Having been an expatriate for four years, living away from my home country is not a new experience for me. Yet I decided to participate in an event which Washington University’s Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) states aims “to provide information and experiences that will make your transition to college life easier.” As the program came to an end, I found myself wondereding whether the Explore program made my transition to college any easier at all.

Having done the Explore program, I cannot imagine settling into my room in the compact time frame of move-in day. The flexible schedule allows for families to do necessary shopping, to unpack luggage and to organize rooms. Because whether you walk in full of excitement or frustration after the disappointing or satisfying housing assignment, your room is nothing but a desk and a blue sheet-covered bed. Most students will not have had the experience living alone away from home. This additional time for preparation definitely helps international students to make changes in their lives.

However, the Explore program is not only about shopping. During Explore, students gather in specific groups to become familiar with various clubs and activities as well as the campus as a whole. Thus, students can have a headstart in making friends prior to the semester’s beginning. But this early exposure to a group of people comes to a question: Is this helpful or not?

Although the Explore program is intended for all students of any background who want to immerse in campus life earlier than normal, the program seemed like an Asian communal meeting at Wash. U. Even within this familiar setting, students begin to separate due to language barriers. Even though all students are supposedly fluent in English, people naturally surround themselves with people from their hometowns or who speak in their native tongue. The Explore program could inadvertently separate the incoming freshman class based on ethnicity. However, this type of start to college life with ethnically familiar people has a positive side as well.

A current Explore leader and previous Explore participant Luxiao Zheng said, “I would say that Explore is a good start for me in Wash. U., since I got to know other Wash. U. international students who were more likely share a similar identity with me. [I also] appreciate and still connect with my [previous] leaders. They introduce lots of resources and people on campus and help me deal with culture shock.”

Undoubtedly the Explore program guides international students to settle earlier and in a smooth fashion. The program could set international students on the wrong path when making friends, but the decisions are always made by the individuals and not the system.