10 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
Help guide international students during homecoming
W
hen we think of Homecoming week, we think of all of the activities happening on campus during the week – Monday Night Live, the Parade, the football game, Royalty selection and the concert. Obviously, we also think about the original purpose of Homecoming – to welcome our Alumni back to our campus and into our community, so they too can partake in the celebrations of the week. Homecoming is all about friendship. While knowledge in the classroom is important, the relationships we build go a long way in giving meaning to our lives here. This is particularly true for international students, who are suddenly tossed into a new environment, days away from home with no family to guide them through the daily challenges of growing up. Professors provide guidance through coursework, but in college, friends help us through life. A large part of my college experience has been based on the friendships I’ve made. I find myself fortunate to be a part of a college community that’s exactly that – a community, a fact that becomes especially evident during the events of Homecoming week. With most of my friends being exchange
students who are here for only a semester or two, Homecoming week is particularly difficult for me, as I know many of them aren’t able to return. Nebraska has become home for me in more ways than one, and I wanted to explore whether this was the case for other international students. I reached out to some exchange students who have returned home and asked for their thoughts. “The Nebraskans,” Lucas Lommez from Brazil said, “they are the kindest and most welcoming people in the U.S. As an international student, I was expecting people to not be patient with my language barrier, or that people would not be open to learning about my culture, but it was exactly the opposite in Nebraska. People cared about making sure I was alright all of the time, and, especially at the university, people were very interested in learning a little bit more about Brazil, and I was always glad to tell them, by the way.” I loved hearing about Lucas’ experience as I feel it reflected mine very closely. I also thought that I wouldn’t be accepted here, but was pleasantly surprised when I was welcomed with open arms into the community. Sarah Bizimana from France said she misses her friends from UNL the most. “We would spend hours hanging out together
in the dorms, talking, laughing and experiencing student life. When sometimes I would feel alone or sad in my room, I simply had to take a few steps and knock on the next door. I miss the dance moves of my Guatemalan friend, the cuteness of the Japanese girls, the heat of the Spanish girl, the sense of humor of the Brazilian, the hyperactivity of my Indian girl and the enthusiasm of my American buddies. Not being able to find that sweet atmosphere is probably one of the hardest things I had to face when I got back home.” Sarah brought up a good point – when you go home, it’s not quite the same. Studying in the U.S. gives us the opportunity to explore things that aren’t native to our culture, and to explore our feelings, capabilities and instincts in a completely different way. We take these thoughts with us when we return home and absorb them into our own lives, so when we go back, we aren’t the same as when we left. By talking to my friends who are here for a short period of time, I’ve found that they experience something more exhilarating here, something that is beyond the normal they might find at home. Silvia Pancorbo from Spain said it’s difficult to adjust to life back in Spain. “It’s weird because you’re with your friends
and family again, but you miss the other family you’ve left. You think you’re going to be super happy, but at first you don’t feel so good.” Silvia, like my other international exchange friends, has left part of herself here. I’ve also experienced this – whenever I return home to India, I find myself missing my life in Lincoln. I find myself missing home. So as Homecoming week progresses, I urge you to make friends and learn from the experiences of others. I ask you to take one step further in establishing home for students who are far away from theirs. I urge you to watch the international students who are walking in the parade, and I encourage you to involve them in your lives, to include them into your culture and to engage in theirs. Homecoming is a celebration of togetherness. It’s about the family we create here and about our combined experiences, whether we are current students or alumni. Homecoming celebrates the common factor that binds us – that we are all, and that we will always be Huskers. AAKRITI AGRAWAL IS A SENIOR ACTUARIAL SCIENCE MAJOR. REACH HER AT OPINION@ DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM.
Homecoming brings Greeks together
H
omecoming has changed since I was in college. As an alumna, homecoming means just that: a coming home. It means going back to a place I called home for four years of my life. It means visiting my favorite eateries from my college years (Bisonwitches, anyone?!). It means football games, and with the football games comes the best halftime show of the year: coronation, alumni playing in the band and throwback cheerleading uniforms! The energy of Memorial Stadium seems to double during this game. My theory is that the alumni in the stadium are taken back to their college days. They’re reminded of why they chose to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the first place. Years of memories, moments and experiences through college and beyond brought them to that place and that moment, and they’re not just cheering on Nebraska football; they’re cheering on their university. This theory extends beyond the alumni and hits the core of current students. College has a way of isolating you and keeping you in a nice, neat, little bubble. Homecoming brings students out of that bubble and into a world much larger than they are.
