I’m a queer autistic *international* student now. What does it feel to be restarting this journey with that additional adjective?
A lot of things in my life have changed over the last year. The largest is arguably that I have left my original MLIS program to pursue the same degree at another university… in another country. As of last week, I’m an international student. There are a few things that I’m really looking forward to about this experience.
First, the program itself is quite rigorous. The coursework includes DEIA and technology courses as requirements. There’s also an integrated practicum, where my former program just had an informal offer to try to help with co-op placement via recommendation letter.
Second, the people I’m studying with come from very diverse backgrounds. Not only am I immersing myself in the culture of my host country, but 22% of the student body are foreigners who have come here to study, just like me. This provides some amazing opportunity for cross-cultural exchange. Discussions that I’ve had with fellow students around such basic questions as “how do you define a library?” have yielded nuanced and fascinating discussions as people bring their different cultural understandings to the table.
Third, the city. That cultural diversity carries over to the people who live and work in the city. The transit, bicycling, and pedestrian infrastructure have allowed me to get everywhere I need to go without driving myself. There’s an amazing variety of food on offer, both from restaurants and international grocery stores. There are libraries and museums and parks and cultural heritage sites and outdoor activities of all kinds, so not only do I have a way to get places but I also have places to go.
But this change is not without its challenges. I struggle with navigating social situations in a cultural context I’m familiar with, and now there are all kinds of new surprise unspoken rules that can trip me up. My samefood groceries have very limited availability here. There are sometimes language barriers. My living situation is now an apartment, and hearing the noises of other people living here can be quite distracting. There are so many things that I don’t know I don’t know. Finding out what they are is going to be an adventure.
This is definitely pushing me outside of my comfort zone. I hope it does so in a good way. And I hope I have more library-related thoughts to share with you soon!