By JEFFREY WEINTRAUB
Staff Writer
 

However, for the approximately 50 foreign students at Bates, the transition to college includes the possibility of a new language, overcoming social and ethnic differences, and adjusting to an entirely new way of life.

Adriane Beldi '99, a biology major minoring in Russian, recounted, via an e-mail questionaire, her experience as a first-year student from Geneva, Switzerland.

"My great deception was that I expected much more open-mindedness from the people of my house because they were students who should have been educated enough to accept something new," Beldi wrote.

Despite a having a roommate who Beldi thought perceived her as a French-speaking novelty, and fellow house residents who, for the most part, refused to accept her and take time to explain American customs to her, Beldi persevered through her difficult first weeks at Bates.

While Beldi eventually would feel more accepted after becoming involved in the International Club and meeting both foreign and American students involved with the organization, initially, the stereotypes that many Europeans hold of Americans were reinforced in her mind.

Beldi commented on the members of her first-year house: "They were terribly superficial in their judgement and not only refused to accept me, but they wanted to force me into their conventions."

People simply showed little interest in helping Beldi or learning about her culture, wanting instead for her to conform to American standards.

"It is still hard for many students to grasp the idea of another culture and the idea that America is not the best. Other cultures are as worthy as theirs," wrote Beldi.

As an institution, Bates claims to maintain an open-minded and tolerant attitude toward both religious and racial minorities on campus. Nonetheless, Beldi's experience confirms this open-mindedness does not always apply to people outside the confines of American minorities.

Judging by Beldi's experience as well as what I have observed with foreign students in my own dormitory, the truth is that foreign students often feel pressured into conforming to American standards or else remaining a novelty and an outsider.

Beldi related an experience in which some students took it upon themselves to tell her what she needed to change in order to become a "real American."

Despite these students' good intentions in trying to help Beldi, they assumed two things. One, that Beldi wanted help in becoming Americanized. Two, these students incorrectly assumed that she wanted to become Americanized in the first place.

Beldi explained, "I told them I was here to learn about the American way of living and to become integrated in the campus social life, but I never said I wanted to be assimilated, which is a very different thing."

Thus, the question regarding foreign students becomes, can students from different countries maintain and not sacrifice their own cultural values and way of life while at the same time be accepted socially at Bates?

Ryad Yousef '99, who hails from Bangladesh, does not, echo Beldi's feelings of being pressured into assimilating in order to fit in.

Aside from feeling similar to Beldi with regard to feeling like a novelty on campus, Youself said, "I am almost like a person from an uncharted land, so the attention that I attract probably is due to a fascination for something so `different.'" Yousef said he has had a very positive experience at Bates.

"I would definitely say that the students and faculty have been extremely interested in learning about where I come from. Its actually quite flattering!" he said.

Beldi's experience at Bates has taken a similarly positive course since her unpleasant freshman year. "I have learned how to mix my own system of social and moral values with a different one, so as to develop something new and in-between," she said.

For Beldi, upholding a foreign identity in the first months of school made her feel alienated. However, after becoming involved in the various clubs on campus, and learning to balance a foreign identity with a new-found American one, she eventually found a place for herself at Bates.

Yousef said of his time at Bates, "It has been a marvelous experience!"