April 2001

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Volker Hermann from Germany, Jesus Meza from Mexico and Demetrius "Dimka" Grigolaya from Belarus share a laugh at Henry's Bistro in Chapel Hill. Henry's has become a weekly gathering spot for international students looking to unwind with fellow students and friends.

Lessons far from home

Photos by Maricarmen Josephs

Even for Americans, arriving in Chapel Hill as a new student from out of town can be overwhelming.

But "imagine somebody coming to the U.S. for the first time, especially someone who’s just spent 36 hours en route," said Professor Robert Stevenson. "You don’t know the language. You don’t know the area. You don’t know how to get (to campus). All you have is a letter of welcome from UNC saying meet here at this time."

Rising to the challenge

Every year, about 300 international students come to UNC-CH from around the globe, the vast majority of whom are graduate students. This year, 15 international graduate students and fewer than a dozen undergraduates are enrolled in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Whether they come from Estonia, Eritrea, Argentina or South Korea, they study the same material as all JoMC students, and they take the same tests.

They often make rising to that challenge look easy, said Associate Professor Cathy Packer, who has taken a lead role in reaching out to incoming international students. But don’t be fooled.

"I think it’s tough for them," Packer said. "They try to be completely independent, but it’s not possible." Not only must they sharpen their English skills, she said, they also have to adjust to a whole new culture and a whole new academic system.

Victoria Moxey, a first year master’s student from Argentina, agreed.

"There are things Americans think are simple because they’re so used to it," Moxey said. But international students point out that English may be their second, third or fourth language. Mundane tasks like deciphering a bus schedule or having long-distance phone service installed can become time consuming and stressful.

In their classes, these students can encounter some of the most fundamental problems. Ene Palmiste, a master’s student from Estonia, said that at the beginning of the year she "had a hard time keeping up with notes." Min Jeong Kim, a South Korean master’s student, said she’s "had difficulty understanding students’ questions." Others said they’ve had difficulty joining study groups because classmates question their ability to contribute.

Then there are the cultural differences. Kim, for example, described the differences between American and South Korean classrooms.

"In South Korea, you only raise your hand if the teacher asks a question," she said. "When we meet a professor, we bow. The relationship between a professor and students in my country is respect rather than familiarity. To be a friend of a professor would never happen."

Associate Professor Cathy Packer helps Min Jeong "Alice" Kim and other international students deal with challenges they encounter in and out of the classroom.

Cream of the crop

Stevenson said the University's international students "are remarkably dedicated and persevering." But they are also successful because of who they are, he added. Not only have the overwhelming majority of graduate-level international students been accepted to UNC-CH, they are here on scholarship, he said.

"Those things are so competitive that by the time they get through the process, they are the cream of the crop," he said.

To Stevenson, though, welcoming international students to American universities is not merely about cultural exchange.

"I don’t think people realize the influence (U.S. universities) have," he said. "We have educated whole generations of international leaders. That’s one of the goals, there’s no question about it."

International students themselves are well aware of the diplomacy involved in their being here.

"What will be my foreign policy toward America when I go back?" asked Palmiste, who once worked in Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Even if she returns to the corporate world, she said, she will be predisposed to look favorably on American companies and businesspeople.

For now, however, most international students are not world leaders. They want to succeed in school, learn about America and make friends. Sadly, they say, those friends are usually not Americans.

"There are some Americans that want to spend time with internationals," said Nikolina Sajn, a master’s student from Croatia. But for the most part, she said, "Americans don’t know where (Croatia) is on the map, and they don’t care to ask.

"For one of my (international) roommates," Sajn said, making American friends "was her first and only goal — and she wasn’t very successful."

Helping hand

Fortunately for those graduate students in the journalism program, professors Stevenson and Packer have left their home and office doors open to international students. For years, unsolicited, both of them have greeted foreign students at the airport, given them a temporary place to sleep, helped them shop for apartments — and acquire all the furnishings and services that go with it — and generally been available to answer questions and give support.

"Those first few weeks are so important," Stevenson said. "You get the sense that they need someone to guide them by the hand."

The recipients of Stevenson and Packer’s kindness have been grateful.

"Cathy always takes care of you," said Dimka Grigoloya, a Belarusian master’s student. "She will throw you into the water and say, ‘Are you swimming?’ ‘Oh, he’s okay, he’s swimming.’"

Last year, Packer created a more official vehicle for helping foreign students. She formed a faculty committee aimed at helping current international students enjoy their time here more, and exploring funding sources for future students.

Most JoMC graduate international students are supported by U.S. government-funded fellowships that are specifically for non-U.S. residents, such as the Ron Brown Fellowship or the Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship. A few others have university assistantships, and even fewer pay their own way. Fellowships from the Park Foundation, JoMC’s largest funding source, are restricted to U.S. citizens.

Most international fellowships prohibit students from working full-time and require them to return home after graduation. For doctoral student Fissehaye Tesfaindrias, a native of Eritrea, that last requirement won’t be a problem.

"I don’t mind going to school here, but I want to live in my own country," said Tesfaindrias, whose wife and child remain in Eritrea.

When they do go home, they will deal with the reality that America has changed them.

"I have lost a lot of friends," said Moxey, who also went to undergraduate school in America. "You don’t know all the changes that happen in your mind until you go back."

Vadim Isakov, a master’s student from Uzbekistan, said he’s grown more independent since arriving here seven months ago. Americans, he said, live a fast-paced life that fosters individualism. On the other hand, Isakov said, "I think I’ve also grown less sensitive."

What international students don’t get from faculty and friends, they theoretically get from the university’s International Center, a division of UNC-CH student affairs. The center matches foreign students with English-speaking conversation partners and with Chapel Hill families.

But most JoMC international students said they don’t need a "family;" they just want the center to help them find other students from their native country or their part of the world. But if they're unable to find a substantial community of Belarusians or Argentines, for example, many international students turn to each other. They often live, hang out and party together.

Whatever their similarities, though, these international students are as varied as the countries, cities and villages from which they come. In making friends with each other, they have crossed cultural boundaries. Kim said Americans can do the same.

"It’s very important to smile or be kind to international students, because otherwise I think you don’t like me," she said. "I think it’s a cultural thing."

Joshua Myerov is a first-year master's student in the news-editorial sequence.