This diverse group of students finds its common ground in its members’ unique upbringings.

By Ella Doron, Staff Writer

Leaving home for college can be exciting and fulfilling, but it can also be scary and lonely. Most students have quite a bit of adjusting to do moving from high school to college, but some students have to adjust to a whole new culture and way of life. There are students at HU who have not only left their parents’ home to come to university, but they have also left their parents’ countries–these are international students. Some are in their parents’ country (the USA), but they may not consider it to be their country (third-culture kids, or TCKs). 

I am a TCK who has been back in the US a few years, but even still the longing I have for home is unbearable sometimes. It can be very hard to move to a place that is so starkly different from everything you have ever known, and sometimes you just wish somebody could understand what it’s like to be so far from home and anything that resembles it. 

HU’s International Student Council (ISC) exists to bring our international students and TCKs together to encourage and relate to one another. The ISC plans fun events for us such as welcome parties, family meals and apple picking. ISC also plans practical outings, like a day trip to Fort Wayne for shopping. 

Despite our different backgrounds, there are many similarities in our experiences, and we can understand each other in ways that other students cannot. Spending time with each other, telling stories about “back home,” and talking about our cultural blunders is so refreshing, and it makes being far from home just a little bit easier.