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| hope college > admissions > international students |
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What Students Say Muturi Muriuki  Muturi
Muriuki encountered many surprises and adjustments when he transferred
from a university in his native Kenya to Hope College. Perhaps the greatest
of these were the size of the school and the flexible course work."My college back home was much bigger, around 10,000. You had to apply to a course of study when you applied to the university,' he says. "I was in the mechanical engineering program, and from the first semester I took only engineering classes. The same schedule applied to everybody - I knew exactly what I was going to take and when I was going to take it. When I came here it was a surprise to know that I would have to take all sorts of other 'core' classes, and that I would have to make my own schedule." Muturi appreciates that his education now caters to some of his other interests. He's had a chance, for example, to pursue his interest in the drums in a jazz-percussion clan. He's also involved in campus groups like the International Relations Club and Gospel Choir He thinks that he's really branched out into other interests and other ways of thinking. "At the end of high school you are expected to know what you want to do. It is a very narrow and difficult path to walk," he says. "Here there is not so much pressure to do one thing, yet I feel I am still learning all the important things in my major." Muturi finds his studies in the United States invaluable not only academically, but socially as well. It has been an eye-opening experience for him to interact with other students from abroad, and also with the American students on campus. "I've been in the States before with my family, so the culture shock is not bad. But what I really notice on campus is that an American student and foreign student can both speak English, but not always understand each other. Sometimes there is a gap in attitudes, or even humor. My mother sends these funny comic strips from home, but my American friends don't always 'get it'" he says. Muturi thinks the differences are healthy and good for everyone. "It's important that we keep getting surprised by people who are different. It helps us see our own contributions, and also what others can give because of how they are different from us." |
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