturous workouts. But their pursuits don’t measure up to the multi-faceted gauntlet of challenges that our new students from faraway lands endured on the way to Happy Valley.

To start with, they had to achieve top-notch grades, demonstrate a high level of English proficiency and successfully apply for admission to Penn State. Then, unless they qualified for a major scholarship, they earned or borrowed enough money to pay room, board and tuition. Next, they filled out a myriad of forms and endured an intimidating interview to secure a visa. Finally, they made arrangements for planes, trains or automobiles to get them to State College before saying tearful goodbyes to their loved ones.

As they settled into their airline seats for departure from home, our new Penn Staters were probably feeling that they deserved a restful trip. But such an international journey to Happy Valley is rare, and it was especially rare this year.

YOU CAN’T GET HERE FROM THERE

Many incoming internationals fly to JFK Airport in New York and then take Megabus to State College because of its modest fares and express service. At least that’s what they did in the past. But an Aug. 14 announcement from its parent company, Coach USA, indicated that Megabus’ lines were being sold to another company. In the midst of this transition, hundreds of incoming international students, many already en route to State College, learned that their bus rides were canceled.

I spoke to a new freshman from China who got such news after his arrival at JFK.  Already exhausted from a 24-hour journey, this 19-year-old fellow named “Shi” was shocked by the news, and so was his older cousin, Mei, who traveled with him.

“I felt like it was a disaster,” said Mei. “It was so sudden. I booked the tickets like 10 days ago because I wanted to make our trip well-managed. So when I read the email, I said, ‘What can I do?’”

Mei and Shi explored a variety of options to reach State College, but seats were hard to find or connections difficult to understand. And that’s why they agreed to pay a whopping $700 for a private driver to take them to Happy Valley.

So how was Shi feeling when I spoke to him on his first morning in our community? Though weary from his trip and still adjusting to new surroundings, he rallied when I asked him, “Are you afraid or excited?”

“Excited!” he said with a huge smile, and I was reminded that international students are special—willing to sacrifice for a world-class education and resilient in adapting to new situations.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Now, as August turns to September, the need for ongoing grit is becoming more obvious to these remarkable students from other lands. But in talking personally with many of them, I’m convinced the success-to-failure ratio will be very high. Most are ready to meet the myriad of future challenges just as they met those in the past.

Some challenges are predictable. Of course, many students are homesick. Others are struggling to understand their American classmates who communicate with idiom-laden English. And speaking of English, imagine an international student trying to understand graduate-level science or philosophy from a lecturer who talks with a rapid-fire pace.

Many internationals also struggle with money burdens. Unless they have a generous scholarship, they must deal with high tuition—yes, definitely out-of-state—together with room and board. “I’m concerned about the money,” said David Hincapie, a Colombian student in Penn State Law’s world-famous LLM program (a one-year master’s degree). “But I think that the world works through credit—everybody has loans and credit. And I know that eventually I’ll pay it (his loan). It’s hard, but I’ll do it.”

Other challenges may seem trivial except to the concerned individual. For example, a Chinese man named Yuhang is pursuing a Ph.D. in biology with an emphasis on neurological disorders and he said “I’m a night owl. In Beijing, I can get delicious food at 2 a.m. Here, the city is closed late at night.”  Too bad, Yuhang, that a certain place called The Diner is no longer in operation.

CLEAN, GREEN, QUIET, FRIENDLY

The State College community drew high marks from newly-arrived internationals. For example, a Nigerian master’s student in mining engineering named Olusesan Ayodele said, “I find State College a very interesting town, although a small one, with a great university. And the people are open and lovely, very friendly and welcoming. I think I like it here, although coming from Berlin (he previously studied in Germany) to State College is like coming down from a big city to a small one.”

Arpan Ghosh, an Indian who is pursuing a Ph.D. in engineering sciences and mechanics, added more positive remarks: “I quite like the scenery of this place. The nature and the natural beauty. And people here are very friendly and helpful. As international students we always feel a little bit out of place…but they’re very helpful.”

“Lawrence,” a South African who is studying for a master’s degree in labor and global workers’ rights, offered admiration for one aspect of the campus. “There is no fence around this university,” he said. “In my country, a university will be fenced because the public can’t just enter—you need to have security at a gate. This tells me that we are in a safe place; the crime rate is not high. So it means that as a people we still have a lot to do back home in how we shape our society.”

