Stanford International Student Orientation

I’m here!

I’ve been at Stanford since Saturday, September 15th participating in International Student Orientation. It has been so great to meet my amazing classmates who come from literally all over the globe! A lot of the internationals are not here yet as most were not allowed to attend if they had dual citizenship (US and their home country). But tomorrow all the freshman will get here and it will be CRAZY. But a good crazy.

When I arrived on Saturday, my Grandpa and Jan, one of my coworkers at the country club, helped me get moved into my dorm. I have a double room but currently no roommate (the long wait to meet her will end tomorrow). In my room I have a bed, a dresser, some drawers, a desk and a bookshelf. The room is a little bigger than I expected! And all my stuff fit just fine.

After that we went to the game. Stanford vs. USC and oh my goodness I felt school pride pulse all through campus that night! Stanford won and they have not beat USC four times in a row in the school’s history. After our famous quarterback Andrew Luck left last year, no one expected we could beat them again. Our football team definitely surprised us! It was so sad though that the International students couldn’t stay at the game – they made us leave after the first quarter when it was tied 7-7. We went back to have dinner together. I got to meet lots of the other students and some upper classmen internationals who later answered our questions and gave us advice about our freshman year. It’s so nice to have this chance to meet some people before all 1600 of us show up! I think that NSO will be a lot more overwhelming – this has been a good size of people and just a lot of fun.

Yesterday we had a pretty full schedule. After breakfast we watched short video clips on Obamacare and the Occupy Movement, and then broke into discussion groups where we related the two back to our own countries. I learned how healthcare works – or doesn’t – in different places worldwide, and we saw how the Occupy movement really had turned into a global protest. I feel like I have learned so much just from talking to all the other students – and my classes haven’t even started!

In the afternoon we took a trip to Half Moon Bay. The beach here is … not exactly what you think of when you hear CA. But it was sunny (a rare occurrence) and not quite as cold as we we told it would be. For the afternoon we hung out there, talking and getting to know more people. It’s a fun group! The majority is definitely from Asia – lots of students from Hong Kong, China and India. There are a few students from Africa, a bit more from South America and a group of us from Europe. I found some other people to speak german with! It’s nice to hear the language again and reminds me of being back home.

For dinner we had Italian with some faculty members. We were able to ask them questions about their subjects, their lives, and life at Stanford. My table got to talk to John Barton, an architect and lecturer. Other professors came from Political Science, Economics, Computer Science and English. It was really exciting to just be around such amazing people!

Today, the last full day of ISO, was a little less busy. After breakfast most students watched the documentary My Kid Could Paint That, which is part of our Three Books program. I had already seen it so I went to the CoHo (the main coffee shop on campus) with some friends. We had planned on just dropping by but ended up staying for two hours talking!

For lunch we went to the new dining hall on campus, Arrillaga Dining Commons. The food was better than any other dining hall I’ve eaten in with tons of options. Afterwards my RA took me to Palo Alto and I got a new bike! Now I feel like a real Stanford student

The last event was a BBQ at “Lake” Lag. It was definitely the best part! We all hung out and danced and just talked for hours. I am so glad I got to be a part of International Orientation, even though I am an American citizen. It has definitely made my transition here smoother and I am so glad I now know the other students from around the world!

NSO here we go!!

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