1. Grappled-struggle for superiority or dominance. (68)
2. Mundane-Relating to, characteristic of, or concerned with commonplaces; ordinary. (68)
3. Veneer-A thin surface layer, as of finely grained wood, glued to a base of inferior material. (69)
4. Gregarious-Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable. (71)
5. Fraternized-To associate with others in a brotherly or congenial way. (71)
6. Albeit-Even though; although; notwithstanding. (72)
7. Unfathomable-Difficult or impossible to understand; incomprehensible. (75)
8. Perplexing-To confuse or trouble with uncertainty or doubt. (77)
9. Academia-the academic community. (77)
10. Beseeched-To address an earnest or urgent request to; implore. (88)
1. What was Rebekah’s purpose in adding the personal interviews from the international students? Did it add or take away from this section?
- The addition of these personal interviews added to this section. Rebekah does a good job with this throughout the book by adding the unbiased personal touch to each of the sections. These interviews also help with the questions asked that Rebekah cannot answer because of her ethnicity and place of origin.
2. Is it true that American students meet people through their hobbies? If not, how do American students meet people?
- For me as a student I find that I meet people through similar interests, or hobbies in this case. But in my group of friends we have many different interests and our friendship is reflected on our personalities and beliefs. The international students made a fair assessment on American students by saying that people with similar hobbies tend to hang in the same groups. In other chapters Rebekah also sees this in similar cases through her observations.
3. How do international students impact a public state university?
- For me my university has a small percentage of international students so I don’t have a fair assessment on how they affect a public state university. But my friends who go to the larger big ten schools say that international students aid to the diversity at the school and help the schools “image” in a positive way.
4. Because of their backgrounds, do you think that it was easier for Rebekah Nathan to relate to the international students better? Can this be due to the fact that they don’t fit the “typical” freshman norm?
- The freshman norm isn’t as clean cut as it once was. There are many different groups of people because “freshman” at a new school. With this being said, however, I think that it was probably easier for them to relate because they didn’t fit the norm at the public state university.
Summary by Jessica Dulli
In chapter four, Nathan discusses how international students adjust to the American college scene. She shares testimonies from several students, seeing their thoughts on how relationships and schooling are different in America than in their home country. Most of the international students reported that Americans are very independent and as a result, friendships in the U.S. are generally more superficial. Their thoughts on the schooling aspect of American college were more diverse in that some liked the freedom given to the student in the classroom and others thought there was too much freedom. As for their fellow students, many international students felt as if they did not work hard enough in their classes. They said that students often do not do the assigned readings and that instead they go out and party.
Nathan adds the viewpoints of the international students, because like her, they are entering a culture that is very different from their own, although they were not familiar with American college life before their emersion. She writes the chapter with an unbiased tone. She is telling their personal accounts, so she tries her best not to insert her personal opinion into the conversation. However, the way she organizes the testimonies gives a feeling of negativity of the international students. The statements for each topic started out with many negative views on American culture and college life. After several generalized statements about our culture and attitude, there would be a few positive remarks. Switching up the order of these statements would give a different, more positive, voice to the reading.
Graphical Organizer by David Loukidis
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