Traveling abroad to get an academic degree sounds like an interesting and tempting idea, but experiences abroad for international students may include academic and cultural difficulties.Many international students come to Ohio State every quarter to earn a degree and experience a different culture. OSU’s 4,000 international students arrive with backgrounds representing countries around the world.Te-Pei Chang, a senior accounting major, arrived at OSU in Autumn Quarter of 1997 from Taiwan, where she attended a five-year college.”I wanted to go abroad to see the world,” she said.The United States was the first country Chang had ever visited.”My parents thought that I could gain global perspectives and be more competitive if I studied in the U.S.,” Chang said.Chang started her new life in Blackburn House where many international students live. She said some Americans were also living there, most of them either Chinese or Japanese majors.Chang said she felt like she was living in two different worlds.Before she came to the U.S., Chang said she thought her English was pretty good, but she soon realized that she had to learn more expressions. At first, she could not understand what “awesome” or “what’s up” meant. When she went to a clothing store, the different measurement system confused her.Another difference she said she noticed between Asians and Americans was active versus passive participation in the classroom.”I think it is a matter of cultural difference. Americans tend to be more active, and Asians tend to be more shy and humble,” she said.Like Chang, Jennifer Pei Ling Leow, a senior human resources major, also arrived in Autumn Quarter of 1997, transferring from a school in San Mateo, Calif.Leow soon found that the taste of Chinese food in the U.S. was different from Chinese food in her country, Singapore.”Chinese food here is more Americanized,” Leow said.Leow said she had less difficulty adjusting to life in the U.S. because she had been exposed to English and American media in Singapore.As far as her relationship with other students at OSU, Leow said she feels comfortable when she is among international students. However, she also said she would like to make American friends.”Making American friends is hard for me. I don’t know what I should talk about or how to approach them,” she said.However, Leow said she enjoys her freedom here in the U.S.”Regulations and rules are more strict in Singapore,” she said.For example, Singaporeans receive fines for spitting or littering on the street. Chewing gum is against the law. Gum isn’t even imported to Singapore.Leow said school administrators in Singapore selected her courses for her, so having the freedom to choose what she wanted to study here was refreshing.”I like the ability to choose my GEC courses and I enjoy adjusting my schedule to fit my academic needs,” she said.However, another student who arrived last August from Turkey said he is still experiencing difficulties in the U.S. as he tries to adapt to a new language and culture.”English is a major problem,” said Mustafa Yasar, a first-year education graduate student from Turkey. Although Yasar scored high on the English placement test when he came to OSU, he said he still has a problem understanding people on the phone.He said he also feels homesick. “I miss my family and best friends a lot,” he said.Although Yasar said he enjoys his life at OSU, times are still rough for him.”Sometimes the quarter system can be intensive, tiring and difficult,” he said.On the other hand, Yasar mentioned many advantages of the American education system.”Students share their ideas about a topic and American professors are interested in listening to the ideas of students,” he said. “Whenever students think they don’t agree with a professor, they can argue with the professor by supporting their ideas.”The American education system encourages students to create their own ideas, not just copy down someone else’s ideas for a paper, Yasar said.The relationships among Americans, however, do not seem as strong to Yasar as the ones he observed between people in his native Turkey.”Turkish people have closer relationships between family, relatives and friends than people here,” he said.Yasar also pointed out that there are some young Americanized Turkish people. “Losing identity becomes a serious problem in Turkey,” he said.