An International Student’s Difficulties

April 24, 2024

By Michael Alaimo

Saint Augustine, Fla - We’ve all had an experience when we either moved to a new town, enrolled in a new school, or got a new job in a completely new environment, and it was difficult to adjust. Flagler College student Chris Alexander discusses how he overcame the adjustment to going to school in America and talks about the struggles for all international kids here at Flagler College.

Alexander grew up on the little island of Curacao in the Caribbean. He came to the United States to attend Flagler College to study international business relations, speaking Dutch and barely knowing any English.

Alexander has an interest in soccer, surfing, and helping out his local community.

Eventually, Alexander had an interest in Flagler College, so he ended up enrolling.

However, upon arrival for orientation freshman year, Alexander discovered adjusting to the culture in America was going to be more difficult than originally thought. Alexander and other international students have struggled through their first years at college.

“It wasn’t just the issue of speaking English as much as the racial abuse part; I've been racially abused multiple times since arriving here,” Alexander said.

That was one of the few issues Alexander was experiencing at Flagler. He was also being targeted.

“I've had people call me names, mistreat me, see me differently, and tell me I won't succeed,” Alexander says. “Not many people speak up about these issues in the area, but this motivates me to succeed in the future.”

Alexander always heard about how the news said that America has a race discrimination problem but he didn’t believe he’d experienced it as much as he did.

According to a 2013 report from Sage Journals, they reported on “Racial discrimination against 153 international students, and 49 respondents reported that they had experienced racially motivated verbal and physical assault.” That’s almost 1/3 of international students who have experienced verbal or physical assault.

Alexander went on to explain the things international students must go through to adjust to life in America.

“During the first few weeks, I struggled to make new friends; every day, I wondered if I had made the right choice by going to school in America,” Alexander says. “I go to class having a hard time understanding everything the professor was going through, and even a harder time trying to communicate with people to make friends.”

Stats show international student's families have several concerns when it comes to their kids attending school in America. The belief is that America has a lot of shootings, expensive healthcare, racist communities, expensive college expenses, and the list goes on and on.

“Reading things about how dangerous America is, online everywhere really made me nervous and scared,” said Alexander.

Alexander and his family were certainly shocked at how much college tuition was compared to other countries around the world.

“I had an accident and broke my wrist and had to go to the Hospital. Considering I don’t have full healthcare, my bill was thousands of dollars just to get treatment,” says Alexander. “As it is, my family is already struggling to pay for my college education in America.”

Even with all of the struggles, Alexander has a burning desire to make his family proud. Now being fluent in English, Alexander has made lots of friendships, has been successful academically, is a tour guide for Flagler College, and contributed to Flagler College’s fall semester orientation. He is on his way to graduate in two semesters from now with a degree in international business relations.

Alexander is just one of the many homesick international students who have struggled tremendously just to adapt to the new culture. Alexander is now encouraging homesick students to seek help either from someone at school or from family.

“My dream is to one day be the owner of a hotel in America,” Alexander said.