Hi everyone! My name is Kenneth Rojas Araya and I am an international student from Costa Rica. I will be writing every week about my experiences at Lewis & Clark for you to explore life at LC through the lens of an international student.
For all of those prospective international students, I hope you stay tuned to my content and the insights that I am planning to share with you here.
Something that I would like to introduce in my first entry is a pattern that I have observed in my last 4 years here. International students and local students not knowing how to get to know each other. I get it, indeed it is a complex interaction for many new students, but spoiler alert, you will end up interacting with each other everywhere here :)
Many international students may be moving out from home for the first time, but so are local students. Here is some advice that will help you to break the ice in an intercultural competent way:
Don’t make your conversations about a country of origin, you are meeting people, not places (for both, I.S and L.S).
Make sure you approach first interactions with an open mind and give time for equal understanding.
Don’t jump into assumptions once you know the origin of anyone, in the end, we all belong to Lewis & Clark community.
The reason why I wanted to talk about this is that I see how both communities take a while to start getting to know each other. I hope I leave you a thought or two on how do you want to make the most of these valuable interactions for everyone once you get here.
I hope all of you coming to Lewis & Clark know that you will be welcomed by all in our community, and this will be your responsibility once you start welcoming new pios.