Upon arriving on campus, many freshmen are overjoyed to finally get away from their parents, along with rules, curfews and constant supervision. Once all the food and boxes of college gear from Walmart are unpacked, the process of slowly pushing your parents out of the room begins. No matter how much you plead, saying repeatedly, "I'll be fine, you don't have to worry," the hugs and kisses persist. That first move-in day surely sticks in the minds of new students long after the parents drive away.

What comes next, finding the nearest frat party? Not at all; the transition from high school to college takes a few weeks, even months before you're comfortable in your surroundings. What I've noticed is that this acclimation process doesn't come so easily for international students. These are the kids that sometimes couldn't understand what you'd say because of the language barrier. Then you might have fallen into the trap of speaking louder to remedy the misunderstanding. This isn't a prudent reaction ­�� they can hear us just fine; we are speaking a little to quickly for them to process the English. After talking with a few international residents in PAR, it's been a struggle to hold a conversation at times. My friend requires that I slow down my speech so that he can keep up with the subject matter. It's essential that we as understanding students be patient while internationals are still getting acclimated to campus life.

I helped move in almost 200 international students this summer alongside Residential Life staff, comprised of Area Coordinators, Resident Advisors and Multicultural Advocates. For those who arrived early from their home country overseas, temporary housing was available until their permanent residence halls opened a few days later. Students from over 120 countries came to the University of Illinois this year, most hailing from China, South Korea and India. I got a chance to meet many of them. A group of Resident Life staff members and I directed students out of FAR to shuttle buses that would take them wherever they needed to go.

I learned from a Resident Director that in previous years, international students would call taxi services to take them where their new home on campus would be. Yet taxi drivers would often cheat them out of the change they were owed because they lacked knowledge of American exchange rates. In an effort to combat this behavior, Residential Life took matters into their own hands and rented shuttle buses and large SUVs to transport them. Move-in went smoothly, thanks to the dedicated volunteers that day.

This University has done a great job helping international students along the way. Various organizations have put forth tremendous effort to get them acclimated to campus. The International Student and Scholar Services put a variety of resources on their website complete with easy-to-access instructions for residency setup. It can be quite confusing for the first week of school to the internationals; check-in requires all kinds of forms, including a DS-2019, a Visa and passport in addition to various tax forms. But the organization has helped make the transition so much easier for them.

The students I've talked to have really taken a liking to this campus. Stepping foot on American soil was a unique experience for them, as many have told me. From conversations I've had, one thing that always sticks out to me is how eager they are to meet new people. Of course there are groups who tend to only hang out with people from their home country, but many express interest in joining organizations and going to events within their respective residence halls. Going back to the Residential Life staff, they have done a phenomenal job making international students feel at home. The social events and team-building activities range from pizza parties to "Twister" tournaments in the hall lounges. This all brings them closer to American students, bridges the gap and helps to satisfy their needs as well as their urge to fit in. Sit and chat with these open-hearted students, and you'll find that you are not so different from them after all.