{"id":145,"date":"2015-05-03T20:56:03","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T01:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpacad2.winona.edu\/winona360\/?p=145"},"modified":"2015-05-03T22:22:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T03:22:41","slug":"145","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/blog\/2015\/05\/03\/145\/","title":{"rendered":"Winona State’s international services helps international students transition; students share their experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kayle Paul and Kayla Langmaid<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
Two international students Aaron Khaw of Malaysia, a cell and molecular biology major, and has been at WSU for two years; and Wee Leen Chin of Malaysia, an advertising major, and has been at WSU for one year, prepared for a club event in the international services office on Monday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When international students choose to study at Winona State University, the International Services-Cultural Outreach office on campus provides services to help foreign students transition to Winona.<\/p>\n

According to Kemale Pinar, WSU\u2019s Director of International Services-Cultural Outreach, there are more than 280 degree-seeking students from other countries at WSU this year.<\/p>\n

Pinar said she believes there are a group of international students who stick together but not all international students only hangout with international students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see international students stick to one another, they are forming their own family,” Pinar said.<\/p>\n

“When you are in a total new place, you are trying to cling on to the only thing that is familiar to you,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pinar said she doesn\u2019t see this as a problem but as a cultural phenomena.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The international services office mission statement board for international students at WSU.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cRather than saying there is something wrong, I look at it and say this is correct, this is normal,\u201d Pinar said. \u201cWhen I see students stick to one another, they are forming their own family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pinar said her office does offer cultural and language exchange matching where an American student is matched with an international student.<\/p>\n

An American student chooses a culture they are interested in learning more about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students have lunch or go to the movies to encourage that relationship, but we recognize the international student will choose a comfort friend from their own culture,\u201d Pinar said.<\/p>\n

Pinar asked, \u201cDo international students have to have an American friend while they\u2019re here? I think more importantly they have to have the acquired skills to interact with them and to become successful and make the contribution that is expected of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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\"Rasoga<\/a>
Rasoga Samarasinghe is an exchange student from Sri Lanka. She is now attending grad school through WSU.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rasoga Samarasinghe is a graduate student in the leadership program at WSU. She is from Sri Lanka and has been a student at WSU since her freshman year of college.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an international student is a great experience that really builds your character,\u201d Samarasinghe said. She wishes there were more opportunities for international students to communicate and create a network of friends with American students.<\/p>\n

Samarasinghe said she learned from personal experience. International students meet people from outside their comfortable clique by putting them themselves out there, Samarasinghe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very depressed my first year here,\u201d Samarasinghe said. \u201cI was homesick and nothing was familiar to me. Eventually I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and started joining clubs. Because of that, I got over being depressed and met great people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Samarasinghe said she wished more students got out of their comfort zones and stopped clinging to what\u2019s easy and natural to them.<\/p>\n

\"Hyunji<\/a>
Hyunji Lee is an exchange student from South Korea. Lee is studying mass communication at WSU. Submitted photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hyunji Lee, an exchange student studying Mass Communication from South Korea at WSU, said she attended an International Student Orientation Week before spring semester. The services also provided car shuttles to buy necessities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be better if the international office provided some opportunities to hang around Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee said most of the people in Winona really welcomed her.<\/p>\n

Lee said the bigger problem is the exchange program could be better organized.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I do in here is just take class. That’s not bad, but it is better if the exchange program provide some other activities also,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Niklas<\/a>
Niklas Meyer is an exchange student from Germany. He is a senior at WSU and will graduate with an recreation and tourism mayor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Niklas Meyer, a senior international student studying political science and recreation tourism and therapeutic recreation at WSU, said he learned English at a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike many international students who come to Winona, I had been in America for one year,\u201d<\/p>\n

Especially in a smaller community like Winona, Americans shouldn\u2019t be afraid to get in contact with international students, Meyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you break the language barrier, it isn\u2019t hard to get to know them,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n

Meyer said international students might need some extra help. He said to acknowledge international students and he encouraged talking to international students after class.<\/p>\n

Pinar said speaking out of firsthand experience, there are two things people need to have to make the possible adjustment to another country. \u201cOne is yourself and how confident you are and the other is your culture,\u201d Pinar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJumping into a conversation is probably a much bigger problem,\u201d Pinar said. Language is one of the most difficult things to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kemale Pinar talks about what it is like for international students to come to America, and Niklas Meyer talks about what most international students struggle with once they get to school.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/Practicum-Story-5_mixdown.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kayle Paul and Kayla Langmaid When international students choose to study at Winona State University, the International Services-Cultural Outreach office on campus provides services to help foreign students transition to Winona. According to Kemale Pinar, WSU\u2019s Director of International Services-Cultural Outreach, there are more than 280 degree-seeking students from other countries at WSU this … Continue reading Winona State’s international services helps international students transition; students share their experiences<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}