-: Hi everyone,
my name's Rachel Ayalon.
I'm a international student success navigator, here at UNL.
-: Hello everyone,
I'm Naisagree Patel.
-: Today, we are going to take
a tour around campus and we're going to see
where students live, learn, and eat at UNL.
(upbeat music)
So what made you decide to come to UNL?
-: Great scholarship opportunities,
and I've always wanted to do research,
and UNL offers ample opportunities
for undergrads to do research.
Rachel: A lot of international students
that I've met with,
they tell me that one of their favorite things
about living on campus is they get paired sometimes
with domestic students, or other international students,
and it makes kinda makes them feel more connected
to campus right away.
What has been your experience with that?
-: When you're paired up with domestic students,
you are actually bridging that gap
from being an international student,
and you are trying to engage with American culture,
so, definitely yes.
(fast-paced music)
Okay, Rachel, so you talk about
that you are an international student navigator
here in UNL.
Can you talk more about that?
Like, how can you help international students
to become successful?
-: That's a great question.
So, my role here at UNL is to design cultural
and co-curricular programs.
So, for example, the first week that students are on campus,
we offer a lunch and learn session where we talk about
an introduction to the United States' higher ed system,
so it kind of gives international students
like a little taste of what to expect for their first year.
On top of that, we offer cultural programmings,
so we'll take students to the zoo,
we do a welcome ice cream social
at the very beginning, as well.
We have a website that lists all of our upcoming events.
Lincoln is one of the top safest cities
in the United States.
So, can you talk about your experience with that
and what have you felt being on campus?
-: I think Lincoln is, indeed, really,
one of the safest place I have ever been to.
I am a person who studies late in libraries and stuff,
so, I have walked alone at 1:30 a.m.
I never felt unsafe about it,
and if you are not even comfortable to walk alone,
then you have police around who can drop you
to your home, so it's super, super safe,
and super, super nice.
(upbeat music)
Rachel: So, you've been in Lincoln now
for a couple of years.
Tell me, what are the things you like to do in Lincoln?
-: I like to read,
and UNL has really, really great library stuff.
I like dancing, and we have gym.
We have recreation center, which is really really cool,
you should check it out for sure.
And then, the downtown.
One good thing about this UNL city campus
is downtown is just five to ten minutes walk,
so whenever I'm free and when I feel like
I want to have some, let's say, Mexican food, or like,
American food, I just always walk through downtown
and have some great food.
Rachel: So what have been your, kind of,
favorite classes, or favorite professors
that you've connected with?
-: I love chemistry and I would just like to tell you
that I'm a TA, this semester, for gen-chem, CHEM 109.
So, all the students who have to take
the introductory class of chemistry, they are my students.
So, I'm super excited to be TA,
and even the chemistry department,
we do have resource center, where you can come up
with your assignments, so that's also
a good resource to do it.
-: What other resources are there for international student
to succeed academically?
-: A student who needs help can come in here
and find resources like other TAs,
which is one of my TAs right here.
He TAs CHEM 251 for me this semester.
He's gave a lot of his hours.
I make myself present on a weekly basis in here,
two to three days a week, couple hours a day.
If that doesn't work, then I try to encourage students
to email me and interact that way to set up a time
that is suitable for the both of us,
and that way it doesn't have to be so formal.
-: Thank you all so much
for riding around with us on campus,
we hope this was helpful.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
-: See ya!
(upbeat music)