He is from Yugoslavia. She is from Switzerland. They met at SMU this fall and developed a relationship. Milan Knezivic and Veronica Escobar are enjoying the convenience, practicality and diversity of America together. However, they are also experiencing culture shock.
For instance, in Switzerland, the drinking age is 18, compared to 21 in the U.S. Twenty-year-old Escobar said she’s used to drinking freely back home, but it’s a little more difficult here.
“I have to use a fake [I.D.],” Escobar, a sophomore studying psychology, said.
Last spring, the international student population at SMU was 878. Like Escobar, many students said they have experienced some kind of culture shock, including differences in the mentality of American people, fashion trends, transportation, housing and legal issues. If they experience a situation that makes them uncomfortable, where do they go to seek help?
Ana Ruzo, an international advisor at SMU, counsel’s international students about where they need to go and what they need to do. Depending on the students’ situation, Ruzo helps direct them to the right place. Ruzo said the advisors work very closely with spiritual groups such as The International Friendship Program, which helps foreign students feel welcome and comfortable.
The majority of international students never seek help, Ruzo said. “It’s part of their culture to be independent.”
As a child growing up in Serbia, Knezivic, a junior studying engineering, said if he saw a group of kids playing soccer, he would automatically join in without thinking twice about it. Here in the U.S., everything is much more scheduled. Knezivic said he believes there is not enough spontaneity among Americans.
“Organization is kinda fake,” Knezivic said.
However, SMU philosophy junior Ron Monroe believes hard-working Americans have priorities that need to be scheduled.
“Plans are necessitated in order to accomplish our multitasking lives,” Monroe said.
Escobar said although everything in America seems “picture perfect,” the mentality of most Americans is very limited, superficial and less cultured. In Europe, she said, it is much easier to have an intense conversation with a complete stranger about religion or politics that has depth and meaning.
“People here just talk about the football game or how drunk they got last night,” Escobar said.
Knezivic and Escobar said they are impressed with the houses in Highland Park, free soda refills at fast-food restaurants, the large, expensive vehicles people drive and the wide, overlapping highways. The North Dallas highway intersection of LBJ and Central Expressway, Escobar said, is unheard of in Switzerland, where the roads are narrow.
“It’s like a rollercoaster,” Escobar said of the so-called “High Five” intersection.
SMU freshman Kapil Desai, who is from India and is studying computer science, has been in Dallas since the start of the fall semester. Desai is new to Dallas, but nothing stops him from asking questions of American students.
So far, Desai appreciates how welcoming and helpful Americans have been. From his observations, he believes everyone has the freedom to dress casually. A couple of things Desai is trying to get used to are the “ins and outs” of Dallas, and speaking English with an “American accent.”
Maria Paola Nogami attended SMU last spring to study Latin American culture and environmental management, and to improve her English. Nogami, a foreign exchange student from Japan, said in an email interview that students at her current school, Kwansei Gaikun University, regularly dress in business attire. She said it was surprising to see students at SMU wearing T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops, and women without any makeup on.
Nogami also did not like that numerous books were required for her classes, and was surprised by how expensive each book was. Nogami did not rush for a sorority when she went to SMU, although the system of Greek life intrigued her.
“‘Sorority,’ I still don’t get what that is for,” Nogami said in her email.
Edwardo Garcia, from Mexico City, graduated last spring from SMU with a degree in political science. When Garcia was a freshman, his first impression was that Americans were friendlier when he approached them, but nothing went beyond that point. He said he found it interesting to find deep relationships among Hispanics as opposed to Americans.
“In Mexico, they reject you more at first, but once you get to know them, you develop a more meaningful relationship,” Garcia said.
He said he was aware of the importance of networking by being involved in school activities, but remained independent and socialized with friends and other international students. Students who rush for Greek life, he said, lose their identity.
“You become like everybody else, like the army,” he said.
