Do you ever feel a trifle insulated from the real world, my fellow Centre Countian? Do you ever feel like you’re out of touch with life across the globe as you’re basking in the luscious greens of our valley and the rousing blues and whites of our university?
If so, I’ll offer a tried-and-true solution. You can put on a different set of lenses by talking with Penn State’s newest batch of international students. An estimated 1,300 new students from more than 70 nations have recently arrived at the University Park campus, and if you reach out to some of them—as I do every August—you’ll catch a new, fresh perspective.
But if you don’t have opportunities for such engagement, just read on. I’m happy to share the results of my recent conversations with international scholars who provided me with a fresh perspective.
Yes, a few students mentioned shortcomings of our area—grocery stores are located far away from most apartment complexes, local travel can take too long because of the need to change buses, sometimes the town is “too quiet.” Yet, all of my 15 interviewees offered mostly glowing grades to their new community.
Shruti Krishnary, a native of Mumbai, India, is now pursuing a master’s degree in finance at Penn State. And here’s what she said on her second day in State College after coming from a megacity of 21 million people. “There are cute little neighborhoods around here. The area where I come from has huge apartments and buildings. So that’s a massive shift for me. Everything is so slow here. People in Mumbai who are on their feet wouldn’t stop. If you stand in a public place like a train station and you don’t move, you’ll be pushed by the crowd somewhere. It’s true, trust me.”
Do Hyun Lee is from Busan, South Korea, and he hopes to earn a Ph.D. in energy engineering. Busan is home to “only” 3.5 million people, but that is plenty to offer a contrast to State College. “It is quite peaceful, quite quiet. I really love the atmosphere here.”
But one thing was particularly shocking to him: the size of the State College airport. Even though he had just stepped off an aircraft he still found it hard to adjust to the reality of his location. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh, is this the airport? It’s not a bus terminal?’”
SLOW, QUIET AND SAFE
Almost to a one, the scholars I interviewed were impressed by the quietude and security of Happy Valley. Of course, they hadn’t yet experienced a Penn State home football weekend, but I suspect that even such temporary pandemonium wouldn’t have altered observations like these:
“I like it; it’s so quiet,” said El Mahdi Harmouch, a master’s student from Rabat, the capital city of Morocco. “Rabat is big; it has a lot of noise. You have a specific pace of life that you need to maintain because the city forces you to live that way. But here it’s more chill. It’s more quiet. It’s more connected to nature. If someone wants to focus on his or her studies, it’s the perfect place to be at.”
“State College is like the countryside,” said Yasuyuki Iwabuchi, a Japanese student who is pursuing a master’s degree in materials science and engineering. “I am from Fukushima in Japan, and Fukushima is also countryside. The atmosphere is very similar, so it’s comfortable for me.”
“It’s a big place,” noted Winters Shih, a master’s student from Taiwan, in describing the Penn State campus. “But the population is not as high as I expected because most towns in Taiwan are very crowded. I like the quiet and tranquility and also the space because you don’t feel suffocated. Taiwan has very busy traffic but that is not the case here.”
FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT
Aishwarya Kulkarni is a new master’s student from Hyderabad, India, and the natural beauty of Happy Valley is one of the things she appreciates in her new home. “There is greenery here. You have nice gardens.There are no gardens in the cities of India. Whatever garden pieces you have are on your balconies, and there’s not many trees. But here it’s very peaceful, it’s calm and there’s no pollution. I love it here, and I feel I will be able to study very peacefully.”
Master’s student “Jacky” Chen-Chin Lee offered several interesting contrasts between his hometown of Taichung, Taiwan (population 2.8 million) and the little cocoon that we call Happy Valley. “It (Taichung) is a very crowded city and everyone lives in an apartment with like 12 stories. Here, everyone has freedom of space. Yesterday, after the orientation meeting, we saw a lot of rabbits hopping around here and it was very shocking. We cannot see a single rabbit (in Taichung). Only if we go to the pet store, then we can see a little rabbit. This is a very beautiful and natural place.”
FRIENDLY FOLKS
Yishuo Huang is a newly-arrived Ph.D. student in electrical engineering who is a native of Taiwan and a good friend of Jacky and Winters. From Taipei, a city of 2.5 million, he describes our community as “like the countryside to me” and added that “State College has its own charm.” He is especially impressed by the politeness and caution of local drivers toward pedestrians.
