My American Experience

I am an international student from Kenya, East Africa. I am a computer science major and pursuing a minor in Mathematics. I just got through two years at SSU and I have one more year to go. I have had many experiences being an international student majoring in Computer Science.

I did not grow up playing around with computers like most American kids do. I am amazed at how kids know so much in computers at such an early age. This really used to intimidate me. I came to the United States in the fall of 1995. I started school at the SRJC in the Spring of 1996. I was there for two and a half years. I had not decided what my major would be but I always had this fascination about computers though I had not had much of a chance to use them when I was back in Kenya. I had not even turned a computer on let alone work on it before I came to the United States. I quickly realized that I could not do much without learning how to use a computer and I turned my interest to learning them. I took an introduction to computer class and I loved it.

I made my decision to major in Computer Science. I transferred to SSU in the fall of 1998 and I have to admit I was nervous and somewhat unsure whether that is what I really wanted to do. I took my first class with Dr. Lynn Stauffer and she inspired me. She was very encouraging too and I didn’t feel intimidated. I have so far enjoyed all the classes I have taken at the CS department except for a few that were supposed to have a lab and didn’t or those that were interrupted halfway through the semester for some reasons not known to me even today. The professors have encouraged me and I have appreciated those that take the interest to understand where I come from and the challenges that I have to face.

I must admit that being an international student can be challenging. You first have to overcome the culture shocks one faces in a new country. How people dress and the food they eat. How they talk and how they refer to things. There is the language barrier. I was lucky because English is my third language and I was pretty comfortable with it. I have a few friends who are from countries that doesn’t speak English much and I can only try to imagine how hard it must be.

It is already hard for me to pronounce words like the Americans do. There is the ‘accent’ issue. “Oh, I like your accent” - I have not really understood how to respond to this. It was so hard to hold conversations in the beginning because I would pronounce a word or phrase and it didn’t make much meaning to the rest. I would try turning my tongue differently and pronouncing the word again. This made me shy to even participate in class. I felt like everyone was looking at me and wondering what the hell I am talking about. I am not afraid to speak to people anymore. I still have to repeat a word twice or thrice to make sense. I have felt consoled to meet other international students and get to share their experiences.

The CS department has several international students and I identify with them. I meet students and even faculty who are interested to know about the country I come from. Being a computer science major, I can’t even stop wondering how far this technology will go and will everyone ever catch up with all this. The Americans are very privileged to have all they have. A PC is like a necessity in every home and most people can afford them. That is not the case in these third world countries.

Due to financial difficulty, I had not been able to go back to my country for a period of four years. I got the opportunity to go back and see my people over the Christmas break. I was amazed at how much I was noticing the difference. I did not have access to a computer to send email and time I wanted. I had to take a bus and go to the nearest city center to send an email. This was in a bureau that has been set as a business to help those who need these services. I had to pay sixty shillings for one time service of email. I sure missed my computer in my room in the United States. On the other hand, it made me realize how privileged I am to have the opportunity to study in this country. I hope that this technology can be passed on to such countries. There are many out there willing to learn and even having the brains to but they don’t have this opportunity. Personal computers are out of reach for many.