It shows them how far life extends beyond college and how deep pride runs in our university. It serves as a reminder that they’re a part of something much bigger than themselves. The majority of my college years were spent residing at 1545 S Street, a place that will always feel like home. Kappa Alpha Theta has transcended time for me. When we pledged, we were told “Theta for a lifetime.” Boy, has that rung true in my years. Theta means so much more to me now than it ever did as a collegiate. The girls who began as strangers (and forced friends) quickly became real friends. These friends became my best friends, and sure enough, they did become sisters to me. Growing up with brothers, I longed for close female friendships my whole life. I had always found it easy to hang with the boys, but Theta gave me the sisters I never had, from sharing wardrobes to sharing secrets and moments such as homecoming. Homecoming week was an event. I’ve never known competition like a good Greek competition. Homecoming week brought out the best (and probably the worst) in all of us. It meant lack of sleep due to staying up late with high-powered flashlights to finish the float in time. It meant social events with other sororities and fraternities. Let’s be honest, did
anyone on Greek Row get any sleep during Homecoming week? With the music bumping loudly as we worked on floats through the wee hours of the night to those assigned to stand guard and protect our precious float as if it was a newborn child, how could we really relax? All of it, however, was worth it when the week came to a close, and the points and ranks were announced. It was even worth it the year it was pouring rain during the entire parade because the benefit of living right on Greek Row is a front row seat from your window to the parade traveling down 16th Street. It’s worth it because of the people you build the memories with: the sisters. They’re family. They’re in my upcoming wedding. They’re the girls who stood by me through a parent’s cancer. They celebrate birthdays, mourn deaths, buy drinks for job promotions and do real life with me: life beyond lunches in the Nebraska Union, studying at the Wick Alumni Center, winter formals and Bid Day Photos. Life that includes hard times and celebrations. Family. As most would agree, it isn’t the house that makes the home, but those in it. My family extends far beyond those who are blood-related to me, and I’m at home and at my best when I’m with family.
Homecoming now, a few years removed from college, looks quite a bit different than it did during my college years. Heck, it looks quite a bit different than our first couple years out. In the thick of early career-building craziness, wedding planning, newly-wedded bliss, world traveling and whatever else my friends and I are up to, we are making new homes for ourselves, ones that don’t always intersect. This year, my friends and I can’t come together for actual Homecoming at the university. Homecoming this year looks like a group text as we make plans for late October. We plan to have an intentional weekend of coming back home to UNL and spending quality time with those girls who started off as strangers. It’s knowing that we still would like to be together on campus this weekend, but recognizing that what we need is time with the friends who became family in a common home. GUEST COLUMNIST CHARISSA HAUGE WAS A HOSPITALITY RESTAURANT AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT MAJOR WHO GRADUATED IN 2011. REACH HER AT OPINION@ DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM.
Well, I don’t want to bash Colorado schools too much, but at UNL, unlike CSU, I can go to a football game where attendance against Minnesota breaks 35,000. And unlike those at CU, I don’t have to deal with the stench of pot wherever I go. One of my friends at CU Boulder told me “there is a common expectation that anywhere you go with a lot of people, there will be pot,” including football games. That might appeal to some people, but I will stick to the family
friendly atmospheres of Husker games. Listen, I love Colorado, and it will always be my first home. I respect its universities even if it doesn’t respect ours. Yet, I do not at all regret coming to Nebraska, and I have loved and appreciated every minute I have been a Husker. Nebraska has become a second home for me, and I flaunt it every time I go back to Colorado. Being a Husker isn’t something that comes from attending a football game every now and then;
it’s a lifestyle that comes from being the best fans in the nation. So I say as a native Coloradan but true Husker: Go. Big. Red. MATT SERVER IS A SOPHOMORE POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR. REACH HIM AT OPINION@ DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM OR @MATTSERVER.
SERVER: FROM 9 and basketball game as a member of the Big Red Express Pep Band, when fans come up to me after the game and tell me I did a wonderful job playing. This community is a huge part of what makes Lincoln and UNL so special. I’m often asked why I would choose to go to Nebraska over any of the Colorado schools and give up the mountain scenery and high altitude that I love so much. Many of my friends ask me, “What is there to do in Nebraska?”