As freshmen, adjusting to Dartmouth was not easy for us. Hanover winters were much worse than anything New Jersey -- let alone New Orleans -- could offer. It took us more than a term to figure out the difference between Tri-Delt and Theta Delt, and a year to learn about shortcut keys on BlitzMail. Even now, we still get antsy by the time week seven of the term rolls around, as we eagerly await the next break when we can go home and see our families.
So, we have always wondered how our international peers make the far greater transition between leaving their home country -- be it China, Sweden or Peru -- and arriving at Dartmouth. For most of us, coming to college required stepping out of our comfort zones, in some sense. But, as you will read in this week's issue, international students like Yana, Ediz and Kamil have faced far greater challenges than Jen or I have. They adapted to Dartmouth and American culture simultaneously, and trips home to see their families are infrequent and often arduous. Yet, despite the distances international students have traveled, come graduation, we will all still have the granite of New Hampshire in our muscles and our brains.
