What international students really think of Purdue and America

International students from all around the world attend American universities each year. These brave students leave their home country to fly to a foreign place with a completely different culture, where they know virtually no one and where Donald Trump is the republican candidate.

From an outsider looking in, America can look like anything from a sinking ship to a never ending party, so I understand why other’s would want to experience it for themselves. But of course there’s always things about traveling to a new place that exceed or fall short of your expectations . Here’s what international students thought of America before they came and what they think of it now.

Manya Subbaramaiah

“I’ve grown up watching American TV shows so I kind of had an idea of the places though. I expected bigger buildings but once I came  to Purdue there were not many big buildings. I met a lot of Americans before, they used to come to India a lot for exchange programs so I had a glimpse of what the people were like. Everyone is so polite and everyone has a lot of time to talk to each other and hold the door for you. But back home, everyone’s in a hurry, if you walk down the street you would never see people greeting one another.”

“The traffic is really bad back home so here it’s really nice. Pizza is really good, but the rest of the food here is way too bland, I can’t eat it. I was kind of mentally prepared for it but I didn’t know it would be as bad as it was. I’m kind of used to it now but when I first came here that was the biggest issue for me.”

Ollie O’Connell, 19, New Zealand

“New Zealand’s a western country and America is too, so I was expecting much of the same. The only real differences are the universities. I was expecting it to be like American Pie with the huge frat parties and massive universities. But since I’m a huge college football fan, I already knew kind of what to expect. I was told American people are really stupid because of the whole election thing. People would say, ‘Oh these guys voted for trump, they’re so stupid.’ or ‘They have 20 mass murders a week and children are dying in the streets.’ I heard they’re all fat and that America is the most obese country in the world because they have so much pizza to eat.”

“It’s really hot and humid here but it hasn’t been hard adjusting. Everyone is really nice and It’s pretty privileged over here. We have our food cooked for us, we have someone cleaning our toilets and we don’t have to do any dusting or anything. Your american classes are a little bit different in the fact that professors are so strict on attendance. There’s also a lot more degrees and very different degrees than we have back home. The standard New Zealand degree only takes 3 years.”

Bhavika Lakhani, 19, Dubai

“There’s amazing food and so much shopping in America. Everyone is so much nicer here. Back home if you saw a stranger and you made eye contact they wouldn’t say hi or anything. But here I’ll be in the elevator and people will be like ‘Hi, how’s your day.’ I think I expected it to be like that but I didn’t know it would actually be like that. I had seen it in movies and TV because I grew up watching American stuff and I was like whoa, it’s literally the same. I thought it was made up but it’s pretty much like the TV shows.”

“After coming to Purdue, I just noticed that the friendships I have with non-Americans are my ride or dies. But some Americans I met here they seem to be just friends. But I think it’s because we’re international students, we’re all in the same boat and we don’t have our family around us.”

Julia Harry, 20, New Zealand

“I thought American University was going to be exactly what Purdue has been so far. Just from what I’ve seen from the movies like the big marching band with the big drums, the cheerleaders, the sororities and fraternities, the big football stadiums with all the games. I guess what they don’t show in the movies is that you actually have to study. I didn’t know what to expect when I came, I guess I expected it to be a lot harder because Purdue is ranked around 89 and University of Canterbury is 211. I think I was right because It’s so hard here. Plus, in New Zealand we have four courses and here we have five.

“All the media really feeds us about America is everything negative. They showed the shootings, the bombs and people with knives stabbing people. I was really quite scared, I thought I was going to die. And then I was really surprised because everyone is so lovely. You walk into stores and people will be like ‘Hi, how are you?’ It was completely unexpected. I don’t like the humidity, but I feel like i’m adjusting.

“They way that they structure lectures is a lot different than in New Zealand, I don’t like how it’s very discussion based. We will sit in a circle and the professor will say, ‘Julia, what are your thoughts?’ In New Zealand the classes are bigger because they have one class at one time and it’s very chill.  The professors lecture to you and don’t care if you’re on your phone but here they will confiscate your phone. But I love it here, I needed this experience for my soul.”

Jiaying Gu, 21, China

“I decided to come to the United States for university a long time ago. I went to the AP center in China for high school so I knew a lot of things about the United States. But I didn’t know anything about the geography or how many states there were.

“I went to an American university for summer camp when I was 16 and I found out the food in the United States is not good, though Starbucks is cheaper than China which is a plus. I bought a car here and the models in the United States are much cheaper than in China. When I was a freshman I hated it here because it was so cold and I wasn’t used to the American way of life and everything. But now I’m used to it and it’s good.”

Iramul Hoque, 20, Bangladesh

“I wanted to come to the states despite rest of my graduating class heading to the UK because I thought it would be like ‘American Pie’ 24/7, all 4 years of college. But then I saw how people mature through college and partying is mostly a freshman thing. I definitely thought people here would be dumb, but that’s not true despite what’s happening with the election and everything.

“I’ve been to America a couple times before. I went to cities like New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and thought they were very diverse. There’s a lot to see and do. It’s hard to grasp how big this country actually is. Coming to Purdue was my first time in the Midwest and I found it’s completely different. It has a different culture than the east coast, it is predominately white, and there’s some racism, but most people have a lot of heart.

“I still think some people here are really ignorant, but it’s not completely their fault. I think it’s because america’s so far away from the rest of the world so people here are not as aware of global issues. The media is also to blame.”

Yiran Xu, 19, China 

“I thought America would be a bunch of people partying. They always told us that there would be many classes and you have to study after the classes a lot. I feel like the education here is really different so I wanted to experience it. The entertainment industry is also really advanced here.”

“The media reports a lot about LA and New York so all we see are people moving really fast paced in really big cities. When I came here I didn’t expect corn fields everywhere. There’s not much nightlife, there’s not many fun things to do around here unless you’re in Lafayette but that’s kind of sketchy to go at night.

Salsabil Salah, 19, Dhaka, Bangladesh

“Before I came to America, I thought of the ‘American Dream’. Where I am from, people think going to the US is a one way ticket to success and fame. My idea about the U.S. was that they were a step ahead of our country. I used to think they had better technology, better system, and better social security. After watching a lot of movies and TV shows I also thought drugs and weapons were America’s strongest businesses.

“After I came to the USA, one thing I really learned was appreciation towards diversity, in addition to knowledge. I met different people from all over the world and it gave me a chance to know about different parts of the world without even travelling. Getting to know people of different ethnicity and cultures actually broadened my mind and I really appreciated diversity. Now I think that the U.S. has taught me that being different is good, because being unique and having different thoughts actually makes success easier. I  think people here really appreciate diversity and differences. They encourage people to be different and unique without regrets and they encourage people to be who they are.”

Piyush Juneja, 20, New Delhi

“I have a lot of family that was already living here and I visited for the first time two years ago, so I already had a basic idea of what it was going to be like and what the culture would be like. So for me it has been positive experience but it wasn’t much different than what I expected. I really like it here. When I visited for the first time, I knew this was the place I wanted to study.”

Most of the international students agreed that Americans are very friendly, the food is sub-par and that movie college and real life college are basically the same. So many agree that America is pretty great and who knows, maybe some international students will decide to make the USA their permanent home after graduation.