I'm not sure if anyone has explained the University system to you yet, so I'll try to give you a little background as best I can. Here, when people choose a major, that means they take classes only within that major and only within the level that they are in. For example if you are a first year law student, you would only take classes with other first year law students and all of your classes would be the same. Because of this system, it is easier for the University to change the schedules around since if all the students are in the same classes, it is impossible for them to conflict. There are two things I would advise because of this system. One; if you are going to take classes directly from the University, I would recommend trying to find the classes you need from the same area of study and in the same level (for example, if you need two classes from the university you could find them both in History, 2nd level or something). This way, if the classes get changed around you won't have problems and you will have more classes with the same students so it will be easier to meet people. Two; check the schedules EVERY week! They aren't kidding when they say the schedules get changed.They are posted on bulletin boards outside the buildings as well as on the UPF site. Make sure you have the right week though when you look!
Going back to the matter of meeting people at the University, part of the reason taking your classes from the same department will help you is because it will be easier to get to know the group of people you are taking the classes with. When Sebastian and I arrived, we found it very difficult to get to know the students very well since they already knew each other so well. People are very nice here and friendly but its really hard to actually get to know them very well beyond just having lunch at the cafeteria. I've also noticed I think they just don't "hang out" very often like we are used to doing so try to bring up conversation topics just about what there is to do on the weekends or something once you feel comfortable enough. Just ask what is fun to do, what do they usually do. Would they like to do something with you? Show you their favorite bar or club or take you to their favorite beach? Just something like that that will let them know you are actually interested in doing something with them will really help you out I think! I know its hard at first but try really hard just to make conversation whenever you can to get to know the people you are taking classes with a little better. (Also, the people in LEA second year are really nice so if you meet any of them, introduce yourself! They also are learning English so this will be good for both of you!)
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Emily is right that you will probably have to take the initiative to meet people. Even though the other students will be curious about who you are, they might not feel comfortable coming up to you and asking. If you start the conversation off (with someone sitting beside you in class or in the cafeteria), I think you'll find that the Tahitian students will be very happy to meet you. If you can come up with a question to ask their advice about something (as Emily suggests), that's even better. Most people will be more than happy to help you. The hardest part is just getting up your nerve to make the first move. Just think what empathy you're going to have for the new international students at Simpson after you've spent a semester at U.P.F.!
ReplyDeleteOne of the Tahitian students mentioned that the "French" and "Tahitian" students generally don't hang out with another. Is the difference pretty noticeable? Will each group interact differently with you?...you as in being an American international student.
ReplyDeletetrying this out.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to know this information so that I won't end up thinking the Tahitian students want nothing to do with me. ha ha. How did you begin to make
ReplyDeletefriends? Was it just as you listed here, just by asking questions and showing interest? Are you shy and was it difficult for you to make friends? How does
that situation stand as of now? Do you have lots of friends or a few good friends in Tahiti? I thought about this a while back and I guess I have not really
put myself out there to be friends with the Tahitian students at Simpson;Not because I don't like them or anything but because I just have my own group of
friends and they appeared to have theirs, however, maybe they too wanted to interact with more American friends. I don't know. You are very right, Sharon, I
already have more empathy or have just considered the situation the foreign students are in at Simpson college. I had never really thought about it before.
Thanks for this article.!
To answer the question about the interaction between the Tahitian and French students: yes I did notice a little bit of a division. However, I really think it depends on the people you happen to meet. The two main groups of students that I ended up hanging out with were each very mixed. I think at the University people tend to hang out with each other based on the area of study rather than their back ground. I did notice sometimes when we went out sometimes there were different ideas on where to go (like a more traditional Tahitian place or a more western one), but other than that we all hung out together at the same time quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question about making friends, yes that is basically what I did! Just try to make as much conversation as possible and ask for questions and advice when you can. Just remember to take any invitation you may get, you never know who you might meet! One kind of weird example of that is that I met one of my closest friends through my host mother. She met a 22 year old French girl coming to Tahiti for an internship and after talking to her she discovered she didn't know anyone at all in Tahiti and was only going to be there till December like me. She invited her for dinner and we started talking and then pretty quickly started hanging out by ourselves. I didn't really tell that story very well, but my point is just to meet everyone you can, take advantage of opportunity that you can, and never rule anything out! You may not always meet people in the ways you expect!