Admitted International Student Doubts

I recently attended an info session for admitted international students through my job at the Admissions Office. In talking about fears, challenges, and excitement pre-Oberlin, I remembered what I experienced when I was wondering if Obieland would be the right choice and when I initially arrived. One of the students on the panel asked for advice on the biggest challenges we had experienced arriving on campus as international students, including fear of winter weather and feeling homesick, so I couldn’t help but compile this blog about it.

Homesickness

It’s difficult, and it sucks, and it’s a thing that a lot of international kids will experience regardless. For many, coming to Oberlin as an international student is the most extended period they spend outside of home, away from family and their cultures. Naturally, melancholy and nostalgia take over all the foreign things they have yet to learn while on campus, so homesickness becomes a concern. But fear not because, in my experience, this yearning for home again only pushes you to create one here, too. 

About four days before first-year domestic students get on campus, international students gather on Oberlin’s campus for a lovely and eventful international orientation week. If you’re thinking of workshops about academics, logistics, and visas, you are right – but I encourage you to think of ice cream socials and bowling games, too! I met my current friend group during international orientation week, where no matter how tired, jet-lagged, scared, or homesick you are, every single person around you is in the same boat. This allowed me to seek to meet new people and bond with so many of them, as this grand shared experience was here to stay. Cue here my first piece of advice: when you feel homesick, go and socialize with as many international students as possible – they’re all looking to make friends and a life here, too! You will be so busy with all the orientation activities that you won’t even realize that your life and routine at Oberlin are already starting.

Quirks which I wasn’t used to

I made many friends with international students during orientation and later with domestic students as the semester and the year progressed. However, this did not mean many culture shocks disappeared as fast as I began building a life here. Students and professors kept greeting me with “Hello, how are you?” It took me a few honest responses to realize that this phrase was a greeting, not an actual inquiry about how I was doing. When I finally figured that out, I was still fighting the lunch at noon and dinner at 6 pm because (1) there was too much time in between, and I was starving, and (2) I was used to a 3 pm lunch and an 8 pm dinner. That being said, the lovely friend group I made during orientation would text me to get dinner at six every night, and by default, I began enjoying our dinners a lot. We would sit down around the big roundtables in the main dining hall and laugh about our newfound interests, the beginning of our classes, and the English mishaps that some of us were having. Eventually, it became normal to eat at six and ask people how they were even though you didn’t necessarily wait for an answer. I got used to it, or at least until winter hit.

One of the info session panel students asked about Ohio winter, scared of winter gear and cold weather. However, before I tell you that you should buy winter boots and a good winter coat once you come on campus (which you really, really should), I want to tell you that you will see your fellow international students experience snow for the first time – you might even be one of them! At that moment, I urge you to forget about the cold and grey, and I hope you roll around on the ground and make a snowman. Ohio winters were definitely not the weather I was used to before coming, but eventually, you begin to see little sparkles of joy even in the midst of it. So far, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve slipped on ice, but I’ve also lost count of the number of snow angels I have made. You win some, you lose some!

Moving far from home is scary, and there are definitely a lot of challenges that come with it, especially as you navigate a new culture, country, and maybe even language. However, Oberlin is here as proof that you can. The International Student Scholar Services Office (ISSS) will welcome you with open arms, guide you during orientation, and see you flourish through your journey as you navigate life here. Every once in a while, whenever my friends from international orientation and I have time, we go to the ISSS office, the place that introduced us to each other in our first year, and we giggle about the big dinners we would have in freshman year, we talk about the restaurants in Cleveland that have food from our countries, or about the scarves that changed our lives in saving us from the cold. Either way, we laugh and enjoy our home here, too.

If you’re on the verge of deciding whether to come to the middle of Ohio in pretty and colorful springs and cold and snowy winters, this blog is for you. I hope you see all current Oberlin international students as proof that the experience outweighs the fears and challenges – and if you do make it to Obieland next year, call me to eat dinner at six and make a snow angel afterward!