Negatives of Being an International Student.
The international students who leave their own country and study in a foreign country may experience special emotions which do not appear in their motherland.
Missing Traditional Food
After the international students leave their motherland, the homesickness appears in their heart. The international students will miss everything in their hometown. For example, most Chinese students miss the traditional food.
The television program‘A bite of China’ shows how to cook traditional Chinese food. The video from 38:15 minutes to 43:53 minutes shows how the chefs cook traditional Chinese food.
Most Chinese students study at colleges or universities in small cities. The small cities do not have traditional Chinese restaurants.
There is an American who has a comment in the article ‘How Chinese food got hip in America’: “As an American who is married to someone from China, and who spent five years living in China, I always find it funny how “Americanized” Chinese restaurants are here. Most of what I ate in China you would never see on a menu in the US, and most of what is served in Chinese restaurants in the U.S. would never be seen in China.
I think there are several reasons for this….
#1 — In China, you eat the whole animal, not just the best cuts….most Americans are too squeamish to eat offal and other body parts, so they aren’t on the menu here in the US.
#2 — Vegetables are also a major part of most Chinese meals, but many Chinese veggies aren’t grown in the U.S., and therefore aren’t served in the US.”
This American analyzed that some Chinese traditional food which consists of animals’ offal cannot appear in the U.S. Some traditional foods can not grow in the U.S. For example, the shallot. The shallot in the U.S is called the big shallot by the Chinese. However, there is a small shallot that can’t grow in the U.S. The small shallot is the Chinese’s favorite cooking food material.
Homesick
When the Chinese students talk about the traditional Chinese food, they always feel sad because the Chinese students miss their food which is cooked by their parents.
The Chinese New Year is the Chinese traditional festival, and the Chinese New Year is equal to Christmas Day in the U.S. There is one week for celebrating the Chinese New Year. The day before the Chinese New Year, the family members will stay together and have a dinner.
However, the Chinese students cannot go back to reunite with their family members. The Chinese lunar calendar calculates which day will be the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year may begin at middle of January or February, but the new semester of colleges or universities has started. The Chinese students do not have a chance to go back.
Negative Effect
Although there are many benefits for going abroad in the U.S., the Chinese students have negative factors in their personal emotion.
Some international students experience negative effects. When some international students come to a new country, there is an issue about communicating with the local people. Some international students like to stay alone, or there is no new friend in a new country. Most international students will have several poor physical and psychological reactions, for example, feeling confused, physical and mental fatigue, insomnia, lonely headache and stomachache. Those reactions will lead to depression, bipolar disorder and becoming fat.
My friend Tianshuai told me: “I felt alone when I came to the U.S. because there are no Chinese friends in the U.S.. In addition, I felt depression because I did not understand what the teacher talked about when I was in class.”
