Celebrating First Times

I guess our brain processes brand new things differently. Doing something for the first time excites us, challenges us, makes us alert to all the small details. And being an international student provides ample opportunities to do things for the first time. I encourage us international educators to be mindful of these first time experiences, and celebrate them with our students.

First Time Experiences

About a year ago, I led a reflection workshop with about 25 international scholars who had been on campus for about six weeks. We talked about their experiences, asking them to write down and reflect on “First Time Experiences” since their arrival. I tasked them with writing down some of them. What came to their mind was the experience of a harsh winter day, ordering food, visiting a local home, and seeing a therapy dog in the library.

“I am doing EVERYTHING for the first time."

One of them wrote, “I am doing EVERYTHING for the first time". That stuck with me. The student has a point here. When we leave our familiar spot, suddenly everything becomes a first time experience.

Same, same - but different

Of course, we all have done some things for a million times. Buying bread and drawing money from the ATM and taking the bus. But when we are plugged out of our environment, these things become new again. The devil is in the details, right? Buying bread in a currency, you are not familiar with? Drawing money from the ATM when the machine does not operate in your language? And, taking the bus when you don’t know the city at all? I guess that is the reason people say you need to stay at least for a year in a new place to feel at home truly. The first spring blossom, followed by the first ice cream of the summer, the first camping trip in the fall, and the first Christmas. Besides language and that things work differently, it is also the course of seasons in nature and local activities and festivities that shape our experiences.

Examine your daily routine

We, as educators, can examine the daily routine of our students by starting with our own and thinking about how much of doing these tasks is built on implicit knowledge. We can ask ourselves:

• What if you did not speak English?
• What if I knew nobody?
• What if I were here for the first time?
• What if I came from a country with fewer resources?

When we examine our daily routine like that, we get more attuned to the experience of newcomers. And once we recognize it, we a point it out to our students and celebrate these first time experiences with them.