An on-going study by my wife encouraged me to share this post with you guys!
I came to the U.S. in 2011 and started my PhD at VT as an international student. At first, I faced different challenges in the school; I had to adopt to an educational system that its instruction is not in my native language. Then I had to get familiar with different cultures to know how to interact with other nationalities properly and with respect. Besides all that, I had to deal with unexpected living expenses, homesick, and immigration issues. At the time, I had no idea there is a counseling service here at VT, which can help us to overcome our challenges.
My wife’s research is on international students and challenges that they might have during their studies. The goal of the study is to identify international students’ problems and the services provided by counseling centers at VT in order to overcome those problems. This on-going research requires to have as many as VT INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS participated in a designed survey in order to properly represent the challenges and problems facing by international students. The result of this study would not only help the international students to get familiar with the services provided by counselling centers at VT, but also give a good understanding to the professors at VT about the challenges that their international students may go through.
It would be appreciated if could fill the survey at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/VTspring2014
If you have any questions, please contact Elmira Hamidi at elmirah@vt.edu.
Hamidibehzad's Blog 