#MyMessage

October 30, 2013 - 11:33am
Meet Stephann Dubois, a computer science senior from Haiti.

On Jan. 12, 2010, Stephann Dubois thought the world was ending. He was volunteering to help younger students in his native Haiti when chaos erupted — it turned out to be a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Dubois jumped out of the two-story school and walked 30 miles back home.

With his home country in such turmoil after the catastrophe, Dubois decided to further his education in the United States, and he chose Syracuse University.

October 30, 2013 - 11:06am
Meet Ioana Emy Matesan, a political science Ph.D student from Romania.

Ioana Emy Matesan’s first US experience didn’t prepare her for her second one. From the big city of San Francisco, to the country town of Monmouth, Ill., Matesan was shocked when she arrived for her freshman year of college at Monmouth College.

“It was like a farm town. The college was in the middle of nowhere. I was only used to the big cities in the US. That was the biggest culture shock,” Matesan said.

October 30, 2013 - 11:06am
Meet Rose Aschebrock, a writing and magazine journalism senior from New Zealand.

Before coming to college, Rose Aschebrock’s only experience in the United States was a layover on her flight to England.

During the few hours Aschebrock spent stranded in LAX, the teenage New Zealander quickly noticed American sporting culture ­­— a spirited phenomenon unfamiliar to her native country.

Aschebrock had all but forgotten the competitive sports rivalries she’d witnessed on TV, in apparel and during conversations in America, until she began thinking about a secondary education.