The International Syndrome
The only way anybody can know what it's like to be an international student in an American university - or in any other country for that matter - is to be an international student in an American university. And everyone should. But that's another question.
I am French, from France, Paris, France, and yes, that means I speak French, you never know, some people here still wonder. I have been studying at University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign for the past 8 weeks as an exchange student. And it has been amazing. AMAZING. I have been meaning to write about it for a while, but I've never gotten to it. And it's not my fault too, it's My International Syndrome's fault.
The one thing you should know is that all exchange students (or at least the ones I've met) have the International Syndrome. They are always busy. ALWAYS. With work obviously, because there's always more work than expected, but with everything else as well. I think it's because we only have a determined time on campus and we want to make the most of it, get to do everything we can before we have to go. It's also because you're convinced that if you stop for one minute, you'll start thinking about everything you're missing, and that's when you get homesick. And once you get homesick you don't want to do anything but be sad in your bed. Or at least that's what I think, I guess everyone has their own way of justifying it. The result is the same anyway, we don't ever want to feel like we're missing out on anything, so if there's something happening somewhere, whether it be an ice-skating outing, a party or a study session at the library, we have to be there. Even if it means not doing all the studying we should be doing and having to spend all sunday working, and late into the night too. And there's always something going on on an American campus, so we're always busy. And that's what I want to write about here.
And I've been reading The Help for the past 6 hours, and the last week too, and I'm watching the movie now (oh yeah, that'll help with my midterm tomorrow), so my southern/black accent done get stronger. Or maybe it's all in my head, it's really late now. I'm goin get myself to bed now!
And btw don't watch the movie, or at least not seriously, not for a literature midterm, it's a nice story, pretty n all,, but it's worse than the book and the book is already bad enough. O would you look at that, I'm getting off track!
O et pour mes amis français, j'essairai d'écrire en français une fois de temps en temps mais je n'ai pas beaucoup de temps pour les raisons mentionnées ci-dessus, donc j'espère que vous comprendrez mon anglais!
