![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.gcc.edu\/insider\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/Hoole-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou there.<\/p>\n
Yes, you.<\/p>\n
You; a young, knowledge hungry, opportunity seeking teenager trying to find a college to commit yourself to, and perhaps knowingly or perhaps unknowingly \u2013 you have stumbled across the name of this small, Christian college buried in the middle of Western Pennsylvania called Grove City College. College is a new, nerve-wracking,\u00a0often terrifying experience to anyone \u2013 but to you it is even more than that. For you this also includes traveling far from your home, from your family and far from the friends and places you have been so accustomed to all your life. And that is truly terrifying.\u00a0 Trust me,\u00a0I know.<\/p>\n
Because three years ago, I was you.<\/p>\n
I spent my childhood growing up in Asia; being born in Sri Lanka and then\u00a0spending my\u00a0growing years between there and\u00a0the country of Malaysia. Given the\u00a0lacking\u00a0standards of College level education in those parts of the world, I had always known that I would have\u00a0to\u00a0look for educational institutions abroad.\u00a0After a long and interesting period of narrowing down colleges (a story for another time), I was set on going to Grove City College.\u00a0The application process was exciting, and then my joy of being accepted and being sure of\u00a0going there was through the roof.\u00a0How could it not be? I feel that you, like me, will relate to the feeling of excitement and\u00a0exhilaration\u00a0that accompanied\u00a0the thought of \u201cI\u2019m going to America!\u201d This was the place I\u2019d seen in all those Hollywood movies I loved watching growing up. This was the home of my favorite actors, actresses and musicians, this was the hub of culture and all things happening, this was the land of opportunity and the thought of going there was exciting. My excitement stayed with me when I boarded the plane, flew across the globe and made my way to\u00a0the\u00a0college I was going to. And I\u00a0remember so vividly, that it was not until I said goodbye to my aunt and uncle and sat down on my bed, that the fear of being so far from home hit me.<\/p>\n
And you will feel this way.<\/p>\n
There will be days when you miss the smell of your house, the company of your siblings, the love and\u00a0scoldings\u00a0of your mother, the advice of your father, the barking of your dogs; and most of all the reassurance of being home. Perhaps the cruelest thing that the\u00a0process of coming to America\u00a0will ever do to you is labeling you an \u201calien\u201d until you work your way into citizenship (if, like me, you choose to) \u2013 and trust me when I say that there will be times when you feel the weight of that word lay heavy on you. Unlike any of the students you will encounter here; you as an international have so much more to prove, so much more to work for and the pressure of that combined with the pressures of the academic rigor here and the strangeness you may feel at being far from home can sometimes feel like it\u2019ll crush and drain you. But here\u2019s where I will encourage you with two of the biggest things I have learned here at Grove City:<\/p>\n
- \n
- You are not here because of your grades or your family or your status or because of pure chance; you are here because God wants you to be here.<\/li>\n
- Of all the places you could have gone to, you have chosen to leave home to come to a school where you will feel very much at home, where\u00a0the line between friends and family is often blurred.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
But you have some work to do\u00a0to feel at home here, and here is where I would like to give you three select\u00a0pointers based on my own experiences of life in Grove City.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Shake your Self-Consciousness<\/b>: It is not a secret that you are going to stand out here.\u00a0With only 5% diversity and a much smaller number of international students; your skin color, your accent, your style, your mannerisms might stand out. A frequent companion to standing out is self-consciousness, but I urge you not to let self-consciousness get in the way. I have seen a lot of international students keep to themselves and stray away from groups and activities because of their self-consciousness; and as someone who did fall victim to that for a while, I can tell you that it does not help you in\u00a0anyway. This maybe a campus with little diversity, but it is also a campus with little to no judgement. The community is warm, accepting and friendly; and you will go far by allowing yourself to interact with and befriend the people around you who may look and sound nothing like you.<\/li>\n
- Clubs and Activities<\/b>: It is the most clich\u00e9 thing about every college poster; telling you to join and be a part of clubs and activities \u2013 but on this campus, it is especially important to international students like you and me.\u00a0You will find that you will meet your best of friends while sweating over an intense game of IM basketball, or while chatting over coffee at the monthly campus coffee houses, but never just by sitting by yourself in your room. Whether it is a good thing or not, there is a negative assumption of people who shy away from communicating and keeping to themselves on this campus, so engage with and surround yourself with people\u00a0\u2013 it is the best way to feel comfortable here, and the friends you make here are the kind that you stay friends with permanently.<\/li>\n
- Do not be Judgmental<\/b>: In the same way the Bible reminds us to \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do unto you,\u201d it is important to not be judgmental of people around you here. The culture here is different, and it is easy to judge people who aren\u2019t of the same mindset as you (especially politically here at Grove City). But in order to be a part of the American community you need to remember that all people here have the freedom of speech and more importantly opinion. So it is important to stay away from arguments or shunning people because their opinions may differ from yours. Civilized conversations on things build character, but the second you start judging people based on their beliefs and opinions, you push away people who may have been very good people for you to have in your life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There is so much more that I could talk about because I can only imagine how many more questions you have that are yet to be answered \u2013\u00a0but whatever questions you may have I urge you to reach out to the Office of Student Life and Learning on this campus. They do a fantastic job helping international students, and guiding you throughout every process \u2013 from showing you how to add\/drop a class, to helping you identify and follow the path to working and living in America. And if you would like my perspective, then don\u2019t hesitate to email me\u00a0and ask anything of me that you would like to\u00a0at hooleer1@gcc.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n
- Clubs and Activities<\/b>: It is the most clich\u00e9 thing about every college poster; telling you to join and be a part of clubs and activities \u2013 but on this campus, it is especially important to international students like you and me.\u00a0You will find that you will meet your best of friends while sweating over an intense game of IM basketball, or while chatting over coffee at the monthly campus coffee houses, but never just by sitting by yourself in your room. Whether it is a good thing or not, there is a negative assumption of people who shy away from communicating and keeping to themselves on this campus, so engage with and surround yourself with people\u00a0\u2013 it is the best way to feel comfortable here, and the friends you make here are the kind that you stay friends with permanently.<\/li>\n
- Shake your Self-Consciousness<\/b>: It is not a secret that you are going to stand out here.\u00a0With only 5% diversity and a much smaller number of international students; your skin color, your accent, your style, your mannerisms might stand out. A frequent companion to standing out is self-consciousness, but I urge you not to let self-consciousness get in the way. I have seen a lot of international students keep to themselves and stray away from groups and activities because of their self-consciousness; and as someone who did fall victim to that for a while, I can tell you that it does not help you in\u00a0anyway. This maybe a campus with little diversity, but it is also a campus with little to no judgement. The community is warm, accepting and friendly; and you will go far by allowing yourself to interact with and befriend the people around you who may look and sound nothing like you.<\/li>\n