DeKALB | Making new friends, staying on top of classes and dealing with a bit of culture shock were all thrown at Iska Hoerner this semester.

Hoerner is a junior German language and literature major, originally from Germany. In addition to the standard “first-day jitters” that come with attending a university, international students are also concerned about staying connected to their culture.

Staying connected

The International House in Douglas Hall offers international students a way to remain connected to their culture through programming and activities throughout the year.

Students who live on the international floor and are involved with the foreign language program spend time talking about their culture. The staff uses them for educational floor programs as well as university-wide programs like International Week, said Nitin Goil, hall director of Douglas A/B.

Senior biology major Agnieszka Markiewicz is originally from Poland and has been in the U.S. for five years. She finds living in the International House a great way to maintain contact with her Polish culture. She belongs to a Polish group on campus and regularly keeps in touch with her family.

Adjusting to America

While Hoerner previously attended a university in Germany, she was unfamiliar with residence halls. Living on the international floor and participating in the foreign language residence program at NIU have helped her adjust.

“We have dinner every night and I have a German table with German students who are interested in learning the language and culture,” Hoerner said.

Hoerner thinks speaking the language on a nightly basis helps her maintain some of her German identity. She visited the United States on several occasions, but just returned in August for the school year.

While Hoerner found adjusting to the residence halls difficult, adjusting to the fast pace of Americans was even more of a challenge.

“Compared to Germany, everything is very stressful,” Hoerner said. “It seems like most Americans have very busy schedules and I am just getting used to it. But it’s not a bad thing.”

Cultural differences

The biggest adjustment she had to make after arriving in the U.S. was getting used to the treatment of young adults and all of the rules and regulations in America. In Poland there is more freedom for teenagers, Hoerner said.

While the drinking age is 18, it is not really enforced and teenagers can go to bars and have a different social life than American teenagers. In Poland, you are responsible for yourself, Markiewicz said. She said the availability of public transportation and everything being closer together in Poland also enabled her to do more.

She has enjoyed her time in the U.S. as there are great opportunities in education and jobs which she thinks are lacking in Europe right now. She has also enjoys that she can meet people from all over the world here, as the U.S. is known as the melting pot.

Learning from one another

Amela Smajkan, a freshman business and German translation major, originally from Bosnia, also lives on the international floor and agrees it has helped make the adjustment easier.

“It’s much easier because they’re going through the same thing you are,” Smajkan said. “We have similar cultures and we understand each other better than American students understand us.”

Smajkan has been in the U.S. for five years and returns to Bosnia every summer to visit her extended family and friends. In addition, as a way to remain connected to her culture, her family cooks Bosnian food and celebrates Muslim and other traditional holidays. Her family also has cultural parties where they get together with other Bosnian families and listen to Bosnian music, dance the traditional dances and embrace their culture.

With the foreign language residence program, American students are also given the chance to embrace other cultures. Merika With, a freshman journalism major, is involved in the foreign language program. She attends the nightly dinners because she wants to become fluent in Spanish to make her job search easier. She describes the dinners as a cultural blend, where students from all over the world come together and learn about each other.

“It’s fun, but sometimes hard to express yourself in a different language,” With said.

Stephanie Kohl and Keith Cameron are Campus Reporters for the Northern Star.