While many students find it hard to adapt to college life — with new surroundings, new responsibilities and new people — students in the International Studies program usually find it harder.
Economics student Brandon Gomes knows firsthand the struggles of adapting to American life. Gomes hails from Georgetown, the capital city of the small South American nation of Guyana, and he first came to the U.S. in high school through an exchange program.
“I spent a month here in high school, finished high school back in Guyana, and then I decided to come over for college,” said Gomes. “I made really good connections with my host family.”
Gomer came to college here in 2015 and plans to graduate this spring. The biggest difference he’s noted since coming here is the difference in population, he said.
“I come from a country of a million people. The concept of what I think of as a big city, versus what a big city is here, it’s the polar opposite,” Gomes said.
The U.S., in contrast, has a population of over 325 million. The biggest city in Guyana, Gomes’ hometown of Georgetown, has a population similar to Fort Collins, give or take a few thousand.
The population difference wasn’t the only difference that Gomes sees, though. He also feels a difference in culture between Guyana and the U.S.
“People here are a little less open here than they are back home, but it hasn’t been like a hurdle to climb,” he said. “It just took a little bit of adapting. It hasn’t been a huge problem, but it is a key difference.”
While Gomes hasn’t really struggled with connecting with people in America, he feels that his experience isn’t truly indicative of the international student story.
“I’m very extroverted, so making friends was never really a problem for me,” said Gomes. “But I have heard other people say that it can be harder, so I would have to say that it can be a problem for international students.”
However, Gomes did have problems adapting to the culture of a college classroom.
“This wasn’t just like the difference between high school and college, but how teachers are perceived here. It’s a lot more casual. Where I’m from, we stand when a teacher enters a classroom; we address them as ‘Mister’ or ‘Sir,’” Gomes said.
Like most international students, Gomes’ biggest problem was adapting to Laramie’s climate. Located near the equator, Guyana’s subtropical climate is a far cry from Wyoming’s.
“Where I’m from, it’s like 85 degrees year round. I came here in the spring of 2015, and the snow and ice were the biggest adjustment I had to make,” said Gomes.
Still, he doesn’t hate the cold.
“I actually prefer the winter here to most places that I’ve been. I was in New York a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to come back here. The dry cold is not bad at all,” he said.
Being an international student isn’t easy, and Gomes feels that the community as a whole could do a better job of welcoming them and helping them feel at home.
“There’s a big problem with awareness,” said Gomes. “A lot of students come here, and they feel isolated. If there was a little more outreach, there wouldn’t be that problem.”
