International students adjust
through BRIDGE
With the help of campus programs,
international students find local friends
By Danielle Repshas
W
ith the growing international student
population at UW-Madison, the BRIDGE
program helps new international students
learn about U.S. life and brings domestic and
international students together to create life-long
friendships.
BRIDGE Founder and ISS International Student
Advisor May Lee Moua-Vue said BRIDGE
is a semester-long international friendship
program that partners a U.S. student with
a new international student.
According to Moua-Vue, the
program consists of about 50 U.S.
and international partners who act as
ambassadors and teach their partner
Moua-Vue about the norms, culture and history of
their home country.
The program also invites students to go on
BRIDGE-sponsored field trips to unique Wisconsin
attractions such as Devil’s Lake State Park, the
Milwaukee Public Museum and Brewers games.
Additionally, Moua-Vue said the program encourages
partners to continue conversing even after BRIDGE is
over.
photo-BRIDGE site
BRIDGE partners participate in an international dance
instructional session
photo-BRIDGE site
BRIDGE partners enjoy a night of sledding by Liz Waters
“The semester is very short, and in that short time
frame, it’s difficult to build that relationship [between
international and U.S. partners],” Moua-Vue said. “It
kind of has to continue beyond the semester, which is
a goal that we really like for students to continue.”
Moua-Vue also said some partners do not
participate in many BRIDGE-sponsored activities
during the semester, but instead they form a bond
outside of the program.
“[One] particular summer after the BRIDGE
semester was over, this U.S. partner went to Mexico
where his international BRIDGE partner was from,”
Moua-Vue said. “Through his visit to Mexico, he
learned so much more about the Mexican culture, the
history and the way of life from going to his BRIDGE
partner’s country.”
Moua-Vue also said one U.S. partner studied
abroad in Denmark and became roommates with
her former BRIDGE partner from Denmark. The
experience brought the two individuals closer together
when the partners met in the international student’s
home country.
According to Moua-Vue, student affairs is also
capturing success stories from BRIDGE alumni based
on the number of successful partnerships and on the
amount of positive feedback they receive about the
program.
“Many of our international students say that
[BRIDGE has] been so useful because they have met
someone who they can go to during the rest of their
studies here, and that’s essentially what the BRIDGE
program is created for-to create a friendship between
a U.S. and an international student,” Moua-Vue said.
March 2008 International Relations 28