International Students and COVID-19

“Tennessee Wesleyan is a small university, impacting people’s lives around the world.” -Dr. Augustin Bocco

Think back to when you were 18. Perhaps you were one of those fearless 18-yearolds, ready to take on whatever the world threw at you. There was no mountain too tall, no challenge that scared you. Does that sound like you? Or maybe it doesn’t at all?

18 has plenty of excitement and adventure, but also a lot of challenges and uncertainty. Some are fortunate to benefit from family and friends in close proximity who are supportive and helpful, but some are not so fortunate.

Now consider your 18-year-old self… in a foreign country, where they don’t speak English, you don’t know a single person, and by the way, you’re in the middle of a global pandemic. So when you get to that foreign country, you have to go be in a room by yourself for two weeks, wear a mask, and all the other challenges of today. Sound fun? The adventure of a lifetime? Not exactly…at least at first. FEAR AND ANXIETY

Rewind a few weeks, before heading off on that international adventure. Students coming to the United States face a very involved process to come attend school, far more than just applying and moving into a residence hall. Students must apply for a student Visa, handle family relationships and pressures, and jump through additional hoops to get approval to enter the U.S. to earn their education.

“It was really weird and there was a lot of concern because of COVID and everything that’s happened,’” said Edisa Hot, a freshman who came to TWU from Montenegro.

“From the first day, my mom and dad were like, ‘no you can’t go there,’ but it was really my decision and I realized that,

Edisa Hot

so in the end, they just supported me and they’re really happy now.”

Students deal with a tremendous amount of anxiety before they ever leave their home country: the Visa process, the questions about where they’re going, what will it look like, how the people will be.

Hot can speak first-hand to this struggle, as she had to spend six days in border nations Bosnia and Serbia, trying to obtain her Visa after Montenegro closed their embassy. She even took the leap of faith and bought her plane tickets before she had her Visa in hand!

Dr. Augustin Bocco, TWU’s Director of International Student Service, likens the process to the anxiety we might feel before a short-term mission trip or a study abroad trip, only amplified. Students coming to the United States are rarely coming with a group of friends or family, and they’re probably staying much longer than a short-term visit. “It was really scary because it’s really far away from everything you’ve known,” said Marte Stokseth, another freshman in fall 2020 hailing from Norway. “I was really scared that my friends and family would forget me, but now I’m sure they won’t, because they keep calling, every single day,” she added laughing.

Marte Stokseth SOCIAL, ACADEMIC CHALLENGES

After a challenging process, students arrive in Athens, but the anxiety still exists. How will people treat them, what will the food be like, what if they don’t speak English as well as they need to?

“Every time you talk to someone, you call them sir or ma’am, and (use) their last name,” said Ann Sofie Madsen, a freshman on the women’s golf team from Denmark. “We don’t do that, not even our teachers, we don’t call them by their last names. And you have to be more careful how you use your language here. Academically, you don’t have open book exams, it’s really hard to start memorizing everything, and in a new language too!”

“When I came here, it was first quarantine,” Hot says of her required 15 days in the residence hall. “It was weird, and it was scary. My mind was like, ‘I don’t know. Where are you? Where are you going?’”

Not to mention, for Hot arriving a week after classes started meant joining online a week behind, adding another layer to the already steep learning curve of beginning college abroad.

“I have a little concern because the border in my country is also closed now,” said Hot. “I don’t know, nobody knows what will happen next because it’s a really long period of everything stopped and closed, and that’s really hard.”

Ann Sofie Madsen

CHOOSING ADVENTURE OVER FEAR

But for each of these freshmen, and many more like them, the anxiety is not enough to keep them from chasing their dreams of completing their education, or playing their sport at the collegiate level. And time and again, members of the TWU family have stepped in to provide support for these students as they find their way through a bizarre first year.

“My teammates have really brought me in as one of their family from day one, and I really appreciate that,” said Stokseth of her women’s soccer team. “I’m looking forward to not worrying about anything other than the sport, since right now there are a lot of restrictions and things you need to keep in mind. You are a part of the team, so you can’t do whatever you want, because it will affect everyone.”

Sometimes it’s not the team that steps in, but rather the seemingly randomly assigned roommate.

“Normally I’m so sad because sometimes I miss someone in my family and then I’m not there, and it’s really hard for me,” says Hot in talking about her new friendship with her American roommate. “And sometimes I cry but she’s always with me, and she really supports me, and the whole family supports me. And it’s really feeling like I’m here with my family.”

“But this is like just something that will make me a stronger, better person,” says Hot of her adventure.

“It’s up to you,” says Stokseth, “which path you want to take in life, and I wanted to figure things out on my own, and I feel like I’ve gotten a good start at that.”

Dr. Augustin Bocco

Dr. Bocco, along with Rev. Skip White, our TWU Chaplain, have partnered with local churches and organizations to provide meals and snack bags for our international students who are unable to return home when classes are not in session.