My name is Santa Lucia Pérez, undergraduate student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez . During fall 2019 I studied abroad as part of the National Student Exchange Program in the University of Arizona. As an advocate of diversity and inclusion, I wanted to use this platform to share the lessons I learned during that time.
ACADEMIC
Professors
The professors I had at the University of Arizona were helpful, patient and kind. Even though English is not my first language, they helped me by explaining the material a bit more.
Facilities
The University of Arizona has many facilities to help students to handle their semester as:
Think tank (https://thinktank.arizona.edu/)
Think Tank at the UofA is a tutoring, supplemental instruction, writing, and academic support center. Services include:
WRITING CENTER
The writing center includes many options for student as:
In-Person Writing Center Appointments
The in-person appointment is 30-min sessions with a peer writing tutor.
Online Writing Center Appointments
The online writing center appointment is a 45-min real-time web conference via Zoom
Writing Center Feedback Loop
This was my favorite service! You only need to upload your document and a peer tutor will return feedback in 45 minutes. They make comments on your document about how you can improve your writing and where to find resources to help you to improve your writing skills.
Writing Center Private Appointments
Also another great service! These are 1-hour sessions with a professional consultant. The tutor will read the document out loud with you, so you can try to identify where your document needs changes and learn how to notice and change them.
Writing Center Workshops
Workshops on writing topics for classes, clubs, and other organizations.
As a non-native speaker, Think Tank was one of my favorites services at the University of Arizona! I summited many projects and assignments during the semester trying to learn and improve my writing skills. I am sure that other universities have similar services to this one!
Supplemental Instruction
Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a free service that provides regularly scheduled, out-of-class study sessions for math and science courses. They are provided by students who have previously taken the course and they review important course concepts, predict and practice test items, develop test prep strategies, and discuss reading.
To know more about the services provided by think thank: https://thinktank.arizona.edu/list-of-all-services
TEACHER ASSISTANTS
The teacher assistant that I had at the University of Arizona for different courses, they were all excellent! They were willing to explain all the concepts taught in class, help you with your homework (without giving you the answers) and they were all non-judging and patient with all the students in the class.
OFFICE HOURS
The best advice I can give about this is to take advantage of them. Go to the office hours of the professors and teaching assistants. Ask questions. Ask for advice on how to improve your learning skills, Demonstrate that you are not "on vacations" during that semester, you are there to learn from them.
ORGANIZATIONS
International Student Services (https://global.arizona.edu/iss)
International Student Services provides services to over 4,000 international students at the University of Arizona, as well as international visitors, sponsored student organizations, and prospective students and their parents. They help students with the adaptation process, immigration documents, etc.
Buddy program https://www.facebook.com/UABuddyProgram/
FRIENDS
Meeting them
If you want to get to know other exchange students, I am sure that the exchange coordinators at your host university will be able to help you with that. Once you started the semester abroad, be sure to talk to your classmates, organize study groups, participate in the activities, etc.
What to learn about them
I learned the importance of respecting people different from you and how amazing it is to be different. I got really close to the people I met. We had conversations about how different our countries were, how different we were raised or what we thought about certain topics. That's the beauty of diversity.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH
Meeting people from different parts of the world, with different cultures, traditions, and languages, and been able to communicate in English was amazing. I learned the importance of learning a second language. In my personal experience, when people noticed my accent and asked where I was from, I took it as an opportunity to share proudly that I am from Puerto Rico and I think that everyone should do the same.
BEFORE THE EXCHANGE
Be sure that you are taking the right courses and that will be validated in your home university, Ask professors from your home university for advice. Send emails to the professors from your host campus to ask questions about the courses if you have doubts.
AFTER THE EXCHANGE
Keep in touch with professors from your host university. Apply the skills that you learned there to your courses once you get back to your home campus.
SHARE THE EXPERIENCE
Each experience is different, I had a good one! If you did it too, be sure to share your experience and give advice to other future exchange students. How do you think they can improve the exchange experience?