Looking back to when I was a 17-year-old girl in Karachi, Pakistan waiting to hear back from universities I applied to, I never thought I would end up where I did. The University of Texas at Austin was the very first university I heard back from, and I knew in… read more
Support & Resources
Advice to Incoming Students from International Orientation Volunteers
To welcome incoming international students this spring, International Orientation Volunteers (IOVs) conducted “Mentor Meetings,” a series of informative presentations covering various cultural, social and academic topics introducing new students to the Longhorn way of life. These sessions took place over Zoom from Jan. 6-14. There was a total of… read more
How to Combat Homesickness and Smoothly Transition to a New Culture
This post was contributed by Le Dang Khoa (Kevin) Pham, a civil engineering first-year from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Before coming to the United States, I had been going to “international schools” in Vietnam. Essentially, they are private schools that combine two educational systems: one of the systems is… read more
“So, where did you study abroad?”: A Question That Finally Has an Answer
My name is Colin and I’m from a small town in Central Scotland called Whitburn, which is around 30 miles from Edinburgh. I’m currently in year two of my M.Ed. in Urban Teaching at UT, and I am undertaking my student teaching semester virtually from home in Oregon. My previous… read more
A Tale Between Two Cities
This post was contributed by international student Diana Arriaga, a plan II and international relations and global studies first-year at UT. On the morning of what would become my last day of high school in Brownsville, Texas, sheer terror bled through me when my anatomy teacher told us Border Patrol would… read more
Coping with the Pandemic: Giving My Service to Others
This post was contributed by international student Vira Wiguna, an accounting sophomore at UT. 2020 has been an unusual experience, to say the least. As an international student, who is writing this article from her underground bunker deep in the heart of campus, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed my life… read more