The beginning of the school year holds challenges and sacrifices for international students at Wichita State.

Ali Raza misses his dog, Wilmore Brown wants Jamaican food and Adeline Tan won’t see her family for at least two years.

“Aloha!,” an event hosted by the International Student Union on Friday, welcomed the new international students to campus. ISU is comprised of international students who have experienced the pressures of coming to the U.S. and want to help ease first-week woes for others.

“Some teachers speak quickly,” Marilou Suc said.

Suc, who chose Wichita State to study languages and culture, arrived on Aug. 13 from a small southern town in France.

The culture shock affects each student differently. To Brown, an aerospace engineer from Jamaica, the university seems huge. To Raza, a marketing major, Wichita seems like a rural town compared with his home in Dubai.

Raza chose WSU because he had two friends living in Wichita. His situation is fortunate compared with most international students.

“I am the only French student in Fairmount,” Suc said.

Tan, a graduate teaching assistant for public speaking, said it’s easier to hang out with people from your own country. Tan has been in the U.S. for five years. She received a full scholarship from AIG, the company her mother works for in Malaysia, to study anywhere in the U.S.

However, most international students come without scholarships and pay the price for the unique experience.

Residents pay $173.50 per credit hour at WSU, but non-residents pay $441.30. Also, many scholarships are from local donors who want their donations to benefit the local community with their investments. International students qualify for fewer grants.

On top of that, international students can’t get jobs outside the university and are limited to working 20 hours per week.

The simple things become more difficult.

“I wanted to get a cell phone, but then I realized I didn’t have a car,” Raza said.

At first, there is no one to call.

“I didn’t know who was going to come pick me up at the airport,” Tan said.

Luckily, WSU has a transportation program for international students that pick them up at the airport, and there is a bus that routinely takes them to Wal-Mart from Fairmount Towers.

But sometimes, the experience is worth the trouble. This weekend, Suc went to Kansas City with ISU to watch a Kansas City Royals baseball game.

“I want to try everything to be a Kansas girl,” she said.

Raza hopes going to school in the U.S. will help him work for a big marketing firm in the future, like Apple, Inc.

“Living in the U.S. was always a wish that came true,” he said.