<p>Hi delta 598! Like you, I’m asian. I attended an international high school in my country for a year then came to america to finish my high school study. I’m going to be in coming freshman this fall as well (see you at the international orientation!)</p>
<p>The situation you have described above also happened at my high school, which has a fairly small international population. When I went there my first year, there was only 1 girl from my country; then there came in five or six other girls from my country (all from different cities though). The time I was there there were about the same number of Koreans. The same situation happened to all the international groups. Some do stick together, but regardless of such “racial integration,” all the international students have friends from their own country and from all the foreign countries, which include other types of asians and americans.</p>
<p>I do perceived what you have described in your post during my UMich visit. The small international population at my high school may not be indicative of most of the big universities in the states, Michigan definitely being one of them, but a similar image appeared. The only difference is that there seems to be a huge asian population there; I bumped into chinese/korean couples (they were speaking chinese/korean) every 5 minutes on the streets on central campus! They do stick together, as far as I have seen. However, I am more inclined to believe that they are as good friends to those who were from their own countries as to the others.</p>
<p>I have posted my thoughts on a similar topic on “How well do American students interact with the International students.” I pasted the link and my response to that question. Hope it’s helpful!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/953364-how-well-do-american-students-interact-international-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/953364-how-well-do-american-students-interact-international-students.html</a></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>