<p>I am a sophomore at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>As international students what types of events (social and informational) would you like to have the week before classes begin on your campus? Are there specific things you would like to know about? How do you feel you would be the most welcomed?</p>
<p>I am helping to plan "Week of Welcome" at my school and I would like to focus on welcoming in Transfers and International students, as these groups are often overlooked.</p>
<p>ummm... I'm still a junior, but I think a cool thing would be a tour around the campus, basic info for visas, etc. Make sure you DON'T include parties, since some students from other cultures might feel offended/uncomfortable.</p>
<p>it would be great to give out college t-shirts and stuff like that - it makes people feel like they really belong. I don't see anything wrong with parties....i mean, parties don't necessarily have to include alcohol and it's a good way for people to mingle in a more relaxed environment.</p>
<p>At the end of my freshman orientation program everybody was allowed to ask one question anonymously - I asked "How do take-out meals work?" I felt like some really elementary information were left out. For example, we were told how long we could borrow books from the library but not how to check them out in the first place (some students might have never set foot in a library before!), or that we could get take-out meals from the dining hall but not how to get them, or that a train ticket to Philly is so-and-so much but not how and where to buy them (and that really is tricky at our station).</p>
<p>Some stuff that is more specific to internationals: a banking trip where students get to open a bank account, a trip to the Social Security office to apply for a SSN and a shopping trip to get some really basic stuff that we might not be able to bring with us due to a lack of space or compatibility (for example linens, towels, a (cell) phone etc). Of course students might be able to do that on their own, but when you are new in a country and cannot speak the language very well, you are scared to walk into a bank and ask to open an account and getting to the Social Security office on our own might be close to impossible if there is no public transportation.</p>
<p>Of course I realize that those trips are very hard to incorporate into a general orientation program. Do you know if UNC has a specific orientation program just for internationals? I think that the international pre-orientation at my college was a lot more essential to me than the general orientation program afterwards.</p>
<p>I agree. Moderate parties might be good. Oh, and make sure you offer them cookies =) Us internationals LOVE American cookies. (especially if they're chocolate chip or with m&m's)</p>
<p>Oh, and maybe explain a bit more about the American customs if you find that important. For example, I didn't know that closed doors of someone's room meant "do not come in" and that Americans usually leave the doors of their room opened (not sure how it applies to college dorms).
Or when I entered the store, everyone was like "hey, how are you" and at first, although I thought it was weird they'd ask me that, I was answering how I was so I was getting weird looks! Only later someone told me that they only say it and don't expect me to answer.
Or tell them more about some distinctive differences between USA and some other cultures you're familiar with, or maybe even things that you'd think people would know but they don't.
So maybe give surveys to current internationals (and transfers) about the things they wished they were told when they first arrived on campus?
I don't know, when I think of more, I'll write down. I hope this helps</p>
<p>Edit: Once again, Barium was a minute faster than me! hahaha</p>
<p>Remember to include any us citizen students (TCK) who have come from an international environment and returniing to the states for college. a lot of them get missed because people assume they know things because they are American, often they are almost as clueless and disoriented as the internationals to the types of things mentioned...</p>