Afrin Muzammil, from India Braving Culture Shocks in Reno
Olivia Sullivan reports on a fellow student who gives her honest assessment of the difficulties she’s had pursuing her education in northern Nevada far away from her native home.
Afrin Muzammil is a 36-year-old woman who immigrated to the U.S. from India in 2017, an experience she recalls as being quite horrible.
“Everything was so stressful,” she says when asked about the specifics of the process. “When we go for a visa in India, and you are a very strong candidate, they still deny you.”
The stress from this process only seemed to carry over into her stay here as well. She mentions the lack of patience and respect when dealing with coworkers and teachers at UNR.
“Even the people I know, right now they are really nice to me, but at that time they were not– like they don’t want to cooperate with me, to understand what I’m trying to say–because I do have an accent and struggle with my communication sometimes,” she said. “Obviously, I cannot communicate like Americans, because I’m not American, so it’s going to be difficult for me.”
She struggled with adapting while working with Residential Life at UNR as well, which is “committed to providing safe, comfortable, and welcoming accommodations for all students.” One example was trying to help potential international students trying to get information from the university.
“You don’t know the policies and procedures so you need the help, and it’s not properly guided by the University especially,” she said. “They do not have proper information out there. For every international student, that information is difficult to find and understand. It is racial and cultural discrimination,” she says with caution.
More than anything else, she discussed this change and lack of acceptance and a sort of cultural shock. This is a term that describes the disorientation one can feel when surrounded by a culture that they do not fully understand. Afrin shared, however, that this cultural shock can quickly turn into depression. And from there, suicidal thoughts.
According to Afrin, many international students here in Reno have at some point felt the weight of depression and loneliness.
Now a full-time student at UNR, Afrin is currently working towards her second master’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies. Despite already having a Master’s degree from India, she found the process of working towards one here in the U.S. very difficult.
She explained that this difficulty is in great part due to the fact that she has had to essentially start her education from scratch. “Everything here is so different so I had to start from the basic learning of English,” she said.
“My main goal when I came from India was to do education or education leadership and it took me like, one and a half years to just get into UNR … Human development was a broad field for me, which can open up special education, leadership, and other things. It was interesting to me, so I said ‘let’s go for it.’”
After being offered the job by Executive Director of Residential Life Dean Kennedy, she took the job she currently holds as a Covid coordinator. This essentially means that if a student tests positive or shows symptoms of Covid it is her job to make sure everything is set up so that they quarantine safely. As a student worker, Afrin is only supposed to be working around 20 hours a week, however, when Covid cases surge she says that she can work up to 60 hours in one week.
“Covid doesn’t stop, people don’t stop, my phone doesn’t stop,” she says as it interrupts her during the interview. “With my full classes it’s really crazy. That’s why I’m so stressed out, no sleep, nothing.”
Despite the stress and bumpy road, Afrin still holds excitement for the future. She hopes to graduate next year and take on a job as a school teacher in Houston, Texas. However, she has made it clear that she does not want to stay in the U.S. forever, and plans to move back to India eventually.
