 "Photo: KC Tuchol for The Hilltop")
 "Photo: Yi Lu for The Hilltop")
“I was writing an essay until five in the morning, but it turned out that it was not due today, and no one else did it! I am so mad,” complained Xiao Jiabin, a Mars Hill College freshman from China, as she turned away from her computer displaying a Chinese website.
In her room in Edna Moore, Xiao posted various signs opposite to her desk. Written on a notebook paper hanging next to her schedule are Chinese words for corn, mushroom, celery, cucumber, orange, apple, banana, watermelon, eggplant, tofu, mango.
These words are certainly not a motto or a quotation.
“Oh, supposedly those are good foods for you. My mother told me this,” Xiao explained. Beside the healthy-food reminder, a Post-It note reads “SAVE MONEY” in light orange and blue markers.
Xiao sighed and then grinned. “I was shopping at the store, and saw something 50 percent off, so I immediately bought it. When I was checking out, I was told that it was actually ‘Buy one, get another 50% off.’ I ended up paying the full price.”
For an interview concerning challenges that international students have to face, this was a good start—with two personal stories and a string of vegetable and fruit names, Xiao’s experience revealed two major problems for international students: new food and the language barrier.
“I will never eat another piece of pizza when I go back.”
Sitting on Xiao’s desk was a bottle of vinegar with a Chinese label, and piling up in a box next to her chair were about 10 bags of Ramen noodles.
“I bought the vinegar in an Asian store,” Xiao said. “I eat everything with it back home.”
As for the noodles, they’ll suffice.
“They are okay,” she commented and nodded hesitantly. “That’s the closest I can get to Chinese taste.”
In a survey email to all the international students on campus, eight responded to several issues about what they found difficult to deal with in the United States. Seven of the students mentioned food.
Most concerns involved nutrition, as international students complained that American food contains too much oil, sugar and fat. Here are some of the email responses:
“Definitely food! I hate American food. I miss my fruits, my fresh juices, my vegetables, my healthy meals, my real meat ... I spend about $200 per month with fruits, real juices, fresh salads, no gluten bread, no gluten granola, soy milk ... And this is not a banquet, it is just the necessary to live.” (From Jacqueline Rouquet, a transfer student from Brazil)
“I think they are really trying to offer a variety of good food in the Caf, but sometimes the food is so greasy that you feel sick afterwards.” (From Leonie Palzer, an exchange student from Germany)
“The Caf food in three years here has not changed. The board asks students to do surveys and nothing is done. Why?” (From Koeche Smith, a tennis player from Bahamas)
Xiao also expressed her anxiety when asked about her diet.
“I gained at least 10 pounds!” she almost yelled. After a pause, she said very determinedly, “I will never eat another piece of pizza when I go back.”
“English everyday?!”
Xiao’s American friends would not understand the music playlist on her laptop, since most of the titles are in Chinese.
“I listen to Chinese songs,” Xiao said, “and watch Chinese movies. I even listen to xiangsheng sometimes.” Xiangsheng is a type of traditional Chinese talk-show performance. “I watch a lot of English movies back home, but not here.”
Why not?
Xiao looked a little surprised to that question. “English everyday?!”
For a foreigner whose first language is not English, living in America can certainly be a daunting task.
“My first language is Japanese, and we don't even use an alphabet,” replied Maasa Ishikawa in her email response. She is a senior from Japan.
Nevertheless, international students are learning and making progress. Xiao said her teachers talk too fast sometimes, and at first she had a hard time comprehending all the information but understands better now.
Rouquet, whose grew up speaking Portuguese, said she keeps trying.
“I have to open my mouth and try to speak English. Sometimes nobody understands what I mean; I can see by their face. But I keep trying—I know that is the only way to learn something.”
Language is just a start—the communication barrier it can create is another challenge that international students have to overcome. In the eight email responses, three indicated that they miss their friends and family back home, while the other three indicated that they feel somewhat isolated.
“I just don’t know what to say to my classmates, and sometimes international students don’t want to talk,” Xiao said. “One time I had a discussion with two other international students. We sat there and looked at each other. It was so quiet that I felt like I was in the library.”
“Never heard of a town the size of Mars Hill that has NO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AT ALL.”
Food was not the only dominant issue indicated by the email responses. Transportation was another one, also mentioned seven of eight times.
“Why don't they have a TRAIN or SUBWAY? Public transportation is more convenient in Tokyo,” Ishikawa wrote.
“Since I was 18, I had my own car in Brazil. I used to travel and go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. I am almost 23, and I have to depend on others for a ride. A ride from the airport, a ride to the mall, a ride to buy a box of water at Ingles...that sucks!” Rouquet said in her email.
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