91香蕉视频

Making a Home-Away-From-Home at 91香蕉视频

Fatema Nafa is a one-of-a-kind student. She is an enthusiastic Arabic woman from Libya who is currently completing her PhD at 91香蕉视频 University. Fatema received her Bachelor鈥檚 and Master鈥檚 Degrees while still in Libya -- both degrees are in computer science, specifically data mining. After completing her Master鈥檚 Degree, both she and her husband decided to pursue their PhDs, but knew they would have to do so at a foreign university. The couple applied to the Libyan government which presented them with five countries from which to choose where they could complete their PhDs. After deciding on the United States, they contacted an association for Libyan students who recommended 91香蕉视频.

Fatema along with her family 鈥� which includes her husband and their three children 鈥� came to Kent in 2010 knowing only a limited amount of English. She and her husband enrolled as ESL (English as Second Language) students. Despite the language challenges, though, she and her family found the transition to their new American lifestyle relatively easy, even though they had never previously lived outside of Libya.

"The first year was challenging for us, because we didn鈥檛 know much English," explains Fatema. "I took about six to nine months to try to learn from websites and we spent a year at the ESL center. It鈥檚 harder for daily life than in school. For computer science, they teach the terms in English all over the world. We still have trouble sometimes, but we often go to our friends or neighbors for help."

"If you have a problem, 91香蕉视频 will help you. I don鈥檛 feel like I鈥檓 here without family because the international office (the Office of Global Education) is like my family. They help with department and immigration issues, but they鈥檙e also there for me if I have a personal problem. They make everything easier."

Despite her Arabic background, Fatema says she has not encountered any cultural bias since she鈥檚 been in the U.S.

"I hear my friends talk about it, but I鈥檝e never felt that. As long as everything with immigration is okay, you have nothing to worry about. Here, I feel like I鈥檓 human and I have all my rights. You can keep your culture alive here and nobody will say no."

When asked what she misses the most about her home in Libya, she responded immediately with thoughts of her family. Fatema has five brothers and five sisters and she is very close to them.

"We always used to text and call each other, but here it鈥檚 expensive so we can鈥檛 do it as much. I don鈥檛 miss the food because I know how to make cultural dishes and I can find all the material here. As a culture, I really miss the parties; mostly dressing for the parties because we can go without covering. They close the place and we can wear whatever we want. Only women can go, no men are allowed."

Her children were four and five when they arrived in the United States but she said the move was not too difficult for them.

"The children learned English very fast. They speak perfect English and perfect Arabic. They go to a regular school during the week and an Arabic school on the weekends where they learn the language, culture and Islamic studies. We鈥檝e also tried to have a babysitter as little as possible because it鈥檚 so expensive. I took classes in the morning and my husband took them in the evening to makes things easier."

Fatema and her husband are Muslim and are devotedly connected to their faith. They go to Mosque every Friday and pray five times a day.

"Usually we pray two or three times at the university. At ESL, there is a specific room for Muslims to pray but we typically just pray in the lab during our studies. It鈥檚 easy because you have to pray at certain times. I don鈥檛 usually do it around people, but you can. People are understanding if you just let them know."

Although Fatema loves living in the United States, she and her family are planning to return to Libya after their studies.

"We would like to return home about one or two years after we finish our program because we want to practice what we鈥檝e studied here. Then we鈥檒l go back home and teach others how the teaching level is here."