International Students Share Experiences at GRC

STORY #1

By Shemar Young

AUBURN, Wash. – Hamza Mahmood has been in Washington since 2016. His career goal is to work in Information Technology. He likes video games, drawing, going on walks, and binge-watching.

Mahmood was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1995 and spent most of his life there. By the time he finished high school in 2013, he felt burnt out, so he decided to take a gap year. His mother prioritized college and his education.  An agent helped him apply to college and he had either a choice of going to college in the U.S. or Canada. He always dreamed about coming to the –United– States.

“I watched a lot of sitcoms during that time,” Mahmood says. “I was watching Friends and a bit of Office. ”The reason he chose Green River is because of the location since it’s on the West Coast. “I always adored the West Coast,” Mahmood said.

His first impressions of America were from the sitcoms that he would see during his time living in Rawalpindi, he expected to work hard and not be too busy and have fun in the process, but when he got to GRC his perceptions would collide with his new reality.   He has been in Green River since the Fall of 2016. He currently works at the help desk at GRC and is one of the two students in charge of the ctcLINK system transition.

This ties into what he wants to do career-wise. He wants to work in that field and is planning on getting an entry-level job in IT and plans on working at companies like Amazon and Microsoft. Mahmood’s hobbies include playing video games, drawing, going on walks, and binge-watching.  He plays games like Destiny and Kingdom Hearts 3. He also plays games competitively like the fighting game Dragon Ball Fighterz and Mortal Kombat.

He also draws from time to time, during his gap year he drew a lot of anime figures and characters he liked. He also draws with his wife sometimes as well. He learned how to play the guitar a while back, but has since forgotten everything because of work and studies, but he still tries to pick it up. Mahmood has a bucket list of things he wants to do while in the U.S. A lot of it is based on traveling so he expressed that he would have to plan it a little differently due to the pandemic.

One priority that he has is him becoming a local student instead of just being an international student. “My wife is doing her best to explain to me how to do all of that,” Mahmood said. What Mahmood’s goal is now is to fully adjust to living in the United States. He wants to buy a house, get a driver’s license, and get a career in IT to achieve in essence the American dream.

STORY #2

By Alison Barlow

AUBURN, Wash. – Asraff Mohamed-Bakhash, the student body president of Green River College, wanted to take control of his own life, something he didn’t feel he could do in his home country of Singapore.

“In Singapore, it’s all about academics, it’s never about anything external.”Unlike in the United States, which focuses on extracurricular activities in addition to academics, Singapore’s education system is very academically competitive. “If you get a bad grade on a final, you’re not getting into a good university in Singapore.” said Mohamed-Bakhash. “In Singapore, there isn’t middle school or high school, we call it primary school, secondary school, junior college, and polytechnic.”

He said he came to the U.S. to have a different view on education. According to Mohamed-Bakhash, being an international student can get lonely because “you don’t have much family around and that can get scary at times”. He has faced several instances of racism since coming to the U.S., which surprised him. “My first day here, I already had that issue…happen to me in San Francisco”.  He had something similar happen a couple of days later at a restaurant.  “I’ve learned to look past it…sometimes it gets to me”. Mohamed-Bakhash has also experienced racism at Green River.

“I was told by a professor that it was a surprise that my English was so good and how did I not have an Indian accent even though I have never lived in India. I was also told it was a surprise to the professor that I was bad at math because ‘all Asians are good at math’” Mohamed-Bakhash said. In addition, he has faced racism from students.  For example, a couple of students ask a friend of his why they were hanging around “the brown boy so much. They are always dirty, and you never know, he might be a terrorist.”

Wendy Stewart, the vice president of the international programs, works to help international students adjust to life at Green River. Mohamed-Bakhash said, “These students are making the decision to leave their families and we take that very seriously,” said Stewart. “And we thank the parents for trusting us to care for their child.” Mohamed-Bakhash moved by himself to the U.S. in December 2019 but was inspired to attend GRC because his brother attended. “I didn’t think about any other schools,” Mohamed-Bakhash said. “My brother had gone to Green River, so it was pretty much a no-brainer where I was going to go.”

Mohamed-Bakhash is currently a biology major.  He plans to transfer to the University of Washington, Seattle, University of Washington, Tacoma, or the University of California, Los Angeles. As a student, he has become very involved at Green River.  He learned about student government opportunities in his first quarter. He said before becoming student body president, he didn’t have too much going on; it was just him and school since all his friends were in Singapore.

