Note: The following is written by a beneficiary of the HtW scholarship program that sends exceptional students to university in America, the following text was written upon HtW's request to describe what have been some of the particularities to studying abroad.

- HtW staff

Countries are not the same. All countries have their particularities. You can know that even if you do not travel, but you can experience even more if you do travel. That is what I am experiencing now as new resident of United States of America. I am originally from Mali and am for the first time out of my native country. Since I have been in the USA it has been like I am living in a new world. Certainly it is a new world because all things are novel and different from how it used to be for me. However, my adjustment to this newness has not been as difficult as it would be for certain people, not sure why, just the way I was built I suppose.

When I arrived in the U.S.A the first things I faced was the food. I am used to eating cereals such as: rice, corn and sorghum. Yet in the USA I have been eating food that I even don’t know the name. In my first couple of weeks, food does not even taste good for me, and I felt like throwing up several times. However, in the third week I begin to like the food. When I move to the university I started learning the name of the foods because in the cafeteria the names are put up.

In addition to my problems, I spent several weeks before being familiar to the activeness of the American. In America, people are action-oriented. They gather for action to play basketball, to dance or to go to a concert. Many don’t have the patience to sit and talk, something that I am used to back home. I can say that I felt discomfort every Monday when my classmates would ask me what I have done over the week-end. If I said that I have just read and relaxed, they would look disappointed because they were expecting an answer that depicts action such as dancing or playing games. Yet, now I am part of this environment dominated by motions.

Moreover, I struggled with the fact that Americans are very expressive. As a person who is a little bit shy, you can imagine how difficult it could be living in an area dominated by expressions. During my first week in the university, I have been responding to a lot of questions. It is enough that I tell I am from Africa and they just began asking questions. Let me say those questions were difficult/frustrating sometimes.

One last thing I faced and am still facing is the informality in the classrooms. The students can eat or sit down no matter how in the class. They can even call the professor by his or her first name. I personally am not used to that. In my country we do not eat or sit down no matter how in class. We are required to be more formal. I always feel a bit shocked when I hear a student calling the professor by his or her first name and sometimes I even want to blame the student. Indeed my education recommends me to respect someone who is older than me. I am not saying that Americans are disrespectful but I am just differentiating America to my country in the educational setting.  I guess respect takes on many forms around the world, and it can be hard to understand across cultures.   

In fact, those are the main things I have been struggling with. Besides all of that there is the modernity. In the US things are more modernized. Yet, I was prepared to meet those new things.