Nahwera Reachel, a Ugandan who is also studying labor and global workers’ rights, expressed admiration for State College’s cleanliness. “I love the environment,” she says, “with trees everywhere. It’s kind of different from my country because I don’t see dust anywhere. And people are so protective of their environment. They don’t litter bottles anywhere.”

Perhaps the greatest cheerleader for Happy Valley’s environment is a newly-arrived LLM student from Mongolia. Bilegt Odsuren lived in Virginia for a few years when his mother was getting a Ph.D., but he’s spent most of his life in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city and home to nearly half of its people. “Ulaanbaatar is very noisy,” he said. “It’s very cluttered and it’s very polluted, especially in the winters. It can get to -40 C in the winter, very cold. So people who live in gers (aka “yurts”) have to burn coal throughout the winter, and the air in the ger district is very polluted.  This town (State College) is very nice; it’s very clean; it’s very quiet.”

FRIENDS IN BLUE SHIRTS

Although State College is unquestionably clean and hospitable, Penn State is aware that new internationals still require support during their first week on campus. That’s why the university hires short-term student leaders to give friendly guidance, answer questions and provide campus tours. Most of these blue-shirted leaders hail from other nations, but their prior experience at Penn State equips them to serve effectively. Who are they and what do they say about their experience? Here’s a glance at several:

• Krystal Ding, a senior undergraduate from China, majoring in broadcast journalism. “In State College and Penn State, the minute I arrived, I felt like, ‘I belong here.’ There’s a lot of clubs; anything you like you can find a club for that…I like pickleball.”
• Clara Vargas Fenili, a senior undergraduate from Brazil, majoring in biology.  “We (international students) are just regular people. We left our countries to come here because we like to experience new things.”
• Muhammad Nazaruddin bin Mohd Salleh, a junior undergraduate from Malaysia, majoring in economics. “The reason I wanted to be a welcome leader is that I really want to help the new students arrive comfortably, without confusion.”

Rachel DeMesa, a master’s student at Penn State, serves as global engagement coordinator for Penn State Global and one of her key responsibilities was to train and supervise the small group leaders. She was thrilled by the performance of these leaders. “International student welcome this fall has been a huge success, and I believe it was because of our great team. They’ve been on top of everything, extremely adaptive to the schedule changes. There were some challenges, though, including the Megabus situation where students were arriving late. But it all leads back to the welcome leaders, receiving these students late and welcoming them with open arms.”

SOURCE OF HOPE:  PRESIDENT BENDAPUDI

Regardless of the healthy environment and the warm student leaders, most international students will eventually experience a “down” time — often during their second semester when the novelty of a new place has worn off. But at such a time, Penn State’s international students should be able to draw encouragement from an example right under their noses.

Yes indeed, the university’s president, Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, is a fabulous example of someone who paid the price of crossing cultural barriers and became extremely successful. A native of India, Dr. Bendapudi earned her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas and then proceeded to serve in such prominent roles as executive vice president of Huntington Bank, provost and executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas, and president of the University of Louisville. She also served as an assistant marketing professor from 1996 to 2002 at an obscure state university in Columbus, Ohio, but we won’t hold that against her.

One of the highlights of Penn State’s international orientation program was a brief address by the former international student to the newbies. In just a few minutes, Dr. Bendapudi welcomed these new international students to Penn State, thanked their parents for their many sacrifices and then gave the students a fitting challenge:

“What I want you to do is, of course, find someone who comes from close to home because we all need that…You can talk about interests you have in common. Share the foods that you enjoy in common.  But your family didn't send you all the way here just so you would recreate what you had back home. This is extraordinarily important; in fact, that's my challenge to you today. Today, before you leave, introduce yourself to someone who is not from the same country as you are. Why? Because it's incredibly important for you to realize wherever we live, whatever brought us here — rich, poor, tall, short, whatever identities you might hold — I want you to realize every human being has the same hopes, dreams, fears, guilt, whatever it is. These are human emotions. You need to set the standard for what it is to show that once you come to Penn State, no matter who you are, you put on the Blue and White.”

I believe the president’s personal example will resonate even after her powerful words are forgotten. As Jinhyung Kim, a new economics student from South Korea, said to me, “The fact that the president was an international student before means to me that the university cares about the opinions and needs of international students. As a student pursuing academic achievement, I have confidence that I can focus on my goals without worrying about cultural barriers.”

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