The ups and downs of life as an international student

1. The first thing you asked your freshman roommate was “can i drink the tap water?”

2. You’ve found yourself craving street food in the library at 2 am

3. You have to remind yourself not to haggle with the cashier at the bookstore

4. You’ve had multiple passports but still haven’t gotten your driver’s license

5. You have yet to take the school shuttle but you’ve memorized terminal shuttle bus lines for multiple airports

6. This looked like luxury the first week of school

7. You fly so often that having already seen all the movies on inflight entertainment this month is a problem

8. Your friends fill duffels for thanksgiving break but all you need is a backpack

9. You’re still not sure how to tell your friends where “ home” is

10.  But getting there for christmas involves a 14 hour flight

11.  You’ve tackled 8:30 lectures with jet lag

12.  And homecoming crowds are nothing to you

13.  You alternate between jaywalking and forgetting to look both ways before crossing

14.  You know how to fill out a customs form but still struggle with the front page of your green book

15.  You’ve complained about all of the above, but despite it all, know you wouldn’t have it any other way

Jessica Hwang

Colgate Univeristy | 6 stories

Jessica is a sophomore studio art major/geology minor at Colgate University in Central New York. She is an inveterate wearer of black, digs free food, and listens to music your dad probably listened to when he was your age. When she's not freezing to death, this New Jersey native can be found doodling, visiting her second home in Shanghai, China, and not studying anything to do with dentistry.

One response to “You Know You’re an Expat Kid When…”

1. Brendan Peake says:

   November 24, 2013 at 3:08 pm

   hah! nice article jessica. i knew that was the shanghai airport 😉

   Reply