<p>Hmmm... Where do i start from,Ow i know am so excited to join college this fall,but i have to admit to you guyz that i do have my concern like any other freshman,like will i gain dat 15 pounds lol:-), will my roommate be a mean person :@,but my concerns are way more bigger than this. I wanna know how American students interact with international students. Do you guyz treat them the same way u treat the American students,and how well do interact with them.</p>
<p>Depends… Purdue for example has one of the highest % of int’l students so people are used to seeing them and interacting with them. It’s best asking an int’l student at the school you plan on going to.</p>
<p>Thank you jimgotkp, i got what u sayin dat it depends on if da college has a high # of intl and therefore da locals are used to 'em, right?</p>
<p>UT Austin is the same. Several people from Korea, Vietnam, and India from what
I’ve seen. I would treat internationals the same, personally. My parents aren’t even from America, so yeah…</p>
<p>If anything I’d ask what country you’re from and what it was like there.</p>
<p>international students usually hang out with other international students, so they don’t interact with american students as much.
I usually don’t see internationals with white kids, so idk :)</p>
<p>u typ so gansta</p>
<p>@ Lunacow
What i meant is do u treat intl students da same way u treat the American student n if not why < jst askin’>
@ square yeah ur right most intl students hang around with themselves but i dont wanna do that, u knw what I mean,I’ll miss out on good stuffs… Why would i come to America if i will not experience da American way of life…
N square u thang my writtin iz gansta… I didnt knw lol.</p>
<p>I agree with square on that one too. Most int’l students hang out with each other. I’ve seen this in high school as well when Koreans only hang out with Koreans outside of school. If int’l students are willing to have to diverse friends then let me be. If they don’t then it’s their fault for not being social with other people. Eventually those kids will call students at their school rascists.</p>
<p>Yet again i have to agree with u guyz,bsidez who wanna to talk to a bunch of pple who wanna jst keep to themselves. Do gt me wrong me guyz aint bad mouthin my fellow intl student bt lets cal a spade a spade n nt a spoon, y’al guyz hv 2 b social wit da other guyz n cm out of our comfort zone,am talkin to intl students… Thanx guyz y’al helpd alot.</p>
<p>In my experience, the internationals always kept to themselves or in their own group. </p>
<p>Then again, when I studied abroad, I did the same thing.</p>
<p>I am international and I find most American students friendly. The hardest for us internationals is to break the ice but once you go past the barrier, you will pleasingly be surprised by how many friends you will make</p>
<p>I cldnt agree wit u more dko… guyz lets break da ice ayt!</p>
<p>It really depends on what type of school you go to, and it’s unwise to generalize that people from the same country always stick together. I went through two different high schools - an international one and a typical private american high school. I am going to a huge university, and I guess that would similate the feel of my international school environment where you have your own friend circles - friends regardless of nationalities. Outside your friend circle are the ones you don’t bother or barely see in a week. Actually I feel a lot safer and open in a big school because you have a huge pool to “pick” your friends from. You are not “stuck” with a certain number of people whom you don’t get along quite well.</p>
<p>I’ll spend the rest of this response elaborating the situation in my american high school - small, expensive, typical private school that brags about their SAT averages and how many AP courses their students take and has severely strict sports/visual art/music/humanity(including art history) requirements. Again, my situation might be different from yours, but here’s what I feel. Some people do stick together (there were three Koreans at my high school - you basically wouldn’t see one without the others). You can’t blame them for anything. Go put two american kids in India and see if they’ll not be together for less than eight hours. </p>
<p>Same “group” of kids hanging around doesn’t depend on the language you speak; it depends upon the culture you have experienced - what stories your mama have told you back then when you were a little kid, the type of food you eat, how you eat them, the kinds of schools you go to, the type of curriculum you use…it’s all a matter of habits and the environments you are used to, and language is a big part of it - that’s why you see chinese kids with chinese kids, koreans with koreans. In a big picture, you see asians with asians, african americans with african americans (it’s true though, go see it yourself), a french exchange student with an austrian exchange student. Same “groups” of people have the same topics to talk about, same topics to relate to even when experiencing a totally new environment. Same cultural backgrounds have already tied them to each other that they don’t even need further explanation to understand each other’s jokes, opinions, ideas.
There is this chinese girl who grew up in new york, speaks mandarin/cantonese/english fluently. One time she sits at the “chinese” table; she tries to talk but turns out that she shuts her mouth the whole time. Back to the “american” tables she’s the most active one.
