Being away from family and friends can be hard for a college student, but for most international students coming to college means being away from home for an entire semester. Sometimes a person inside or even outside of Iowa State can be helpful to talk to and provide support to them. 

The Friendship International Program of the International Students and Scholars Office provides exactly that.

In this program, international students, called international friends, are paired up with American students and families from around the Ames and Des Moines areas.

“As an international student you have your adviser; you have the [International Students and Scholars Office], but those are all formal means of communication,” said Presha Kardile, senior in management and undergraduate administrative assistant at the ISSO. “[We want to] make them familiar with American culture and give them an informal person to talk to.”

International friends are mostly freshman and sophomores who haven’t yet become acquainted with the American culture.

However, any international student can sign up for the program, and they can indicate if they would rather be paired with a family or a student.

“We also ask the American friends if they have specific preferences of a country or language,” Kardile said. “Lots of students who will study abroad the next semester want to be paired up with someone from that country; or students who are international studies majors want to be paired up with a student from the area they are majoring in.”

Basically anyone can become an American friend. When applying, one must provide a reason why the family or individual wants to participate as an American friend, since the international student is supposed to feel safe and benefit from the experience, Kardile said. 

What the international and American friends want to do together is their choice. 

“It depends on their comfort level. They generally end up going for games or having Thanksgiving dinners. A lot of American families know each other, and they will get together as a group to meet for coffee or something similar.” Kardile said.”They will show them things that are uniquely American.”

This is what distinguishes the Friendship International program from many other Programs in the International Student and Scholars Office, Kardile said. It doesn’t strictly focus on Iowa State, but on U.S. culture in general. Groups are required to meet at an orientation meeting and at least two more times throughout the semester. 

This semester, about 45 international students have been paired up with about 39 American friends and families.

“At the orientation meeting, a lot of students were really enthusiastic to get to know the basic American culture and just talk,” said Chaitali Chinoy, senior in accounting and undergraduate advising assistant at the International Students and Scholars Office. “People were talking, chitchatting and having great discussions already.”

During the course of the semester, the goal of the program is to further develop the relationships so that, eventually, lifelong friendships evolve.

“It is a semester long program,” Kardile said. “You can’t develop such a relationship in half a year, but we kind of jumpstart the process.” 

The program gives international students a platform to form friendships outside Iowa State, and also to spread awareness of their own culture in the Ames community.

“Having this platform for them, I think it is an amazing thing, not only to adjust, but also for all these little little things, the typical American things [you] don’t have in other cultures.” Chinoy said.

The program is on the rise. In the fall 2013 semester, more than 100 international students signed up within three days, forcing the office to close their signups faster than ever before. There was also a shortage of American friends and families for everyone that signed up. 

“This program has so much potential to go forward. Once we pull in the resources we need, it can be really, really big,” Kardile said. “Hopefully that will happen the coming semester.”