For much of the freshmen class, college life is just another level of academic experience after high school, but for international freshmen it means being far away from home, experiencing new cultures, new social relationships and a new academic system.

Paul Yunouye, Fresno State’s foreign student advisor, said there are 128 international students enrolled at Fresno State this fall semester.

This fall, every international student has to pay $372 per unit taken at Fresno State in addition to any other fees paid by local students. Every international student has to be “in status” with the United States immigration system, and are required to take the minimum of 12 units per semester at Fresno State.

Yunouye said every semester new international students encounter similar problems.

“One of the problems is housing. Where to find affordable housing and where to find good roommates they can trust and feel comfortable with,” Yunouye said.

“Along with housing, the earlier they come to Fresno State the more they have to pay for housing before school starts,” Yunouye added. “So that becomes the issue: How early should I come to secure housing? Am I prepared to pay for it before school starts?”

Yunouye added that new international students try to arrange housing from abroad, but it is no small task.

He added that new international students deal with other basic problems which include understanding unit and semester system, letter grades and how credit, no-credit systems work. Yunouye said this has always been a setback for new international students.

Gabrielle Loo, a new international student from Malaysia, revealed that life in Fresno is the “total opposite” of her life back home.

Loo, who charectarized herself as a shy person, said it was not easy for her to talk to strangers that she had to meet every day in her classes.

“Here, it is pretty hard to actually communicate with people,” Loo said. “Here, you have to put yourself in it and go talk to new people by yourself, but in Malaysia we [mostly] talk to people we know.”

Living at the University Village just off campus and surrounded by American students who like to party on weekends has been very difficult for Loo as well.

“I’m not an outgoing person. I don’t like partying,” Loo said. “I don’t have the mood to go party with them. So, on weekends I am always stuck at home for the whole day and I get really bored.”

After the first “hectic week” of school, Loo managed to socialize with her classmates, which made college “pretty good.”

An article published in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations in 2010 stated that it is essential for immigrants, to be able to assimilate to the new host culture. By being able to blend in to the new environment, it is easier for students to succeed not only socially, but also academically.

John Elisha T. Ang, also a new transfer student from the Philippines, said that his life here is “very different” compared to his life in Southeast Asia, but not in a negative manner.

“But life here is much better,” Ang said.

Ang explained that most of the problems he encountered at Fresno State were social problems since his classmates in Asia don’t usually work.

“That’s why it is very hard for me to meet people, because I need to make an appointment for a movie or lunch at least one week in advance,” Ang added.

To address the general problems faced by new international students, Yunouye explained that Fresno State’s International Student Services and Programs also known as ISSP, over the year offer an international orientation for new students.

For the fall 2011 semester, around 90 percent of international students got two days of international orientation preceded by five days of check-in periods held by the ISSP.

In the international orientation days, Yunouye said, ISSP officers provided basic information such as, tuition payment system, fees due, the U.S immigration system and how to enroll in classes.

Yunouye affirmed that international orientation is a good chance for new international students to socialize and interact with each other. Students are also given information about Fresno State clubs and organization that can help them socialize. ISSP will usually meet with students individually to guarantee their adaptation.

Fresno State website encourages students to attend Fresno state because of its affordability, entertainment, “world-class agriculture,” academic excellence, campus location near Yosemite and other California tourist attractions, academic research and distinguished alumni such as former governor of Nevada Kenny Guinn, NASA astronaut Colonel Steven Nagel, among other important figures.