Expanding My Horizons

Hello, again!

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been feeling a strange sense of disconnect from my experiences in Asia over the past semester. While it’s been upsetting me a little bit, I also decided that rather than cry about it, I should do something about it!

I decided to get really involved with my home university’s study abroad office, the NAU Center for International Education (CIE). Here are a few ideas that I have for how I’m going to get involved:

- Promote IFT at NAU: I had a meeting with my IFT study abroad advisor, Louisa, at the halfway point of the semester. I told her that I was eager to have students from Macau attend my home university, NAU. However, she said that although many Macau students would like to go there, the problem was that NAU was not sending enough students to Macau. Therefore, the exchange was imbalanced, and therefore no longer an “exchange.” In fact, I recall my advisor at NAU having to reestablish the exchange in Macau just for me, since there hadn’t been one in close to five years!

Therefore, my goal when I return home is to promote IFT to my fellow School of Business and Hotel & Restaurant Management students at NAU. Many of them travel to Europe for their exchange, but I’m sure there are many students that crave a more “exotic” experience in Asia, and for them this school is a very good choice. I have plans to become what Louisa dubbed as “an IFT Representative” when I return to NAU in the fall. I hope to be present at CIE informational sessions for HRM and the Asian schools, so that I can promote IFT as much as possible. I also plan to present a lecture on my experiences at the annual NAU Honors Symposium next spring, and hopefully I can use that as an opportunity to do some marketing for IFT and Macau.

- Volunteer for the Exchange Student Orientation: A few months ago I received an e-mail from the CIE asking for volunteers to assist in the welcome week for the incoming exchange students to NAU. It was a bit of a wakeup call, since I’d been so focused on ME and MY experience that I had barely given any thought to the students coming to my school in return.

However, there is quite a bit that goes into greeting the exchange students that I did not realize, but now appreciate after going through the experience on the other side. They need everything from drivers to pick up foreign students, greeters to go over the welcome packet and handbook, helpers to move students into their new dorms, and people to drive them to Walmart and Safeway to pick up necessities.

The CIE is also hosting small dinner groups, where an NAU student will take out foreign exchange students out to eat in groups of three to five. It will show them a cheap place to eat out in Flagstaff, as well as offer the opportunity for everyone to get to know some new, diverse people.

The reason why I want to volunteer so much is because I appreciated what the IFT Student Union did for me when I arrived in Macau, knowing nobody and feeling utterly lost in such a strange, unfamiliar place. I’m sure these incoming foreign exchange students feel the same way coming to America, and I want to return the favor that was done to me. Pay it forward!

- Sign up for iFriends (International Friends): The CIE also offers a peer mentor program for incoming exchange students. It’s a program very similar to what I had in Macau with IFT Buddies. Each exchange student was paired up with an IFT Buddy, who was there as a resource to help us sign up for classes, navigate the school, and basically be there to answer any questions about IFT or Macau that we might have.

I’ve already signed up to take on a “buddy” of my own, and I hope that I can make someone else’s stay in Flagstaff all the more better and make them feel more comfortable. Also, it would be a great opportunity for me to make a new, multicultural group of friends! : )


I think that this is the best way for me to relieve some of those feelings of disconnect I’ve been having with my experience. By surrounding myself with other students that are going through the same thing I went through, I can perhaps express myself more openly and be understood than I could with one of my friends or relatives. Also, I am bound to meet other NAU students that have completed their exchanges, and perhaps join their “community.”

I think it will also help me to remember my experience by doing it again somewhat, just on the other side of things. While before I never interacted with the foreign exchange students at my university, perhaps now I can bring some of my experiences back by surrounding myself with diverse people like I have been doing for the past five months.

Here’s to the future!
Kati

P.S. Keep a lookout for a couple more blog entries coming your way SOON!