We can all understand how difficult it is to leave your loved ones behind, whether you are from Texas or somewhere overseas. No matter how many miles away you are from your home, it is never easy to leave your comfort zone.
Starting college is a new step into the unknown for everyone. The challenges and hardships we face are particular to our individual experiences and shape who we are. The solutions we have encountered are a reflection of how each of us chooses to deal with our emotions and problems, and that’s what keeps us moving forward.
Before talking about our project, let us introduce ourselves.
Gabrielle Caumon, France
Being an international student comes with baggage only people moving to a new country, a new culture, understand. I am from Paris, France, and I came alone to the U.S. Not because I wanted to, but because my family had to stay home for work. On top of that, I didn’t speak English, and barely passed the English Duolingo exam.
When I first arrived on campus, I could barely understand anyone. I remember registering for my room, communicating with three poor hand gestures. Since the front desk person did not hand me a key, I thought I could not get into my dorm yet and walked around campus to kill time — while the door was open all along. I felt like an outsider, trying to ask around for help. In distress and abandon, lying on campus grass, I called my mom 8,000 kilometers away (4,971 miles), wondering if I made a mistake by coming to the U.S. I am extremely close to my family, and being without them felt like a part of me stayed back home. At that moment, I just wanted to be with them.
I traveled a lot with my family, exposing me to many cultures from an early age and shaping my vision of everyday life. However, when I packed my bags to study in the U.S., it was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I did not know what Orientation Week was, so I missed it, along with the chance to meet other newcomers. No one told me, and if they did, I never understood. Then came classes, where I couldn’t understand what my professors were saying. I recorded them for my stepdad to translate for me. He would stay up late to help me. I underestimated coming to America. I was not prepared enough. I worked harder while the effect of the distance hit me like a slap in the face.
Now? I am the Life & Arts Editor of my university’s student-led newspaper, I got the chance to be in five plays, I am fluent in English, I got nominated for an Austin theater award and I made amazing connections. I am so proud of what freshman Gabrielle has accomplished, and I can assure you that it wasn’t a foregone conclusion. I have been through hard times, I have felt alone, I have had bad encounters and experiences, but I have always picked myself up — and I could not have done it without the support of my friends, professors and family.
After three and a half years, I feel like my heart is divided between two cultures, with an ocean as a separation. I call Austin “going home” and Paris my hometown. And what I thought would be insurmountable is about to come to an end.
Anna Pratts, Brazil
I am an international student from Brazil. My life changed in August of 2022, when I made the hard decision to leave my family behind and move across the world. Back then, I had never set foot in Texas, much less on the St. Edward’s University campus. I knew no one, but I was lucky enough to be familiar with the language, use my extroverted personality in my favor and have my mom by my side to help me get settled into my dorm. The first moments were great. I felt like I was making friends and getting successfully used to my new reality, but it was all a facade.
As soon as my mom left to go back home, the truth started to sink in: I was completely alone and didn’t know what to do. My first couple of months of college are a blur, and I have barely any recollection of it because of the multiple weeks in which all I would do was cry and wonder: “What have I done?” I kept thinking that I had made the wrong decision, that I should have never moved away and that I would never be the same again. The latter is the only part of my original concerns that turned out to be true, but for the better rather than for the worse — something I would only come to find out later in my journey, and something that I am now extremely grateful for.
After being here for two and a half years, I can confidently say that coming here is the best decision I have ever made. I still miss my family and friends — now more than ever, actually — but I know that being here is what is best for me, and I realized that my time here taught me things I would have never learned if I had never made this life changing decision. Moving away from your family, your home and friends is never easy. Those first moments were definitely the hardest thing I have ever gone through, but I would not trade the personal growth, the new connections and experiences for anything else.
I am a different person than when I left: much more confident, independent and grateful for the opportunities that my family and the hilltop have given me. When I first got here, I did not expect that so many great things would have come from it, but I am glad they did. I have made lifelong friends, discovered my passion, helped incoming students that were going through the same things as me two years ago, and made a name for myself. I am proud of how far I have come, and I am beyond happy to call the hilltop my home. If it had not been for the help I received, the coping mechanisms I developed and for the support system I have had through the years, I would not have made it this far — but I am grateful I did.
Our purpose
Hilltop Views received a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network as part of the 2024-2025 Student Media Challenge to publish stories that feature solutions to our problems, with the common theme being focused on mental health.
The solutions journalism framework goes beyond addressing current issues of our society, by finding solutions to them. It encourages a hopeful outlook on issues that often seem impossible to fix, provides responses and insight on how solutions connect to the larger issue, and because there is no perfect solution, the limitations of the response.
St. Edward’s University is home to 245 international students, and we feel it is important to address current issues in order to highlight solutions that will help students and their mental health. To have an idea, the U.S. counts more than 1.1 million international students in 2023-2024, of which 80,757 are in Texas.
We are planning on writing a series of articles centered around the different issues international students face, the resources available on and off campus, as well as responses designed to support this student community.
We would love to hear your input! If you are interested in sharing your experience, contact us at [email protected] and [email protected].
