What it’s like being an international student at JMU

College is already a riveting experience in itself, but starting college in a another country was a whole new ball game. I’m an International student from India at JMU and even after spending a year and a half in the States, I am still unravelling new cultural differences everyday.

“Take the lift?” was the shell-shocked response of my friend, who has always known them as “elevators.” This was the third time that day I was given a weird look for possessing a different vocabulary than the domestic students of JMU. Apart from constantly converting temperature units in my head, devouring humungous food portions and juggling between new traffic rules, I was now faced with the strange vocabulary crisis.

Boxing it

I had barely used “box” as a verb before moving to the States for school. After ordering a small platter shrimp carbonara for myself, I was served with a dish which had enough pasta in it for the entire restaurant to eat. After seeing the rest of my friends gratuitously enjoying the towering mountains of food on their plate, I decided to bravely dig into it too. However, after burrowing halfway into the plate I had to surrender to my stomach’s limited capacity to ingest. And that’s when, I was introduced with the novel concept of “boxing” things. Back in India, I was brought up in a way where packing leftovers is an avoidable dining etiquette since it cuts back on the dining experience. But in America, packing leftovers wasn’t a problem at all. We were immediately served with new polystyrene boxes to stuff our leftover food. I felt a mix of liberation and joy while walking out of the restaurant with my box of leftovers. I could now “box” any amount of food after a meal and eat it later.

Minimal privacy and dorm mates

From huge door gaps in bathroom stalls to awkwardly set up showers in the middle of the bathroom’s hallway, my dorm’s restroom had very limited privacy. In India, my school had perfectly closed cubicle toilets and a separate shower area with a door. For the first few days, going to the restroom was an absolute nightmare, but slowly I began to realize how comfortable others were with sharing a common space in the restroom. Privacy wasn’t so much of a priority anymore. The dorm restroom soon became a place for slipping into random conversations with my dorm-mates. Thanks to the not-so-high-enough bathrooms stalls that I realized others faced the same awkwardness too and together we slowly started to find the humor in the situation.

Socialize, socialize and socialize

One of my first experiences at school was to constantly be surrounded by people. From the very beginning, JMU put you in situations to socialize in order to form valuable relationships with people and avoid any spells of homesickness. After the orientation week and the first week of college, I had found myself an upbeat group of friends, a position in the school newspaper and a membership in the animal alliance club . That’s like scoring a milestone for a kid whose parents have always had a better social life than she did.

Greek life and student organizations

I discovered that JMU really put a lot of emphasis on communitarianism. Before coming to JMU, greek life was only something I had read about in books or seen in movies. By getting to participate in a couple of sorority events, I realized how stereotypically they are portrayed in the media. Apart from academics, the school wants its students to associate themselves with something they are passionate about. I was pretty much blown away with the numerous student organizations at JMU . However, I only realized how vibrant all these organizations were, when I saw the kiosk for the “JMU Quidditch Club.” Like every other devout Harry Potter fan, my heart gushed with happiness and fandom. From professional clubs to quidditch, here at JMU, you could always find a group of people where you belong.

My experience at JMU has been no less than Aladdin’s magic carpet ride. A whole new world and a new fantastic point of view. I have rarely ever felt out of place or foreign. But when I have, it has only lead me to new adventures and discoveries about my new exciting school.