This was an interview I conducted last semester about international students and their experience moving to America for school. The original interview never got published for some strange reason, so enjoy!
Emerson is home to many students who have come from all over the world to try and perfect his or her craft. For many American college students, moving away from home for college can be difficult. Now imagine moving to another country to attend college in a place as unique as Boston. Talking with these students made me realize how different America is to the rest of the world.
Living in America my whole life and rarely traveling outside of it made it quite a shock to hear how normal things like having stores on streets are considered oddities in other countries. I did not realize how present and normal consumerism was in my life until I started talking to all of these people where advertising is not as present. I simply thought that seeing advertisements on bus stop windows and benches was a normal thing.
Another interesting difference that I heard was how disconnected the students felt towards other people on the streets. It is described like people on the street just seem to ignore each other in the city. Being a native of the Northeast, I can attest to this phenomenon from an expert’s perspective. Hearing all of this made the international college experience an even more interesting subject to think about because of the realization of just how different the United States is to the rest of the world. I decided to list every place that the students lived so I could convey their cultural experiences more accurately and present them more as individual stories rather than to generalize all of three of the interview subjects.
Nuria
Place(s) Lived In: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, UAE; Montreal, Canada
Major: VMA with a focus in Writing in TV and Film
Nuria is a freshman in her spring semester who is majoring in VMA, with a focus in writing for film and TV, who was born in Canada and lives in the United Arab Emirates. Upon arriving here in Boston, Nuria realized the many differences between UAE and Boston. One of them was, “For instance, we don’t have any shops on the streets. Any shopping you would do would be in a mall.” Which is obviously a huge departure from the very vibrant street life here in Boston. It also points out just how present advertising and consumerism is in American culture because of the huge role advertising plays in everyday life. Meanwhile, in a place like UAE, commerce is segregated into certain areas and although the advertising may be there, the only places where those stores can be reached are in malls.
Even though the UAE is on the cusp of becoming a first-world country because of the huge growth found in cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This indicates the country’s reliance on concentrating all of its wealth in a few paces rather than spreading it out evenly. Meanwhile, although with a very loose definition of the term “spread out evenly”, American people are encouraged to start local businesses and advertise their products to as many people as possible. Television commercials are becoming more famous and memorable than some TV shows and films in America because of how much money companies pay advertising firms to make effective commercials for their products. Companies like McDonalds and Nike have become global brands because they started off using huge advertising campaigns in America first. This goes to show how powerful our economy is, even though there is still such a huge wealth disparity in our country. Consumerism has become so ingratiated in American culture that the presence of 37 Starbucks within the city of Boston is not the least bit odd.
As she admitted later on, public transportation has also been a challenge to adapt to because of the lack of public transportation at home. “I still don’t know how to use the public transportation, so I’ve been walking everywhere,” comments Nuria.
This led to an interesting conversation about a “living city” where people perform on the streets and paint graffiti on walls. In fact, Abu Dhabi is very vibrant and active on the streets, but commercialization is less common.
“Everybody leaves. At the end of the year, half of the people you know would leave," says Nuria when describing the nature of her school and the culture that surrounds the children of Abu Dhabi. Being a student in Abu Dhabi is a much more transitive experience because of how many people move away when the school year ends. But loneliness doesn't last long as a college student, because you begin to befriend people who will most likely be with you for the next four years.
The reason children move away so often is because of the international business hub the UAE has become in recent years. People from across the world come to work in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for major international corporations mainly focused in finance and oil. With the way that international business works, people are often relocated to other countries very frequently which impacts the families of these children as well.
I think Nuria described it best when she remarked, “Here, it feels like people live here and they live here to stay here. “ Hopefully, this rings true not only for the citizens of Boston but also for the students of Emerson.
Nuria has loved Emerson so far and has found it very easy to transition into her new home. She has enjoyed her classes and has had no trouble making friends with her fellow classmates. The cultural differences have not been too difficult to adjust to. Nuria enjoys walking through the city and exploring all that Boston has to offer.
Fernanda
Place(s) Lived In: Sao Paolo, Brazil
Major: VMA with a Focus in Screenwriting
Coming into this interview, I had little assumptions as to what life in Brazil is like, aside from what I have seen on TV and film. One of Fernanda’s first impressions was that, “I think definitely here it is much safer. Especially in Sao Paolo it is very violent, there is a lot of crime and you don’t feel safe walking around the streets without a fear of getting mugged.” I would have expected her to respond with something along the lines of the public transportation being way better or they’re being less people or something not as gloomy as that. But, these are the things you learn when you go to such a global school and there is always something to learn from anyone you talk to.
Fern said that the reason the reality of Brazil is like this was because of the countries largely undeveloped and uneducated society. As the country becomes more and more acquainted with becoming a fully developed nation the streets will become safer and safer. The story is very much the same in America as the reason people become criminals is because of the lack of quality education that can be found in poverty stricken areas.
In terms of schooling, Fern went to a very prestigious British school in Sao Paolo and had very rigorous academic training prior to arriving at Emerson. She would often receive multiple essays a week and took some very demanding classes that would equate to AP classes in America. The main differences between the British school and the local public schools in Brazil can be seen in the quality of the education. Like in America, public schools in large cities are markedly worse than everywhere else and the best quality education can be found in expensive, private schools. This school also sparked her interest in becoming a Screenwriting major because of the extra-curricular activities that her school exposed her to.
Fern has been preparing herself for Emerson for a long time and her transition has proved seamless because of it. She has found it easy to make friends with both international and non-international students alike. Fern’s classes have been going well so far as it seems her prestigious schooling is proving worthy of the investment. She is enjoying living in the city and has enjoyed safely walking the city streets and getting comfortable with her new home.
Kal
Place(s) Lived In: London, UK; Switzerland; Paris, France; New York, New York
Major: VMA with a focus in Film Production
I was excited at the prospect of interviewing a student who has lived in Europe for most of their lives. Because unlike countries like the UAE and Brazil, European countries have been at the forefront of societal advancement in terms of technology, fashion, public policy, etc. And asking a student who has grown up in that environment and seeing their reaction to America could offer interesting observations on the state of this country. One of the biggest differences Kal talked about was the fact that people on the street act very differently than in London, “People don’t really look at you in the street. They don’t really pay attention to you.” This was interesting to hear because you often hear this criticism from older people in regards to younger generations of people but not usually from people from other countries.
Another departure from normal that Kal has had to deal with has been the amount of free time he has to manage now. His high school experience was very close knit and structured so he would always have something to do. Kal often travels alone and lived at a boarding school so living alone doesn’t bother him, but finding something to do during his free time has proven challenging. The sheer amount of time an average student has at their disposable has been a little daunting and as a fellow freshman I can attest. But, Kal has managed his work well and is ready and willing to take on the college experience for the next four years.
Working on this piece has been a really interesting introduction to my career at Emerson. One of the first things I noticed when I arrived at school was the huge amount of students from other countries. Living and talking with all of these people have given me a new perspective on the world and my own country. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time from all of these people and I could not be more grateful. Therein lies the beauty of a place like Emerson; you can be from down the street or across the Pacific but everyone is dealing with the same problems like the Revenant-esque journey that is the 8am class or what you do when you have 4 hours of free time. Hopefully, Boston will become a home for not just kids like me but for the students who have come from far and wide to see their dreams come true.
