International Student Experiences

The Rockies

One of my favorite places to go here in Colorado is Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive is not too long and in the end, it is totally worth it. Last summer, I spent most of my weekends there camping and hiking with my fiancé. It is definitely one of the places that I feel most connected to nature. We would spend the day hiking and the evenings eating and talking next to a warm campfire. And even though we go there often, every time we try to take a different trail, go to a new lake or a different site. The hikes can sometimes be long, more than 10 miles, steep, difficult, but I always feel like the battle is in my mind rather than in my body. It takes more effort to keep my mind in the right place than my body. It’s always about telling it I can continue going, one step at a time.

Even with the snow we find ways to go there and enjoy the beautiful views the park has to offer. A few weeks ago we took the Flattop Mountain Trail, this time we decided to only do part of it, since we were not prepared enough, but even though we didn’t get to see the top, the views were already astonishing. If you are new to hiking, I recommend that you do some research before going out there. Make sure you are prepared and let someone know where you’re going and when you plan to get back. Now, I would like to share a few pictures of our visits to Rocky Mountain National Park. I hope you like it!

 

Camila Angelim - M.S. candidate in Marketing

Jetlag

                The experience is unique enough to get its own entry. Seven hours of time difference or more takes its toll on everyone’s body when they go from university to home, and back. Traveling is never the same after you take a twelve or thirteen-hour flight with twin girls crying in the seat next to you the whole way. A short description of the jetlag that plagues all students studying far from home ensues.

                Headaches. You have never had one until you are up at 3 am, hungry since it is lunchtime back home, and wondering how you made it to your dorm room after so many layovers and connections. You start to ponder just how big a sacrifice you are undertaking for your education, and casually pass time until about 7 am when the dining hall opens and you can get some breakfast. This is when food nostalgia takes over, as your senses are used to a certain taste and you need time to acclimate to American food once again. So many things whirl in your head, bringing gifts for the people back home, a taste of home for your new friends, school, love life, traveling again, and it is still 7:10 am. Somehow, your day is still just beginning, and you need to make it through the next 12 hours before you can go to bed at an unreasonably early time for about three hours.

                Fast forward a week, and you are going to bed at 9 pm and sleeping six hours, but things are looking up. Eventually, you will regain some semblance of a normal sleep pattern but not before you sleep through half your classes the first fifth of the quarter. You will get comments about how tired you look, and you will ignore those comments. Otherwise, you will end up snapping at someone because the mush in your head that is trying to reform into a brain is not working right.

Mustapha Jechi - 1st year UG student; major: Mechanical Engineering

My First Holiday in America

I made the tough decision of staying in America instead of going back home to Pakistan during the 6 week long winter break. Many people thought it was brave, but let me tell you a secret, I thought it would be harder to go back and come back since it was a small time for me. Anyways I decided to spend time with my cousins in California. It seemed like a great idea. Well not entirely. The first thing that I did not consider was that the kids did not have the long winter break that I did! Therefore I ended up staying on my own most of the time. On the bright side, now everyone in the local library knows who I am since I spent most of the time there. The other thing that went wrong was my luggage. Since this was my first travel alone in the country, I did not know what I needed so I over packed. I had more winter clothes since it was cold in Denver, so in my head I thought California must be cold too. Guess what- no! Their winter is so different. Another amazing thing that I did was that I shopped a lot in California and since I had already brought a stuffed suitcase I had no space to put my shopping items. Well other than that, California was absolutely beautiful. My aunt and uncle took time out of the busy schedule to take me to LA and San Francisco. This was a memorable trip because I had many ‘firsts’ in this trip. It was my first time seeing the beach, it was my first time travelling alone, it was my first time on a roller coaster (so much fun!), my first hike with an ocean view and my first road trip in America (LA to San Francisco). All in all it was a great experience and it taught me a lot about travelling alone. I fell hard for the beach. Whenever my aunt and uncle would ask what would I like to see I would scream “the beach,” whereas my cousins would shout in protest, since being California residents they had seen the beach too many times. Guilty as charged, I would do anything to be on the beach. It's just so serene.

 

Rida Noor - 1st year UG student; major: Biochemistry

Pioneer Pride

I have been a Pelican in my earlier days –as an undergraduate student at my former university. I am ashamed to say that I was not the best at exuding school pride. I rarely participated in any event and to date still have limited knowledge about the layout of the campus. I once had a class that was outside of my faculty that required a mere three minute walk but I dropped the class because I had no intention to ‘explore’ the campus.

Now I’m older (just a little) and wiser.

My enrollment at the University of Denver was the culmination of a two year search for the appropriate PhD program. Coming from a quantitative background I wanted a balanced approach to research methods and statistics. DU was the ONLY institution that offered the kind of balance of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approach I was yearning for. The quality of the faculty only sweetened the mix. Now in my third quarter of my first year, I know that I made the perfect choice in accepting an offer for the Research Methods and Statistics program at DU. The skills I have already acquired have started to shape me into the research methods and statistics connoisseur I had only dreamed of being. When I now say ‘the sky is the limit’ it has new meaning.

With the world class education I am now receiving has come this swell of pride. I want anyone and everyone to know I AM A PIONEER. I have a DU coffee mug, water bottles, tee, hooded shirt, folder, notebook, pen… I am just full branded. I pause whatever I’m doing at home once there is mention of DU on the television. I am learning to appreciate hockey (it’s the cold I really have issues with) and I follow the men's and women’s soccer (the real football) teams. Lacrosse I don’t quite understand but I do know what a ball in the opponent’s net means. I have faith in our basketball teams and I have hopes that one day football will return to DU.

Each day as I walk past the University of Denver sign I square my shoulders and raise my head high. I truly do not take it lightly that I walk the halls of this very noble institution. I learn daily under the weight of this great knowledge that Pioneers are the crem dela crem. Frankly, I have come to the realization that there are two types of people in this world – those who are Pioneers and those who wish they were.

My name is Kerry-Ann Lewis Pearcy and I AM A PIONEER, FOREVER!

 

Kerry-Ann Lewis Pearcy - PhD candidate in Research Methods and Statistics