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news:
International
students take divergent paths
By Akira Hayakawa
On-line Forty-Niner
Just as each international
student graduate came from a different place, each is taking
a different course following graduation.
Martin Bock, a
film and video production graduate, transferred to Cal State
Long Beach in spring 1999 from a university in Berlin. Although
he has not found a job yet, he applied for practical training
visa, which is a one-year working permit.
"I want to
be a director of photography," Bock said. "The problem
with that is, you don't go out there and apply to any company."
However, he said
he would work as an audio/visual technician in a company for
the next year. He has not thought of what the future holds
after that and is not sure whether he will stay in the country.
"I have to
see how it works out," he said. "I can't really
plan because, first of all, the working permit is only for
one year. Second of all ... money. I'm pretty much on my own
here. Life is expensive in California."
He, like other
international students, has paid non-resident fees for his
whole college life and wants to earn some money back by working
here.
"People around
the world are dying to get a work permit [here], and everybody
who graduates gets his working permit. So why should I go
home and not try?" he said.
In 1994, he backpacked
in the United States and saw many places. He got excited and
decided to come here to study. He went back to Germany, studied
at a university and worked hard to save up money. Then, he
somehow ended up in Long Beach.
"I got my
Long Beach pride," he said. "I'm sad that I'm leaving
here."
Unlike Bock, Asian
studies major Masayuki Nakamura had not planned on staying
in the country following graduation. He had planned to go
back to Japan after graduation and actually started packing
and sending his belongings there. But he changed his mind.
"I'm staying
here," Nakamura said. "Now I want to see how I can
utilize my English in a real world.
"I want a
working experience in America where I must use English,"
he added. "That experience would be beneficial for my
career. Also, I like this diversity in California whereas
Japan is more mono-ethnic society."
Nakamura also applied
for a one-year working permit and has gone though two job
interviews.
"I'm totally
dependent on a recruitment agency, which looks for a job for
me," he said. "I'm easygoing, not as much stressed
out as others are."
At age 20, he traveled
around the United States and felt like studying in the country.
He went to Eastern Oregon University then transferred to CSULB
in fall 1999.
"Compared
with EOU, CSULB has many professors who are from foreign countries,
especially in the Asian studies department," he said.
"They are citizens and teach here, but they first came
here as international students. So they understand our problems
and how we feel. They helped me a lot."
The Center for
International Education celebrated the international students'
graduation a little earlier on May 3 at North Campus Center.
"We are delighted
to have international students here [on campus]," said
Paul Lewis, director of the center. "So we want to celebrate
their work, their courage and their achievement.
"I believe
it's important to understand other cultures, to learn from
other cultures and to see your own cultural point of view
as not the only one that exist in the world," he said.
"It opens up and expands your own cultural horizon."
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