For my ethnography project I chose to study the life and perspectives of the International Student Fellowship group, ISF for short. The main focus of this ethnography is to fully understand international students. ISF is an organization started for international students all over the world to gather and socialize with one another. Coming from another country fitting sometimes can be hard. Different cultures and norms make the transition hard for internationals. ISF started in the spring semester of 2006. The group was smaller back then when it was just starting out. Today the group has grown in numbers and has the experience to help new international students. They even set up meetings, food cookouts, movie nights and many other activities. Their goal was to reach out to the internationals to make them feel more welcomed and hopefully give them a memorable college experience.
Speaking with the ISF president, he has told me that, “ISF is a good place for International Students to plug in whenever they first arrive on campus. The goal of the ISF is to provide a sort of family setting in which students can seek help and guidance on issues that typical American students don't struggle with. We also want to expose our unique cultures to the American students, many of who have not even heard of places like Malaysia.” He expounded further telling me about his role, “as the president, my role includes brainstorming with my very awesome committee on how we can set up different on and off campus events that achieve these goals. My responsibilities include welcoming new students, meeting with school staff on behalf of the ISF, and setting up events that include other international student bodies.”(ISF President) I learned from him that the goal was mainly based on helping the international students to adapt to the lifestyle of the America.
After discovering from him their goal, I went into further dept on observing from an outside point of view how internationals...