Travel for Education

Frostburg State has a significant amount of foreign exchange students on campus, all from a wide range of countries. From the United Kingdom to India, there is a very diverse student exchange population. The Bottom Line [TBL] interviewed another exchange student, Wei (now going as Emma in the states) from south central China, specifically Rucheng, in the Hunan provenance. Emma is a graduate assistant at the International Student Center. Emma’s experiences are much different then traditional American college students as well as other foreign exchange students.

Emma is currently married to her husband who is a software engineer. Her husband had an opportunity to work in Northern Virginia, so he arrived in the United States in 2014. He came back to China to marry Emma, and the couple came back to the states in 2015. With her current citizenship, Emma is not allowed to have a job. “My husband suggested to me to take some English examination and to apply to take continual education,” Emma stated.

Currently residing in Northern Virginia, Emma has a commute to Frostburg over three hours every Monday morning and goes back to Northern Virginia every weekend to stay with her husband. When asked why she chose Frostburg to other schools, Emma said, “I had lots of choices, but I chose Frostburg because its tuition fee is much lower than other schools. If I couldn’t get used to my situation here, I was going to transfer to George Washington University, but after coming for one semester, I was determined to stay.”

One of the main challenges that Emma faced, like many exchange students coming from Asian countries, was the language barrier noting,“English was not my first language. I had to learn it by myself and try my best and master this second language.” Emma noticed that many exchange students face transportation problems and mentioned that, “those who don’t have a vehicle may face a challenge.” Coming from China, Emma mentioned that the way the teacher approaches the class is completely different explaining, “I’ve never taken a presentation before I entered Frostburg University. It was a new experience for the presentation and every time I do one, I feel very nervous. It’s very difficult because I have no experience.”

Emma was shocked from all of the various greetings that she receives here compared to back home: “When you just walk down a road a person will say ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ to you. When someone opens a door they say ‘thank you’ all the time. It’s pretty different back home. If I wanted to to say ‘thank you’ or ‘sorry’ it comes from my heart in my country but here, they say it all the time.”

 Emma also misses the food from back home saying, “There are a lot of Chinese restaurants around here, but most of them are not authentic Chinese food. So, I miss the food very much.” Along with missing authentic Chinese cuisine, Emma misses her family. Emma said it is very easy to contact them through WeChat, “It has been easier for me here because of my husband.”

Emma stated that her experience with the International Students Office did a good job in communicating with the foreign exchange students with various things including job opportunities and services. “I really appreciated that,” Emma said.

Emma did have some negative things to say about the federal government’s immigration policy noting, “The government’s policy is not friendly to our international students. It is not like the school’s [policy]. I think Frostburg did a good job in relating to the United States federal government’s policy.”

Emma is just one of the many foreign exchange students here at Frostburg who has so many experiences to share with our campus and the greater Frostburg community.