Joanna Swacha and Malgorata Trochimiuk, exchange students from Poland, say that in their home country they usually take nine to ten classes per semester. That doesn’t necessarily mean that keeping up with their homework was more difficult in Poland. “Here you have to study more regularly,” says Joanna.
Classwork aside, the two women seem to be adjusting quite well.
Joanna says that NEIU “actually tries very hard” to make students feel welcome, but she would feel more comfortable if the people helping them were doing so on a voluntary basis. At her Polish university, the people working with international/exchange students were student volunteers, not paid staff.
When asked to make suggestions about how to better operate NEIU’s international program, Joanna and Malgorata suggest that NEIU should do more to help international/exchange students find housing. They also suggest that the university should send someone to pick students up at the airport instead of letting them find everything on their own.
During their time in Illinois, both Joanna and Malgorata hope to be involved with more Chicagoans and not just other international students. So far, they’ve greatly enjoyed the diversity of Chicago.
Other visiting students’ outlooks are less optimistic. According to Mohammed Yaser 22, an international student from India “people (here) are very formal and not very helpful.” He also feels that people in Chicago are more materialistic than the people back in India.
As far as schoolwork goes, Mohammed says that classes back home were lecture based, while the classes here are more hands on. He’s joined by a majority of U.S. students in lamenting that “here, the classes involve projects.”
Addlaide Bezier, 23, an exchange student from France, says that she specifically picked Northeastern Illinois University because it does not have any dormitories. She wanted to experience life in Chicago like other citizens by living in the city, not in the college dorms. So far, she says that she loves Chicago. A great number of cultural events are always taking place, and she’s pleased that the parties in Chicago are much wilder than she was used to back home.
On the downside, Addlaide says that there is too much junk food here and that it is harder to find healthy alternatives. She says that “the people here are much more friendly, but in a superficial way.”
Overall, though, Addlaide likes Americans. When she returns home, she says that she would like to see more U.S. exchange students in France.