By Lou Etoundi Ntsama ’21

This year at The Gunnery, we have international students representing seventeen countries around the world: Korea, China, Cameroon, Vietnam, Spain, Dominican Republic, Russia, Hong Kong, Japan, El Salvador, Bahamas, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Bahrain, Cyprus, and Canada.
Having students from all over the world adds to the diversity, the pride, and the beauty of The Gunnery community. We at The Gunnery value our diverse student body and what this diversity brings to campus. The Highlander interviewed some of these students to learn more about them and to see how they ended up in rural Connecticut. Here are their answers:
From Cameroon: NoĆ© Enoumedi ā20
āAu moment où je suis arrivĆ© Ć lāĆ©cole, jāai directement aimĆ©. Cāest une Ć©cole agrĆ©able et jāai le sentiment dāĆŖtre apprĆ©ciĆ© par tout le monde. Jāai rencontrĆ© des personnes aimantes ce qui est assez diffĆ©rent de mon ancienne Ć©cole au Cameroun. Ca faisait trĆØs longtemps mais je prends enfin plaisir Ć aller Ć l’Ć©cole.ā
āFrom the moment I arrived at school, I immediately liked it. It is a pleasant school and I have the feeling of being appreciated by everybody. I met loving people and thatās very different from my old school in Cameroon. It had been a long time since I enjoyed going to school, but now I do.ā
From Dominican Republic: Estela Jana Salcedo ’21
āPara mĆ, ser un estudiante internacional para conocer a otras personas, descubrir una nueva cultura y conocer cosas nuevas. Obviamente, siento nostalgia porque extraƱo a mi familia.ā
āFor me, I decided to become an international student to meet other new people, discover a new culture and explore new ventures. Of course, Iām very homesick because I miss my family.ā
From China: Jingyi “Linda” Fan ’21
ā对ęę„诓ļ¼čƾēØå¾é¾ļ¼ē¹å«ęÆåØåå¼å§ēę¶åćč®°ååä¹ęÆäøä»¶äøå®¹ęēäŗļ¼å äøŗęäøäøåå°±éå°äŗčæä¹å¤äŗŗćéåŗčæéēåå®¶å®å Øäøåēę°ē擻对ęę„诓已ęÆäøäøŖęę,ęę¶åä¼ę³å®¶ćä½ęÆčæäŗé®é¢éēę¶é“é½ę¶å¤±äŗ,å äøŗę许å¤äŗŗé½ēę å°ē»ęęä¾åø®å©ļ¼ē §é”¾ęļ¼å ³åæęćčåøä»¬č®²čƾä¹å¾ęč¶£ćā
āClasses are difficult, especially at the beginning. Itās also hard to remember names because I met so many people in a very small amount of time. I also had difficulties adapting myself to the environment because itās different from my home. Iām also a little bit homesick, but with time, things will go well because there are many people who are willing to help me. Also, my teachers are very fun.ā
From Australia: Grace Robinson ā21
ā[Adapting] was pretty hard at the beginning because there is a big time difference. I also have the feeling of belonging to a family but at the same moment being different. Everybody is very helpful and nice.ā
From Bahamas: Sasha Pastoukhova Valdez ā22
āPeople are very welcoming and interested to know where you are from and it’s cool. I’m very homesick, especially considering the landscape: at home, I had the sea, and it was the most beautiful place in the world for me.ā
From Germany: Coco Shweyer ā21 and Mara Thomas ā22
āAm Anfang war es sehr seltsam, weil es ganz anders ist. Menschen sind nett, aber Menschen sind nett, also gewƶhnen wir uns leicht daran. Die Schüler sind alle sehr nett aber trotzdem war es anfangs schwer sich so richtig anzufreunden. Ich hatte anfangs Schwierigkeiten mit dem Hausaufgaben weil ich mir zuerst alles übersetzen muss aber es wird besser. Aber es wird besser. Ich komme anderen Schülern nƤher. Ich habe nie Heimweh, also hatte ich keine Probleme damit. Mittlerweile habe ich mich aber komplett eingelebt.ā
āPeople are nice, so we get used to it. The students are all very nice but at first it was hard to make friends. I first had trouble with my homework because I have to translate everything, but it has gotten better. Iām getting closer to other students, and Iām never homesick, so I didnāt have a problem with it. And now Iām completely settled in.ā
From Japan: Taiken Matsuzawa ’23
āē§ć®äŗŗēćÆćć¹ć¦ćę„ę¬ć®ē°å¢ć«ä½ćć§ćć¾ććć ęåćÆęå¤ć§ććććē§ćÆę°ć«å „ć£ć¦ćć¾ććäøēäøć®ćć¾ćć¾ćŖäŗŗć ć«ä¼ćććØćÆćē§ć«čÆćå½±éæćäøćć¾ćć ććććē§ćÆę„ę¬ęēćé£ć¹ćććŖćć®ćÆęććć§ććā
āAll my life, I lived in Japan. At the beginning, it was kind of a shock, but I like it: meeting different kinds of people from all over the world has had a great effect on me. But obviously, I miss Japanese food.ā
From Spain: Ignacio Irastorza ā22
āThe Gunnery es muy diferente de mi escuela. Pero no cambia el hecho de que me gusta. Creo que es una oportunidad para estar aquĆ. Sin embargo, a veces, extraƱo la comida espaƱola y tambiĆ©n a mi familia.ā
āThe Gunnery is very different from my school. But it doesn’t change the fact that I like it. I think it’s a great opportunity to be here. Yet, sometimes, I miss Spanish food and my family.ā
All of these perspectives let us gain a little perspective on the international student experience, understand their struggles, and think about the challenges and the excitement that comes with being far from home.