By: Kelsey Aylor, Staff Writer
Of the 442 students in the class of 2019, six of them have traveled across borders in order to join campus. This year’s six international students hail from China, Ghana, Spain, Norway and Venezuela.
Anna Katherine Wilson, a sophomore from Fort Mill, S.C., works for the Office of International Programs and helped lead summer orientation programs for the new students. Through this program, she helped with intensive language studying, acclimating students to campus and taking field trips to places such as Greenville and Asheville.
“We wanted the new students to feel welcome to our campus and comfortable with Wofford’s culture. They frequently studied how American culture, and specifically southern culture, diverged from their own culture,”says Wilson.
Qilin Zheng, from China, wanted to go to a small school because more than 3,500 students attended her high school.
“In China, we only have universities. There’s no such thing as a liberal arts college,” says Zheng. “I have a hard time in some of my classes because the study mode is different here. There aren’t labs at my high school, and people also talk a lot. At first I didn’t talk in classes because I wanted to make sure I understood everything they were saying.”
Despite the difficulties, Zheng says she is getting used to her classes and is also very appreciative of the southern hospitality found at Wofford.
“People are really friendly here and will greet strangers, which is different from China. I feel happy when people say hello or smile at me on the road even though we don’t know each other,” says Zheng.
Ole Martin Davanger, from Norway, also lists the friendly interactions on campus as something very different from his culture.
“It’s not that Norwegians are mean people, we just don’t talk to strangers. It still feels unnatural to me to go up to someone I don’t know, but I think it’s nice when others come up to me. That’s actually how I have met a lot of my friends here,” says Davanger.
Many of the international students are also athletes on campus: Davanger is on the men’s golf team, Bosco Bapoupeleh is on the men’s track team and Rebeca Aldaz is on the women’s golf team.
“My goal is to play professional golf on the PGA Tour, and I believe playing college golf in the U.S. is the best way to prepare for that. Coach Lipscomb contacted me and that’s how I found out about Wofford,” says Davanger. “I think Wofford was a great fit for me, and I’ve enjoyed playing on the team.”
Bapoupeleh first heard about Wofford while living in Ghana from his guardian who attended the college when it was still all male. Then, while attending high school in California, his track coach suggested he look closer into Wofford.
“I’m really happy that I chose Wofford. I’m not able to run on the team right now because I just had surgery done on my quad, but I will when I heal,” says Bapoupeleh.
“Wofford is nice because it is smaller and has more to offer. In Ghana, most of the professors were teaching just for the money, but professors here are excited and willing to help you after class.”
The international students have also shared stories about what life is like in their home countries.
“I had a pet monkey in Ghana. My guardian brother found it and brought it home. I became its best friend, and it would ride on the front of my bike when I went downtown in the city” says Bapoupeleh.
“I was talking to Eduardo during orientation and he mentioned that if Donald Trump wins the presidency, the country will be fine. Apparently the profession of the Venezuelan president is a bus driver, and he said that Venezuela is doing alright,”says Wilson.