(Just a word, if you are a non-enligh speaking international student who’s heading off to any other foreign countries to study, then you should really be proud of and appreciate what you already possess - the ability to speak both of the two languages fluently AND TO MAKE JOKES/MAKE FRIENDS IN ANY OF THE TWO LANGUAGES.)</p>
<p>Having said that, it’s neither bad nor weird to see kids from the same countries hanging together. Interestingly enough, there are many international students (including me) hanging with other international students. You’d see a table with an interesting mix of african american, chinese, japanese, Thai, and Korean. It’s not unusual. You’d also see international students with american kids. Trust me, it’s painful to NOT have kids from your own country in a school because it does take time to blend in the american culture. I have two choices this april - a small college with two people from my country (and one of them is thinking of transfering), and a huge university where 20% of the school population is from my country. I chose the latter. When I transfered to the american high school, there were only three kids from my country - one kissed the ass of all americans and despised the people from her own country (and never spoke her home language); one was raised in a european country; the other one’s me. I was stuck with my roommate who and whose friends talked about sex all the time and enjoyed embarrasing international kids with some sex terms that they thought were cool (and of course didn’t study at all and took pride in their “not studying”). It’s a small school; I didn’t have my classes with kids from my class (i was a year behind in academics). All my friends lived in the floor downstairs which I was not allowed to go to as an upperclassman after 9pm; they ate at the tables which I was not allowed to sit as a student from a different grade. The only people I was familiar with were the ones related to my roommate. It took me half a year to find my best friend - an american, who later helped me with everything. Shopping, throwing parties, hemming your dress for you when you needed, etc. A TRUE FRIEND. I had more friends as an increasing number of international students (including the ones from my country) was recruited and as I became used to the life I was having. I hanged out with them, and I hanged out with my american friends as well (who were now considered “upperclassman” so I could sit with them during meals). True there were still cultural boundaries, but they fade as you get closer and as you get used to their language. Younger people make friends easier. Things get complicated when people grow older.</p>
<p>One impressions I get from my college visit is that the university I’m going to is EXTREMELY FRIENDLY. You’ll feel that the more international people there are, the friendlier and the safer the environment. A smaller group of people might feel threatened; that fear triggers all kinds of actions, mostly bad actions. As that group grows larger and stronger, it feels safer. On the other hand, the americans see them as often as they see their own peers (one college when I told them where i was from, they looked at me so surprised as if I was from another planet). In that way american kids won’t see the internationals as a threat either. People treat each other the same unless someone/a group of people have affected the other group in a bad way.</p>
<p>That’s just my way of looking at this. Ultimately I had a fantastic life in both of my high schools. There aren’t going to be any major problems. Just be open. Friends will come to you, regardless of whether they are americans.</p>
<p>Most people will not have a problem with international students, and will interact with them just like any other kids. It’s not something most people give a second thought to, really, especially when you go to a school with a high population of international students.</p>
<p>The biggest “problem” with international students is that they tend to clump to themselves, especially when their English isn’t that great. It’s their choice, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but I would recommend trying to not do that.</p>
<p>You will not have any problems interacting with American students. Try not to worry about it, but also try not to stick to people from your country or those that speak your language (if English is not your native language). I’m not saying don’t befriend them, all I’m saying is try not to befriend only them. :)</p>
<p>So long as you don’t keep to the international student bubble, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I have several close friends that are international students, and I never really remember it. It’s not like internationals are a different species or something!</p>
<p>Johnson lol u r they aint like they from different planent or something… N thanx again guyz 4 da headz up…</p>
<p>You have to realize that millions of Americans don’t speak English or are first generation Americans. Nation of immigrants so most people are open.</p>
<p>Be prepared to receive comments/compliments/“that’s so weird!” on your accent.
But I’ve found that, like everyone else on this thread, that most Americans interact pretty well with internationals.<br>
The only negative thing I’ve encountered, from a rare few, are very ignorant questions about my country like do we have electricity or whatever. But this is not the norm.</p>
<p>There are two questions here:
How well do Americans interact with international students? and
How much do they interact with them?</p>
<p>As to the first question… In general, American students will treat international students in the same way as they treat anyone else. American students tend to be friendly, and if someone needs assistance, they often will go out of their way to help. </p>
<p>As to the second question… A lot depends on the size of a university, the number of international students, etc. I live in a university town. The large university here has large numbers of international students. For the most part, I think most American students have little interest in meeting international students. Or, at least they don’t go out of their way to do so, which is too bad because it’s a great learning opportunity. On the other hand, this can work both ways. Many international students primarily hang out with other students from their own country, so they are missing a learning opportunity, too. How much they hang out primarily with other students from their own country probably depends on the particular country they are from, and the number of students from a particular country. </p>
<p>I find that many foreign students are just as likely to be uninformed about the US, just as many American students are uninformed about other countries. This varies, depending on the countries in question. Unfortunately, I also find many stereotypes expressed by some American students about international students. Again, this varies, depending on the countries in question and the degree of personal contact that an American has had with international students. </p>
<p>In general, I think universities could do a much better job of facilitating contacts between American and internatinal students. They also could do a much better job of orienting international students to American cultural norms and customs.</p>