 "Photo: N/A")
It’s never easy to leave the people and things you love and travel thousands of miles to get a better education and grow as an individual.
Despite the distance, more than 1,700 international students come to OSU every year to do just that, according to OSU’s Diversity Ledger.
Freweini Hadera, 24, is a construction management graduate student from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“When you live outside your home (country), it’s obvious that you might get culture shock, and it’s hard, especially if you don’t have family, anybody here,” Hadera said.
Bigyan Koirala, 23, is a media management graduate student from Pokhara, Nepal. His brother, Adarsha, went to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, and Bigyan followed him.
“It was easy for me when I came, unlike other international students I’ve seen some people go through hard times,” Koirala said.
Hadera and Koirala, also known as Miss Africa and Mr. Nepal, were chosen as Mr. and Miss International at the Mr. and Miss International Pageant on Nov. 19. Both saw the pageant as an opportunity not only to represent their respective countries, but also all international students.
“Africa is a big continent, and I felt like it was a big responsibility to represent Africa.” Hadera said. “Whenever Africa is mentioned in the media, the first thing you think of is poverty, starvation and everything. You don’t see the part that Africa is full of proud people ... who are happy.”
Hadera said she lived in Finland for a year and a half before coming to OSU. Here, she said she surrounds herself with friends who come from around the globe and learns about their cultures as she shares hers.
Construction is already a big industry in Ethiopia and it is growing quickly, so Hadera said she plans to go back home after she graduates in December 2010.
“I want to be a part of those growing ages of construction and I want to contribute the experiences I get from here,” she said. “Construction is very different here and I want to contribute a lot to my country.”
Like Hadera, Koirala sees an opportunity to take his education back to Pokhara to help his country grow.
He decided to compete for the Mr. International title in order to represent the Nepalese community.
“I thought it would be a good experience, which it was,” he said. “I knew it was going to be tough competition. I just kept smiling the whole time, I just kept having fun.”
He also won a YouTube contest creating a promotional video for a city in Maryland while getting his undergraduate degree. He said he considers graduating as another win.
In college, he’s learned to tell a story both with words and without, through pictures and video.
He said he’s preparing to film a documentary for his graduate project.
“I want to make films, documentaries, things like that, in whatever way, shape or form I can tell a story,” Koirala said. “I want to keep telling stories.”
Nepal is roughly the size of Arkansas, but Koirala compared the beauty to Colorado Springs.
“You can’t go to Nepal and not enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, then you didn’t leave the hotel,” he said. “I mean, you can’t go wrong with eight of the 10 tallest mountains in the world.”
One way he said he believes he can help is by helping tourism grow. The natural beauty of the country will attract tourists and he said he thinks it would bring in enough money for the country to sustain itself.
He said he might not go back right away, but instead stay and gain more experience before taking back what he learned to help his country.
“I can say hey, I’m able to do something for (my country), too,” he said.
Be the first to comment on this article!