Simone Biasio (left) 24, from Italy and Christian Swanson, 31, from Sweden, talk over coffee during a social gathering of international students at the library. Biasio is here as an exchange student for a semester, Swanson is completing an MBA program for a year. Martha Rhine | The Crow’s Nest
By Amy Diaz
Getting back into the swing of a new semester can be a challenge even for students who have been here a while. But some students starting this semester are not only new to the school — they’re new to the country.
USF St. Petersburg has been working to become a more globalized campus by sending domestic students abroad and bringing international students in.
There are currently 36 international students on campus, making up 1 percent of the student population.
International students are classified as F-1s or J-1s based on their student visas. F-1s are international students here to complete a full four-year program. J-1s are students and scholars brought in through an exchange program, whether it be an agreement between universities or a foreign exchange organization like Fulbright.
Simone Biasio is a student from Italy here for the fall semester as part of an exchange program. He graduated from the University of Udine with a degree in engineering and is now in the Master of Business Administration program.
“Everything is wonderful, big, new,” Biasio said. “I like the people, everybody is kind with me helping me try to figure out whatever, or if I don’t get something in class, everybody is helpful sharing notes and things like that.”
Biasio has only been here for three weeks, but he said he immediately noticed a lot of differences between USF St. Petersburg and his university back home.
“Everything is different. Starting from the fact that we don’t use text messages for example, we use WhatsApp, which is an application for online messaging,” Biasio said. “I got my American number and I was looking at my contract and it said, ‘unlimited text messages’ and I was thinking like, ‘Um, okay. Why?’ Then I realized everybody uses text messages here.”
He also feels that his classes are structured differently.
“We are used to different kind of teaching. In Italy, for most of the class it is just the professor speaking and you just take notes,” he said. “Here you know, and maybe because we’re MBA students, the class is very little so it’s very interactive. We do a lot of activities in the classroom, and that way you can be able to try on your own what you’re going to do. It’s nice.”
Biasio hasn’t gotten a chance to do much exploring yet, but he wants to.
“I’m lucky because I have class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so I have a long weekend. I want to go to Miami, or Orlando. It’s close so why not go?” he said. “The only things I know from Miami come from Baywatch, but I don’t think it works like that.”
Elena Plakhina is also staying at USF St. Petersburg for a semester. She is an associate professor in the journalism department from the University of Tyumen in Russia. She is doing research for her discipline by working with USF St. Petersburg journalism professors such as Mark Walters and Deni Elliott, and spending time in class with students.
“There are a lot of differences for me in the educational system, in the way people communicate with each other, how they spend their time in the university and space,” Plakhina said. “It’s unusual for me but it’s interesting for me to observe.”
She finds the main difference to be the lack of consistent student groups in each class.
“We had, for example, such experience where the whole group of students stay with each other for four years,” she said. “They have the same study, the same classes, they’re all together, they’re all very close and they become best friends.
“And here as far as I see, everything is separate. You can change in every discipline and have different courses and teachers. I don’t think it’s bad, it’s better for education. You focus on studying.”
Plakhina initially had trouble believing that anyone studied on campus.
“My first impression was ‘How is it possible to study here? There are so many beautiful things, so many areas for recreation. Is it possible that students are really studying here?,’” she said. “But then I understood that it was made exactly for making people want to be here, stay here from the morning to the evening.”
Galina Gorelenkova, a student from Moscow in her second and last year at USF St. Petersburg, can attest to studying.
“I like this school a lot. It’s a smaller school I think, so the professors are more helpful, and the kids are more scholar-oriented, you know,” she said. “At first I was sad that we don’t have a lot of parties, but I’m realizing it’s kind of better especially when you’re studying, because you have to study and it’s a lot sometimes.”
Gorelenkova, a senior criminology major, will graduate in December with her bachelor’s degree.
“I graduated from a university in Russia and got my master’s degree in psychology, and then my family decided that I needed to get a degree from another country,” she said. “I think it’s something that can benefit me you know, and also it helps with my language.”
After graduating, she plans to apply for a work authorization and hopes to get an internship with the United Nations or the Red Cross. For now, Gorelenkova is the president of the International Students Club.
“This is my first club, so I wasn’t very active when I first got here,” she said. “So, this is my last semester and my first time doing something like social activities.”
The club’s first event of the semester was a coffee social held Sept. 6, in the library, which gave new and continuing international students a chance to talk with one another.
Angelica Rodriguez Jimenez, the international student advisor, helped put the event together.
Her role is not only to ensure that students are in compliance, but also to give them the resources they need to have a great experience as an international student while they’re here.
“I’ve been working with international students for five years and I love it,” Jimenez said. “I love doing things like this where everybody can communicate, and everybody is able to just get to know each other.”’
The International Student Club is hoping to get more student involvement to build the club and keep it ongoing.
“Everybody’s invited, Americans, international students, domestic students,” Jimenez said. “It’s a place where students of international descent and students who want to know about international students can come together, do some fun things and connect.”
You can find the club on PeteSync under “International Community at USFSP” or on Instagram at @aroundtheworldatusfsp.
