At the beginning of each new semester, new students arrive from all over the world. It is a scary and exciting time. For about 6 weeks they are immersed in change and find the new adventure pleasant enough with similarities to home. This is called the "honeymoon period." After this period, they can start to experience doubts and reservations. Difficulties understanding professors and other English speakers, loneliness and missing family, and unfamiliar food choices contribute to wondering if they will ever fit in and why they came. American friends they acquired during the honeymoon period can help them overcome at this stage so they do not move into disillusionment and despair. Without support, they travel down the road to withdrawal. Friendships can not be overstated as the miracle medicine. This is one reason we try to get as many people as possible to become friends to international students. Friends are a lifelines.
We have been traveling down to VA for a lot of years ... as our daughter went to school here and as we were engaged in regional mobilization. We met people, enjoyed the climate and became familiar with the area shopping. We never suspected that this was our own "honeymoon period." It is true that the packing, selling, saying good byes, buying, moving, and unpacking was physically and emotionally tiring. But I never expected my first feeling when walking into our new house to be "oh my, what have we done?" The amount of change we experienced in every area of life was overwhelming. The battle of the mind was intense over the next few weeks. It was a battle to stay in faith and in God's Presence, continually reminding ourselves how He led, provided, blessed and protected us every step of the way. We had to give ourselves permission to be tired and sad, to rest and enjoy re-creation, to have good days where a lot gets done and have bad days when we can't get out of our own way. This has been quite a trip!
We have been blessed by friends we met previously who helped us have the energy to meet new people. We are blessed to have found a local church. We are starting to reach out to area pastors to encourage them in ministering to international students and are seeing that God has touched their hearts. This has been a culture shock experience for us--a good reminder of what international students go through when they come here--good reminder of the importance of what we do in welcoming them and extending the love of Jesus to them!
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| UConn ICF Welcome Picnic |