“People in Taiwan drive so bad,” he said as Jacky and Winters grinned in agreement. “Actually, I believe CNN called Taiwan ‘Pedestrians’ Hell’ in recent years. I’m shocked that every driver (in State College) stops at the stop sign. In Taiwan, even if there’s a stop sign we won’t stop. We might accelerate and pass through it. It’s a big contrast to me.”
Yishuo spoke with equal candor about how Happy Valley helped to modify his initial fear of America. “When I was in Taipei, I was told that America might be dangerous, that there might be problems with guns and problems with gangsters. But on the second day here, I was walking along the street and there was this one really tall guy—so tall and packed. He was passing by me and I was like, ‘What should I do? What should I do?’ Should I make a u-turn and walk the other way?
“But he just made a nod and said, ‘What’s up? Good morning.’ And that was really shocking to me. So State College is something different from the other part of the U.S. And that was my first morning in State College, and that gave quite a strong impression to me.”
Haoyang Lyu, a new freshman from China, offered kudos to our region for its natural beauty and the warmth of the culture. As for the physical environment, he told his parents by phone that “I never saw a place like this before; it’s just like a dream. It’s very lovely.” As for the friendliness of others, “When I came here, everybody would come to me and say something to me. Like in the dorm, a guy came in yesterday and said hello to me. In China, that (a greeting from a total stranger) is impossible.”
Sadjad Mahnan is a new Ph.D. student in agricultural and biological engineering who hails from Iran. Significantly older than Lyu, he also noted the tendency of local residents to greet strangers. “The best part of this city,” he said, “is when you meet people, they smile. In my country, people are so busy, especially because of the economy. They just have to run, so it’s hard to find people who smile at you.”
Sitting beside Sadjad as we spoke was his colleague, Lawrence Arthur, a Ghanian who is embarking on Ph.D. studies in the same major. Like Sadjad, Lawrence noted that people at Penn State are “so nice and very welcoming.” And then he told a story of a small act of kindness that meant the world to him as a slightly confused soul in a new nation.
Lawrence was attempting to take the bus to his new apartment during the first few days of his life in State College. But he realized he was on the wrong bus and hopped off at the next stop. Soon the driver of another bus noticed Lawrence and got out of his vehicle to offer help. “He came to talk to me to make sure I knew what bus I was to take. That was so loving. Then after a few minutes, he came back again and told me what time my bus would come. That was so nice of him. I was so happy to be at Penn State.”
PENN STATE POSITIVES
I was privileged to attend some of the in-person orientation activities held by Penn State Global. It was impressive to observe the input given to new international bachelor students and grad students on such thorny subjects as taxes, visas, medical insurance and banking. And it was just as impressive to see the opportunities provided for internationals to bond with each other as friends—small group discussions, meals, an ice cream social and group tours of campus.
The overall orientation effort included online resources and communications, several days of in-person programming and ongoing availability for encouragement and support. And, it should be noted, the folks who serve with Global Programs—staff members and volunteers—spoke sincerely about their privilege to serve the remarkable students who come to Penn State from other lands.
Rachel DeMesa, Global Engagement Coordinator, is one of those who bear significant responsibility for assisting international students. A native of the Lehigh Valley, DeMesa earned her bachelor’s degree from Penn State and is now pursuing a master’s from her alma mater. She sees her work with international students as an excellent opportunity to serve them and Penn State.
“International students provide identity and culture,” DeMesa told me. “They are incredible students and they go through a lot of hardships and experiences that domestic students may not experience. So that is why I am really happy to support these students in their time at Penn State.”
AND ONE LITTLE OVERSIGHT
Despite the fact that I would give an “A” to Penn State Global for this year’s orientation, I couldn’t help but chuckle over one apparent omission. It seems—gasp!—that even after orientation was complete most international students hadn’t heard of James Franklin!
Yes, these new friends from other nations learned about Penn State football and Beaver Stadium during their orientation period. But I’m not sure that anything was said about Happy Valley’s most famous citizen during the meetings. So, in 12 of my mini-interviews, I asked this simple question: “Who is James Franklin?”
Well, none of the 12 gave the correct answer and those who offered guesses seemed to confuse James with Benjamin. Said one student, “I think he has something to do with Philadelphia.” Said another,” He’s a guy whose picture is printed on cash.” (I posed the same question to new international students in 2021 and the result was 0-15.)
But I doubt that James Franklin is worried about enhancing his fame with internationals since he’s a low-ego coach who once got in trouble for saying his team was “great but not elite.” No harm, no foul for the folks at Penn State Global.
And who knows? This particular oversight might prove to be helpful to our favorite Franklin. In the past, he could count on Ohio State or Michigan to keep him humble. But not this year, right?
