Running head: ISSUES WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Interview Report - Issues with International Students

Ayush Vijaywargi
Purdue University

ISSUES WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

When I arrived in Indiana, I faced some difficulties in adjusting to a completely

foreign environment. Indiana is a total contrast to India, my homeland. India has a
pleasant climate, which gradually varies throughout the months while Indianas climate
changes every day. It was hard for me to get accustomed with the weather changes. In
addition, it was difficult to acclimatize to a totally different accent and adapt with food
of another culture. One day while sitting in my English class, I got an idea to conduct
research on how international students can benefit themselves in creating a positive
and balanced environment around. That is what an international student can take to
adapt to new land and get the most out of their investment in universitys tuition.
After thinking more about the aspects of this topic, I shared it with my instructor
so that she can approve me for the research on this topic. Upon approval, my first task
was to choose an interviewee who has some experience with international students and
interacts with them on a daily basis. The International Students Scholar department was
my first choice since they deal with international students and provide services like
counseling to international students. However, due to their tight schedule I failed to get
their interview.
Despite the unavailability of the ISS department, I continued my search again for
a prospective interviewee. One day while returning from my mathematics recitation, I
saw a bunch of students of various ethnic groups sitting in the park and playing some
game. I got very curious and went close to the group, just to find out the activity they
were involved in. To my surprise I met my friend Graham Park there. While talking to
him, I found out that those people were international students involved in a game
whose purpose was to remember each others name and in fact Graham was carrying
out this activity. Later he joined me for dinner at Earhart dining court and during our
conversation he told me about the organization Bridges International which was

ISSUES WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

started almost six years ago and whose main aim is to lessen the barrier between
international and domestic students and to promote the well being for international
students by helping them in adjusting to totally new environment. He said that this
organization has their presence in almost 50 different universities in USA including
Purdue University and at present he is working with Purdues branch of bridges
international. I had few problems that I faced when I first arrived in USA and I was
curious about the fact that how many other international students are facing the same
issue. I was wondering if these issues are more generalized or just limited to myself. So I
asked Graham about language complications like local slangs and general phrases which
international students are unfamiliar with. He replied by saying that more general
problem that he has seen is hesitation to speak out as international students are much
more concerned about their accents and fear that natives might not be able to
understand them because of pronunciation concerns. He then answered my question by
saying that he has seen students that face problems with local slang or phrases, but
these students are very limited and have a fair command on English to communicate.
Moreover if you know the language well then it is not difficult to pick up the slangs and
phrases, he added. I could see his excitement and caring nature towards international
students.
After looking at Grahams enthusiasm and his way of expressing his emotions
towards international students over the dinner, I thought of interviewing him for my
research. I then told him of my research and he asked me contact him again after
October break, as he was busy at that time. Later on we decided to conduct the
interview on October 17th at 3:45 pm at his house.
Finally when the day arrived, I went to his house, which is almost 15 minutes
walk from my residence hall. Initially I struggled finding his house as house numbers

ISSUES WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

were randomly placed. Second issue I faced was the weather as it started raining at that
point. And then I had to call him for navigation help. I was a bit wet and but still I
managed to find his house and got the interview. I rang the doorbell of his house and I
heard footsteps moving over the floor. These sound made me so excited and a bit
nervous as the interview task was getting closer and closer. Graham opened the door
and we just talked about our day for 2-3 minutes and then we went to topmost room in
his building to conduct an interview.
We were sitting on chairs facing each other. I made an eye contact with him and
asked him if I can start the interview. He didnt seem nervous at all and was excited to
go. He said yes and then I hit the recording button on by phone. First question I asked
him was what exactly his club does. He replied that his club, Bridges International,
partners with various organizations and help building relations between international
and domestic students. They tend to conduct small weekly events like taking a ride to
Wal-Mart and some big events like a picnic once a semester. Since I talked about his
club at the dinner, I just wanted to put main focus on different questions.
I had few questions framed in my mind from the beginning to put focus of my
interview heavily on the problems faced by international students and how these
problems can be rectified. I asked him about specific issues like homesickness and
loneliness. He said that homesickness looks like a big issue but students generally dont
come to him for counseling. Instead they try to share these issues with people belonging
to their ethnic groups. But one thing that he highlighted was that using modern
technologies like chat boxes and Skype to keep in touch with family and friends could
help preventing homesickness. I then asked him about his views on formation of small
minority groups of same ethnic group by international students. He added by saying
that he feels that moving along with people of same group is very helpful as if one of the

ISSUES WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

members of the group has better conversational skills then he can help other people of
his group with poor communication skills to hold a proper conversation by making
natives understand what his group members mean and vice verse. I was a bit reluctant
to agree with this point, as I believe that we must accept and participate actively in
different cultures by befriending natives, as they know their country well then
International students. So I countered him by asking that should International students
surround themselves with just students from their own ethnic group. He replied by
saying that initially its beneficial as they can help each other but afterwards they have to
make friends with others too to get most out of their invested money. I understood his
point as we talked about this earlier. What he meant was that if we keep on meeting
people of different groups and cultures, we get to know very different viewpoints that
their cultures have. By looking at and mixing all these opinions we can frame a better
opinion and can follow it to be a better person. We then talked about grading scale and
problems in understanding it. He said that USA is a major education hub and students
from all around the world flock here to pursue better education. Every country has their
own grading scales, some grade it on 10 pointer scale while majority grades it on 100
pointer scale, but in USA exams are graded on 4 pointer scale and overall score is based
on cumulative grading that is it includes home-works, projects, assignments as well as
midterms. In some countries final grade is based on only midterms and it requires time
for students to get used to American grading system. As I remember, we even talked
about weather conditions as well as health issues concerning international students. He
told me that sudden change in habitat can affect not just international students but also
out of state American students too and can lead to health issues. For this students have
to take help of Internet and search for climatic conditions at their university and buy
clothing related to weather. Nevertheless, he and his team always try to spread

ISSUES WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

awareness about spreading flu and diseases on campus, so that students can get
vaccinations and take precautions beforehand.
After talking to Graham, I agree with his claim International students should
expose themselves to more social situations, like visiting a stadium to watch a game, if
they feel that they are shy and hesitate in expressing themselves in English. I have
learned that students should talk to more native students to learn about their cultures
and learn things such as polite gestures and etiquettes. According to Graham,
international students should also reach out to other international students so that they
can help each other out and prevent the feeling of loneliness. Also, in order to avoid
homesickness, students can also keep in touch with their family members and friends
through chat, Skype or any other medium. Finally, students should keep a check of
various diseases spreading across the campus and take preventive measures to protect
themselves. They should also talk to their instructors in beginning of semester to get
clarification about grading related queries. In the end, I would like to say that
adjustment is big part of life and adjusting to a new culture and using totally different
language for communication can be challenging. What we must understand is that if we
are open minded to accept various cultures and unhesitant to express ourselves, then
with continuous efforts we can adjust smoothly.
Lastly I would like to thank Graham for sharing his points with me. My interview
was smooth but I hesitated a bit and had one or two pauses in it. I had lot of more
questions but due to time constraint on Grahams part, I had to conclude my interview in
less than ten minutes. However I believe that I have gathered enough points for my
report by talking to him at dinner and other social gatherings. I loved interviewing him
and I am glad that he managed to take out time for me from his busy schedule.