International students
What they're doing in place of going home
Elizabeth Leffall / The Collegian
Not all international students have the luxury of going home for the holidays. Kanako Takano a senior criminology major and junior social work major Midori Nihashi (right), both from different parts of Japan, are staying in town over the break. |
By Elizabeth Leffall
The Collegian
Not everyone can go home for the holidays.
Hundreds of international students at Fresno State are faced with that reality every time Christmas or New Year’s rolls around.
“With my family living thousands of miles away in Kuwait, it just doesn’t make sense to go home only to have to come back in a few weeks,” said Ali Qali. “ It’s not economical either.”
Qali, the only one in his family to be born in America, said he’s still an international student because he was raised in Kuwait. “I did not come to the States until 2000,” he said.
Qali was already in his late teens when he arrived in California.
Qali’s younger sister, Alia was born in Kuwait and is also at Fresno State. They, like so many other international students on campus, are forced to find other things to do during the holiday season.
“We don’t even celebrate Christmas,” Qali said. Qali and Alia celebrate after Ramadan, an Islamic period of fasting where Muslims fast during daylight hours.
“That’s when we have our feasts and families invite large numbers of people over on Sundays,” he said.
Since he and his sister are not at home, Qali said they hang out with friends.
Gajaba Desilva, a junior from Sri Lanka, has only been in America for little more than a year.
“I came by myself,” he said. “It was hard being without family in the beginning, but I’ve been able to call them every weekend during the semester.”
Desilva said he visits friends during his winter break.
“Many times I just study though the holidays.”
Graduate student Karthik Kulandaivel is from India. He said his country celebrates Christmas but since he’s not home he tries to “catch up with other international friends” during the break.
“We celebrate Christmas the same way Americans do, just in our language,” Kulandaivel said.
Several Japanese students said they focus more on New Year’s than Christmas celebrations.
“Christmas is more of a couple thing than a family thing,” said social work major Midori Nihashi. “Shinen (New Year’s in Japanese) is the major holiday in our country.
Senior Kanako Takano said she agrees with Nihashi. “During Christmas in Japan we simply put up lights to decorate, but there’s no religious meaning to it or anything,” Takano said.
Both come from Japan but from vastly different regions within the country. “Although we live very far apart,” Takano said, “the customs regarding holidays are still observed the same.”
Takano, who came to Fresno State three years ago, said she travels home every summer to see her family, so her family pangs are not as bad.
“We e-mail all the time,” Takano said. “We call each other to do business.”
Takano and several other students on campus said they were fortunate during their first semester at Fresno State to be adopted by local host families. The families picked students through International Students Friends and Family Program.
“We had Christmas with a family who invited over a bunch of international students,” Takano said. “They cooked us a big traditional meal and showed us some of the American customs.”
The experience of all of these international students give new meaning to the slogan ‘home for the holidays,’ because for a large majority of these students, Fresno has become home, until graduation day.
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