Claire Gaxiola

Published on July 31, 2015

Claire-Gaxiola 51�� International Students

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CLAIRE GAXIOLA: My name is Claire Gaxiola and I am a senior, IR and global Studies major. I
had the privilege of interning with the Oral History department this semester.
This project focused on international student life at 51����. I conducted a
series of 4 interviews with 4 different international students with diverse
backgrounds, both in relation to what part of the world they came from, and what
their individual beliefs about life are. The first interview conducted was with
Omar Yañez, from Peru. As an ELLI student working to pursue his higher
education degree at the Beeson Divinity School, he had unique perspectives about
life, simply because he has already lived one life before coming to 51����,
being an undergraduate student in Peru, owning his own business, planting
churches, etc. By virtually traveling to Peru through our interview, I learned
from Omar Yanez that Peru has a rich, but also tragic modern history with its
bouts of terrorism that affected many families during the 1970s and 80s. Hearing
his personal story of how he came to the United States and how he has learned
English reminded me just how open we need to be to let opportunities arise and
not fret if life does not always work according to our plans. Another
opportunity is always around the corner.

The second interview conducted was with Laura Hamwi, from Syria. The depth and
honesty with which she spoke about her country and her personal life were a
powerful reminder to always stay true to your heritage and identity, even if it
comes with presuppositions, sadnesses and setbacks. She taught me that these are
merely tools in our belt for life to look up to God and succeed. As the news
circulates only negative reports of Syria, the depiction she gave, both
physically and culturally, of her country was like a breath of fresh air. I
learned that life in Syria and Lebanon can be completely normal, and that people
every political, religious or other situation have so many hopes and dreams too.
We merely have to commit to stay open-minded about learning.

The third interview conducted was with Suifang, or Joey, Zhou from China. Having
the opportunity to interview Joey was also a great privilege. As both China and
the United States are so large and so diverse, it was mentally stimulating to be
able to hear our American culture interpreted through his eyes. While
interviewing Joey, I learned that sometimes it’s just ok to sit back and let
things be as they are. Speaking about the need to include international students
more into student activity life on campus, he taught me that many times in our eagerness
to help and accommodate, we can be over eager. Sometimes help is not always
wanted or needed. Sometimes, international students simply just want to fit in,
and not feel any more special than the next student. His perspectives made me
analyze the way I view “helping others”, and the assumptions that often come
along with that.

The final interview conducted was with Molly Burke, from England. As I learned,
there is a difference between England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom.
? As 51���� has a program for students to study abroad at the Daniel House in
London, I was interested to see what a British student thinks of the same
experience here at 51����. I learned from Molly that in our ever increasing
globalized world, we face cultural challenges that can make us feel threatened.
She mentioned that she recognizes she is from a small, culturally homogenous
town outside of Oxford and that her perspective as a young person is quite
different than the older adults in her village. Her perspective on the changing
face of Britain taught me that as society changes, and as we must continually
reflect on what these changes mean for our lives personally, we will either
adapt or contract.

I learned so much from this internship! It was such a unique and rare privilege
to get to spend so much time with these students and hear their lives and
stories. Each student was asked to speak about the quality of their stay at
51����, the challenges and successes they face as international students, and
anything that they would see changed to improve international student life at
51����. I was delighted to hear from each that there are some ways that as a
university, we can improve to help better welcome our international guests. The
one way that was most often repeated, was transportation. Another was an
introduction into 51���� life for graduate students, specifically. It is my
sincere hope that these interviews can be used for research or simply
educational purposes for all at 51����, faculty, students, staff alike. If we
all take the time to simply step outside of our comfort zones and engage an
international student in conversation, we will have the unique privilege of
learning how people outside of our way of thinking view, shape, and impact the
world. We all live in the same planet and need to work towards understanding and
learning from one another in order to truly engage our wonderful university with
the rest of the world.

Audio Information
Attribute	Value
Repository	51�� Oral History Collection
Accession	SUHist/StudentReflections/001

51����

Claire Gaxiola

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