The ISU campus becomes a much different place when school is not in session. Some international students experience such an atmosphere firsthand – not all have the luxury of making the long journey home after the fall semester ends.

For some, that’s just fine.

Yea Won Sung, freshman in biochemistry, said she had originally intended to go home to South Korea over break, but ended up staying to work in a lab in the Molecular Biology Building.

Because she spent so much time there, she was able to learn how to use the lab’s machines and perform experiments. Her typical duties include assisting others with experiments.

“I think it will really help much in my major,” she said.

Sung said she enjoyed the quiet side of campus life, as she saw a lot of people be very productive in their work.

Zhi Wen Ding, freshman in pre-business, said she planned all along to stay in Linden Hall over break.

Some residence halls remain open when the rest of the on-campus living quarters are closed to house students who aren’t going home.

Ding said she didn’t return to her home in Shanghai, China, because she wanted to continue improving her English.

“It sounds like [a] crazy idea, but recently – five months ago – I started to dream in English,” she said. “And if I go back, I would probably start to dream in Chinese.”

Ding laughed as she remembered her friends’ reactions to this notion – they told her she was “awesome” for wanting to keep her dreams Chinese-free.

She also said she liked her friends here and was able to spend time with some of them over the break.

For fun, she said, she and her friends did “crazy things,” such as laying on the quiet, bus-free road at midnight “for 5 seconds and see the traffic light change . that’s maybe weird!”

In addition to the “crazy things,” Ding said she also went ice skating, played racquetball at Lied Recreation Athletic Center and watched movies.

“We watched so many horror movies – at least 30,” she said.

Over the break, she said, the small cluster of international students she hung out with became “like a family.”

“We cook together, and we hold parties,” she said.