International Humans of WUSTL
Unless you’re one of the few who is actually from St. Louis, you technically “migrated” to attend Wash U. While we’re taking the time to discuss migration on a national and international scale, it seems wrong not to discuss the processes of migration to our own campus, especially for those who must take an international flight to Lambert Airport. Wash U is lucky to have such a diverse student body and this photojournalism essay intends to showcase that through the migration of four International Humans of WUSTL.
“Well to start, I don’t consider myself an international student. Puerto Rico is a US territory, but everyone here seems to think I’m international. It’s not like I had to get a visa to come here though, Puerto Ricans have US passports. People don’t even know where Puerto Rico is let alone that it’s technically part of the US. We don’t get to vote for the president, but the president gets to dictate what we do. We have a representative in DC, a non-voting Commissioner position, but we don’t have a vote in Congress yet.
When people here find out that I’m from Puerto Rico, they always ask if my family is from there, probably because I don’t really look like your stereotypical Latina. It’s pretty weird for me because in Puerto Rico when I go places, people automatically speak to me in English just because I look so American. I always answer in Spanish just to prove a point. Here it’s the same. There’s definitely a language barrier a little, but I spoke English at home, and this isn’t as different as you think it would be for me. That being said, I went to an American school, and it might be different if instead I’d been through the Puerto Rican public school system. You can get a better education in the States than you would at a Puerto Rican university, so most of my school came to study in the States. It’s no different for me to come and study here than it is for any of you. When my dad came to the States for university, he had to take the TOEFL, but now that’s not the case anymore. We’re considered domestic applicants.”
“Because I was born in the US, there was always this interior motive to come back at some point. I went to elementary school in London and then middle school in Istanbul, and neither ever felt like the right place for me—
there was always this culture clash. When it came to where I would go for University, it was really up to me, and in the end, the US was the right decision, to come back to a place I longed for and felt I wasn’t a part of anymore. I didn’t even think about Europe, definitely not about Turkey. The US has always been a culture I’m more comfortable in. I’m used to Turkey though, and adjusting is hard. The weirdest thing has been the traffic here. In Turkey, if you step into the street, you’re as good as dead, but here, when I cross Shepley to get back to my dorm for example, people stop for you. And in Turkey we greet each other by kissing on both cheeks, but you definitely wouldn’t do that here. You’re less intimate in the US.
And breakfast has been the worst. In Turkey it’s a huge meal with tomatoes, cucumbers, lots of eggs, meats, breads… but here people try and pass it off with a croissant or a bagel or just coffee, sometimes nothing, and I can’t do that. So in terms of meal points, us Turkish students are way over.
My roommate is from Chicago. I called him yesterday to ask if he wanted to grab dinner with me in BD and he was like “Yo dude, I’m at the train station, I’m heading home for the weekend. “He went home to go see his girlfriend, connect with his family… it’s easy for them. I’m an eight hour flight away, I can’t do that. I’ve been trying to set up a time to Skype for weeks, and I think tonight’s the night we’ll hopefully get it to work, but they’re so many hours ahead and it’s really hard to find a time to talk. They go to sleep, I’m awake. I go to sleep, they’re awake. I go to bed around three AM because I’m up talking to my Turkish friends until I realize, like, shoot, I have class tomorrow.”
RITA: “America has the most complicated application system, and I think it’s better than the Chinese one. Our school had a quite complete platform to abroad for college, so this might be another reason why we came to America. All students who want to go to America have to take SATs and TOEFL tests. After taking those, we have to go through the applications just like American applicants do. Then you have to get a visa in Shanghai. It took me almost a week to get my visa. We packed pretty simply compared to Americans, and we don’t have any decorations in our room because of packing limits on the long flights. We saw Americans with trucks full of stuff—I just had my suitcases. I didn’t bring a lot of traditional Chinese things either, just my herbal medicines. I’m not sure if after college I’ll stay in America. I think I want to stay abroad, but not necessarily in the US.”
GRACE: “In China, getting into college is really hard, but once you’re in, it’s a quite easy life. No one even goes to classes, they just stay in their rooms and play video games. I came to America because I don’t want to give myself a life without pressure in these precious four years. Half of my school went abroad.”
RITA: “Our college entrance exam is super selective. Because of our huge population in China, for most average students from traditional Chinese high schools, the only way to get into college is to pass those examinations. If they want anything better, or to leave China for University, they need to study harder, so maybe that’s why most foreigners think of their Chinese students as super scholars.”
GRACE: “People in front of you smile at you and hold doors, and if you did that in China it would be super weird. People work hard and play hard, in China you pick one.”
RITA: “We also have a lot of different habits compared to American students. Like for example, tiny details, you guys love to drink ice water, even in the winter! And I can’t take that. I think American students are more open, nicer. It’s easier to make friends here. For now, there’s a language barrier and we’ve been sticking together, but I think that’ll change as we get used to it.”