He investigated student government and saw that the chief justice position was open, so he applied to be a senator. He got the chief justice position. Mohamed-Bakhash said, “I was chief justice for a year until my term was over. And then I applied to become the president and I got nominated and selected,” said Mohamed-Bakhash, who is also involved with several committees. Despite the difficulties Mohamed-Bakhash has faced as an international student, he has risen to the challenges.  His experience as a student in a new country and his willingness to get involved in a meaningful way as a school leader are impressive.  His future seems limitless.

STORY #3

By Tokiko Ichimura

AUBURN, Wash. – Expanding friendships is much harder for international students than they expected it would be.

Irene Vanessa Widiaman came to the U.S. from Indonesia four months ago to major in data science and statistics at Green River College (GRC). She was hoping for the reality of being a student here would match her perception of what it would be like. But, due to the pandemic, she was still having trouble socializing and then being more extroverted. Wideman enrolled in the college to succeed in her college life, study her major and then transfer to a U.S. university like the University of Washington or the University of California.

GRC was a suitable school for her to achieve those goals. While being fulfilled with her present situation, Widiaman was aware that the pandemic would make things more difficult for her. International students face a reality that goes like they expect and sometimes don’t expect in their college lives. Also today, the pandemic accelerates the gaps between the perceptions and reality that they experience. Focusing on the gap is meant to help understand how she is struggling with the challenging situation for her vision.

The most general expectation not only for Widiaman but also other international students is having plenty of new friends in the U.S. The college is where students who have different backgrounds gather. In such a place, she fully expected to interact with a lot of inspiring people through attending classes and other activities. In addition, this interaction was going to occur in an environment free from restriction, judgment and discouraging her from openly expressing herself.

However, all students are sitting in front of a laptop for hours in their room every day. While attending online classes, they spend the whole semester alone at home or with some roommates in an apartment.

With the restricted situation, Widiaman found it difficult to meet U.S. students and socialize with them. Widiaman said she’d like to talk to a lot of people. However, “after the COVID, I have a harder time to meet people, tend to be shy and wouldn’t really talk a lot,” Widiaman said. Then, staying at home and not being able to work out quite stresses her out and makes her lonely.

STORY #4

By Tatiana Marshall

AUBURN, Wash. – Moving to a new country and starting college are both daunting tasks, but freshman Esther Kim has navigated it thus far with confidence and positivity. Kim, who was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, only moved to the United States this past September to attend Green River College as an international student. Before arriving, Kim did have her fair share of worries. She feared that she would face lots of racism and xenophobia.

Now that she has been here for several months, she finds that how people treat her depends on where she lives. According to Kim, Green River has been extremely accepting and allowed her to meet many different people from different and even similar backgrounds. Kim was impressed by the amount of other international students at Green River. Green River’s website states that out of approximately 8,739 students attending this year, there are over 858 international students from more than 60 countries (Green River College).

One of the biggest culture shocks to Kim was the lack of plastic she has seen people use in the U.S. She says that people use “so much plastic” in South Korea. Another thing that surprised her was small talk. “People do small talk when we don’t know each other,” she says. Kim says that in South Korea, people rarely start up random conversations with strangers. To Americans, it is commonplace but to Kim, it is frightening for someone she has never met before to speak to her out of nowhere, even just to be polite. Kim adds that manners in the U.S. differ quite a lot from manners in South Korea.

Kim admits that it’s hard to say for sure how similar the United States is to its portrayal in movies, TV shows, and other forms of media. She has seen what American parties, classrooms, and football games look like on TV, but due to COVID, has been unable to experience these in the United States herself thus far.

Kim is currently studying aviation at the college. She says that she has always had an interest in aeronautics and is so far pleased with the courses she takes here. After graduating, Kim has plans to stay in the United States long-term. “I want to get a job here after I’m finished with school.” In her free time, Kim enjoys cooking, watching TV, spending time with friends, and attending church on Sundays.

Kim even spent her first-ever Thanksgiving with some friends from church. She was curious to see what would be served and what the hype around the holiday was all about, as they don’t celebrate it in South Korea. “The food was really good!” Kim says.  Kim has also joined a couple of clubs at Green River. She is currently a member of Fish Club and Music Club. She says that she has made lots of friends through both.