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| Messages from Current Students |
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"Pair up with someone you haven’t met, get to know them and then introduce them to everyone else" was one of the first few phrases we heard during the beginning of international student orientation. By then, I was completely overwhelmed by the gorgeous rolling hills, wonderful green pastures, and extraordinary architecture, but I realized I didn’t have a friend to share all of that with. Looking around the room, acting pretty shy, I was one of the last ones to find someone to pair up with. One guy looked at me and we decided to work together. We talked about our backgrounds, families, pets, and countries.
Although I’m from Paraguay and he’s from India, in opposite sides of the globe, several things bonded both of us together: we were in a strange place, we didn’t know anybody and we had to make this place our home for the next 4 years. From that moment on, we bonded immediately, being best friends since that day. By now, I’m sure you’ve been meeting new people and starting to put faces to the names you’ve been reading in so many different letters you’ve received. You’re probably covered with different reading materials, which just makes unpacking and settling in even more difficult. I hope you can use this handbook as a reference book, especially during your first few days at Colgate. As you look around, seeing new people, realize that among them you will find your best friends.
As I am writing this, I keep thinking about all the wonderful, different experiences I’ve had these past 3 years. Studying abroad in Geneva, going to NYC with one of my classes, traveling across this country with friends that I’ve met, struggling over papers in the library, having dinners with professors who became my friends, trying to help other students at tutoring sessions, joining a sorority, trying foods from all corners of the world… and the list goes on and on, since it would be impossible to put these experiences in words. Embrace every moment, since these will become memories.
So now I’ll pass the ball to you and let you savor things for yourself. I hope you’re ready for the best years of your life. Enjoy them! I would like to welcome all of you to your next home. I am eager to meet you all and please feel free to email me if you need help with anything! Remember that everyone is in the same boat, and everyone needs someone to help them row.
Welcome to Colgate!
Carolina Boettner ’04
Asuncion, Paraguay
International student or otherwise, every student is essentially in the same boat when he/she first arrives at Colgate as a freshman. Everyone is slightly apprehensive, excited and keen to fit in. The first couple of months were an absolute blast - meeting fantastic new people, hanging out in the hallways of East Hall till the crack of dawn, having all the freedom in the world…I couldn’t have asked for a better start here. And then schoolwork caught up with me and I fell into a saner routine. Junior year changed all that but I can’t give it all away, can I?
Most students I met were positively curious about Bangladesh and what it was like growing up there; in fact, if anything, I think it was to my advantage that I had something other than the classic American suburban perspective to offer. It really depends on you whether you let the fact that you are different isolate you or make it the very thing that helps you integrate with the rest of the school.
There is little that I can complain about the three years that I have spent here. It’s here in Colgate that I have made some of my best friends ever, I have done some crazy things that I never thought I would get to do, I have been inspired and humbled…it’s truly been quite the ride.
Suman Roy ’04
Dhaka, Bangladesh
I truly enjoy being an international student at Colgate. The international students here are extremely involved, so it is very easy to find a friend you met at orientation who is involved in activities you want to pursue, making you want to get involved. The school is very supportive of all of us and does its best to help us in any way possible. The Colgate International Community holds various cultural activities, such as banquets, which attract many students, faculty, and administrators.
International students at Colgate are also very supportive of each other and understand the hardships of moving to a new country, often with little money. We are here for each other no matter how different our countries are. The American students are also friendly to the international community, and it is easy to become friends with them. I feel that we bring a lot of life into this campus and that people respond to it with warmth. Although a small school, Colgate will provide you with lots of opportunities to learn about almost anything and listen to perspectives you never encountered before, while having lots of fun. You just have to stay involved and take advantage of it!
Julie Landa ’04
Lima, Peru
My Colgate experience! How easy to envisage yet how difficult to express. I came to Colgate with loads of expectations - my own expectations, my parents’ expectations and a truckload of my family’s expectations. The question is: Have I realized those expectations? It is hard to tell.
What I do know for sure is that Colgate has shaped my life like nothing else has ever done. Those who saw me as an incoming freshman find it difficult to recognize me now from pictures taken earlier in the year. Yet, the transformation in me has not only been a physical one. I’ve been put through a challenge-filled mental and emotional roller coaster ride. It has been a ride riddled with surprises and curious twists and turns. Maintaining one’s individuality while still preserving an "acceptable social image" is just one of those challenges. Balancing academics and extra-curricular activities is another. Learning to "fit in" with the American way of life while still adhering to your roots is yet another. As you ride this roller coaster yourself, you will experience more and you will see your peers and friends experience even more. Yet, never be scared to experiment. Do something you’ve never done before; college is the time for that. However, never lose sight of your priorities. I have my priorities straight, but I never give up the opportunity to have a fun time with my friends whenever the occasion demands it. I am no one to give any advice, having been here only one year, but I feel I have learned a lot in that time. To cut a long story short: HAVE A BLAST! YOU’RE ONLY HERE FOR FOUR YEARS!
Jash Datta ’06
Calcutta, India
I remember arriving at Colgate after a seven-hour long bus trip. The first thing that passed through my mind, once I got off the bus, was "Oh my God" - everything around me was so beautiful and so pristine that I felt as if I was trespassing. Naturally, my second thought was "What am I doing here?" Suddenly I felt awkward and out of place, I thought for a brief moment that there would never come a time when I would be able to walk among those imposing structures and feel that tranquility and peace one feels when one can call his surroundings home.
Now, almost a year later, I like to walk at night among those very same buildings and they don’t intimidate me anymore - each of them is connected with a memory, each of them is mine in some way. I walk and I am not afraid that anything bad might happen because each of these buildings gives me that sense of home I thought I would never find. I walk down Willow Path, look at the lake, Persson Hall, the Chapel - they all lay out themselves before me like old friends and I am convinced that there hasn’t been a single Colgate student who hasn’t fallen in love with them and hasn’t had to leave them with a heavy heart.
I think about Colgate and I know life is not always easy even here; I know that the madness and anxiety of it can sometimes catch up with you but I also know that Colgate is a haven. A place where you don’t have to comply: you don’t have to listen to the music you hate, wear clothes that make you feel uncomfortable or hide in the crowd. Colgate is a place where people can see you for whom you really are and become your friends for the person you are and for nothing else.
Walking down Willow path now, I see that even in Colgate you have your share of tears and pain, but you also have friendship, trust, love… Colgate helps you walk the most important road in your life - the road to you.
Denica Yordanova ’06
Varna, Bulgaria
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