While many new students probably asked themselves, "What the hell are these kids doing?" Ernazarova said she instead thought to herself, "So, okay ... this is what Dartmouth kids are like." Ernazarova said that, while she then realized that Dartmouth might take some getting used, she was ready to make the adjustment.
It takes all of us some time to become used to the quirks of Dartmouth life, but some international students, like Ernazarova, must also learn about American life in general upon their arrival at the College.
Native Kenyan Kevin Mwenda '10 arrived at Dartmouth armed only with knowledge of American culture he had culled from television. Mwenda said that when he first arrived at Dartmouth, he found himself repeating phrases he had heard in American movies in casual conversation.
"But guess what?" Mwenda said. "It worked!"
The College's International Office provides support for foreign students as soon as they arrive on campus.
Ernazarova called the three-to-four day international student orientation, which precedes freshman orientation, "amazing."
"I met so many people," she said. "I felt like I knew so much by the time orientation began."
In addition to participating in various programs designed to get international students accustomed to Dartmouth life, these students are also paired up with upperclassmen mentors who can show them around campus, take them on their first trip to Walmart, or help them buy a cell phone.
Avnish Gungadurdoss '09, one of the mentor program coordinators, said the program is one of the reasons why international students are able to adapt to Dartmouth so quickly.
Roni Nitecki '11, from Israel, however, said that although helpful, the international student orientation simply cannot prepare students for everything they are going to face at the College.
"There's no step one, step two, step three formula and then you got it," she said. "Every student adjusts differently."
Something that takes some getting used to for many Dartmouth students, regardless of hometown, is the Greek scene. As a native of New York City, I, for one, had never been in a social setting where booting in a trash can and then continuing on with your business was acceptable, and my friends from the suburbs never attended a house party where you could turn around and pee on the wall.
Gungadurdoss, who is unaffiliated, said he believes many international students choose not to rush a Greek organization because of their preconceived ideas of what the college experience should be. These expectations, he said, often differ from the stereotypical American idea that "college is the best time of your life, let's party it up."
Mwenda added that many international students see joining a Greek organization as something "extra" to the college experience.
"Some are interested, but have one or two factors holding them back," he said. "They don't look into how to make it work."
There are, however, aspects of the Dartmouth social culture that come more naturally to some American students than their international counterparts. (Take the favorite all-American pastime of grinding. I gave it my first try at the ripe age of 13 at a series of bar mitzvahs -- starting off an illustrious career of "backing that thang up.")
Gungadurdoss, however, said he was "literally shocked" by the way the partygoers were dancing while at his first Dartmouth dance party.
"I thought people were having sex on the dance floor," he said.
Nitecki said that most international students are unfamiliar with the Dartmouth custom of pregaming, a tradition that she said is absent from most other countries' social scenes.
"People go out to drink, they don't drink to go out," she said. "When I came to Dartmouth I thought, 'Pregaming, what's that?'"
Nitecki said she attributed the pregaming phenomenon to the American drinking age of 21. She said that since she had become accustomed to going out and drinking in Israel at the age of 18, the novelty quickly wore off.
Gungadurdoss agreed that since the legal drinking age at home is 18 for most international students, drinking in college is not that big of a deal. He added that the frat scene is much different from what most international students see at home, and many don't feel the need to "get drunk or be in a disgusting basement to have fun."
Some international students also said that the language barrier is also a factor in adjusting to life at the College. For some of the international students I spoke with, this challenge is one they said they dealt with with throughout their Dartmouth careers.
Karola Jering '10, who is from Germany, said that even after two and a half years, she is still adjusting to speaking English, her fourth language.
"When I come home, my friends always say I'm speaking German with an English accent," she said. "And when I come back to school, my friends say that at first they have trouble understanding my English."
Jering said that she always gets nervous for class presentations, but other international students like Dilan Mizrakli '11 said everyday conversations can actually be more difficult.
"I still don't know a lot of slang words," she said. "My friends have to explain them to me, but they're really nice about it."
Jering and Gungadudross also said that American pop culture references can sometimes be baffling.
"During my entire DOC trip I was was wondering what people were talking about," Gungadurdoss said.
Jering added that there is definitely a big difference in the way she and her American friends at school watch movies.
"Germans don't memorize lines from movies," Jering said. "We watch movies from time to time, but not as much as Americans, and we will not remember every detail of a movie."
Although some international students find aspects of Dartmouth inevitably harder to adapt to than their non-international peers, ultimately, the general college experience of classes, friends and extra-curricular activities is the same for all students.
Mwenda said that upon arriving to Dartmouth, he was surprised to find that college wasn't all that different his expectations. He said that, though he really didn't understand what "cold" really meant until reaching New Hampshire, most things were exactly as he had imagined.
The things about Dartmouth that surprise many foreign students -- like what it means to brave -10 degree weather -- are not necessarily much different from the things that surprise Dartmouth students from different parts of the United States.
Both Ernazarova and Mwenda said that the streaking culture at Dartmouth is the factor of life at the College that surprised them the most.
"That was definitely something new," she said about the streakers who ran through her German final exam.
Mwenda agreed that streaking was the biggest culture shock he has experienced at Dartmouth.
"That is something that would never happen in Kenya," he said, explaining that Kenya is a very religious country and far more conservative than the U.S.
But other than on episodes of "Jackass" or (dare I age myself) "The Tom Green Show," I, similarly had never seen anyone run naked through my high school library in just a funny hat and a pair of sneakers. Streaking is something that both American and foreign students can be mutually shocked by.
Whether you went to an American high school in Istanbul, a public school in Singapore, or even Hanover High School, Dartmouth life takes some getting used to. And, the truth is, after we settle into a daily routine, we stop noticing the odd things we do like blitzing 100 times a day or using the terms "booting" and "facetime," and begin to think about more pressing issues, like how miserably that midterm went yesterday or whose jacket you're going to steal from AD in retribution for losing your own.
