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For my first blog update here in the LHAE community newsletter, I wanted to share something that many students and faculty can relate to: relocation. The past two weeks have been about transitions and readjustment into a new environment for the cross-border internship opportunity established between OISE and WMU. The highlight of this process thus far has quite literally been my journey crossing the borders to get to Kalamazoo, Michigan. It started with me packing a few of my essential belongings into boxes and loading them into my car. I departed Toronto on a Sunday morning in early May and spent most of my 9 to 5 on the road. By mid-day, I crossed the Detroit-Windsor border via the Ambassador Bridge. Since I arrived at a land crossing in my own vehicle, I waited inside the Customs and Border Protection office to have my paperwork processed. Waiting inside CBP, it dawned on me that I’m now considered an international student. I triple-checked my documents as I was starting to get nervous about “what if they don’t accept my paperwork?”. As a Canadian, I was stressed at the number of documents and the naming/numbering system of forms I needed to enter the country as a student scholar.

 

However, in that humbling hour that I spent at the border, I thought about the barriers and challenges that international scholars face. The anxiety of leaving your home country to study, research, and work abroad. I also thought about those migrating with dependents and pets and those who have to leave them behind. This reflective opportunity has set the tone for keeping an open mind during my internship journey. I am perceiving new experiences through my own lived experience and thinking about how things may be perceived by scholars of different backgrounds and experiences. Over the next two months, I will be immersed in the American Midwest higher ed and student affairs context.

One of my goals is to be able to gain firsthand experience the scholarship that has come out of the USA regarding student affairs and services. In this line of work, I want to be able to think simultaneously from the perspective of a student, administrator, and faculty. I am excited for the researcher and practitioner in me to be amazed and perplexed with what is yet to come as the university gears up for summer orientation!

Susan He is a doctoral candidate in higher education. She is currently an intern at Western Michigan University through LHA1858H hosted by Dr. David Kim and Dr. Ramona Lewis (WMU). Feel free to reach out or suggest topics you want to hear from Susan in future blog updates via email at s.he@utoronto.ca.