On the Outside, Welcomed in
Hello! I’m Michelle Ko, and I am a salmon-bowl-fanatic sophomore, majoring in Narrative Studies. I work as an intern for ISA, which entails for a multitude of responsibilities. Mostly, my work lies under the leadership of E-Board members, whether that is helping them plan social events, brainstorming activities for meetings, creating content for marketing, or writing a blog post about my intern experience. However, the interns and I did have the opportunity to work together and pull off an event all on our own. At first, it was frightening, learning how to organize a social event as I organized a social event, but with the guidance of E-Board members and a reliable team of interns, we successfully launched International Trivia Night.
Throughout my intern experience, what constantly surprised me was the sense of camaraderie and community that ISA is adamant about fostering. I expected to enter into this organization to be alone and to do everything alone. I’m from Southern California, so within the international student community, I should be deemed an outsider. However, I was immediately welcomed, and now, I feel like I have a group to belong to. The more I spent time working and interacting with ISA members, the more I forgot about the labels of “international student” and “domestic student” that categorized us into separate groups before.
Initially, I had this fear that I would not be welcomed as I was not “one of them”, and it nearly held me back from applying and meeting amazing people. What is important to know is that everyone in ISA understands this fear and what it is like to not be a part of the majority, and I find that because of this awareness, there is a sense of empathy and openness between everyone.
I noticed throughout high school and now in university, there is this invisible line that often separates the domestic students and the international students in their own bubbles. To any domestic students out there, taking the step over this invisible line seems terrifying, but as soon as your foot hits the ground, you will quickly understand that these people are a lot like yourself and will teach you a lot of things your bubble can not offer.
Eventually, you will forget this line ever even existed.