Agustin Torres | Shorter summer break? Int'l students say, 'Yes'

On my Daily Pennsylvanian columnist application, I wrote that "I can also represent the . international students on campus."

Now that I think about it, the above line was a terrible overcommitment. How do you even represent international students? We're an incredibly diverse body of people, from all corners of the world, with not a lot in common other than being from outside the United States.

As the DP's only columnist from outside the Unites States, I feel it is my duty to dedicate one or more columns to international students. Therefore, in an honest attempt to fulfill my overcommitted promise, I present some suggestions that could improve life for international students at the University.

n When I got to Penn on Aug. 28, 2005, for International Student Orientation (which takes place before regular orientation), at about midnight, the campus was deserted and gloomy.

It was not the best first impression - Hill Prison would have been a better name for Hill College House. When we entered my room, my mother gave me the "are you sure you want to do this?" look.

In all honesty, I wasn't.

Suddenly, I realized that in a few days I was going to be living all by myself, in that small, sweltering, depressing room. At that moment, I understood what culture shock was all about. Making it even harder, Hill was completely devoid of people.

Going to college is tough - but it's even tougher when there's no one around to talk to. Instead, the University should consider housing all the new international students together for the first few days to better acclimate students to living in America - as a group.

ISO, once it begins, is a wonderful experience. All international students remember the world map in which they placed pushpins to show their home countries. The feeling one gets when they see another pin located in the same country is unforgettable.

ISO helped to erase all my doubts - Penn was the best choice - but it sure would go a long way to welcoming students if they didn't spend their first night at Penn alone.

n Another lapse in the University's judgment comes when international students apply to Penn.

While filling out my name in Penn's application, I didn't know what to do. Some online forms allowed enough characters to enter my complete last name, but others didn't, including all the paper forms.

My complete (unfortunately long) last name, which is "Torres Quintanilla," ended up as "Torres Quintani" because of the 15 character limit, and it stayed that way for a whole year, until I finally went to the Office of the Registrar and changed it.

Granted, Quintani may sound cooler than Quintanilla, and I could even claim to be Italian, but being registered with an incomplete last name may not be the best idea.

Please, Office of Admissions, allow at least 20 characters for last names on your forms. Those of us who are unfortunate enough to have long last names or who come from a country where two last names are always used will be eternally grateful.

n Finally, the bane of international students: The length of vacations and breaks.

"Sometimes, it's not even worth going back home because our break is not long enough and plane tickets are really expensive," said Engineering sophomore Aaron Jungstein, an international student from Bolivia.

With only two weeks of vacation between the fall and spring semesters, and only one week during spring break, it's too many days to make staying at Penn worthwhile, but not enough to merit a trip home.

But then summer comes, and if you're anything like Jodie Foster, you'll spend the entire four months watching re-runs feeling like a complete idiot. I would love it if summer vacations were one month shorter and winter vacations were one month longer.

And I'm only in Mexico, which is about as close to Penn as international students can be. I can't imagine what it's like for students that need to travel halfway around the globe to get home.

I may not represent every international student at Penn. But be sure, fixing these three problems will make us a lot happier.

Agustin Torres is an Engineering sophomore from Monterrey, Mexico. His e-mail address is torres@dailypennsylvanian.com. The Monday Burrito appears on Mondays.

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