Feeling Like I Belong While Half Way Across the World

Nervous. Overwhelmed. Confused. Those are just a few of the emotions I felt as I prepared to move to college. I’m from the Philippines and the island I grew up on doesn’t have cellular network or internet connection. So I was not able to attend any pre-arrival orientation sessions, in-person or online. I worried that once I got to Whitman, I would be standing by myself in the corner—lost in the blur of people already busy with their own things. I feared I would have to figure things out on my own. Spoiler alert: I did not!

Flying all the way from the Philippines, me and other International students were welcomed by our orientation leaders at the Pasco airport. We had our own international student orientation week where we began making connections with the people we would seek advice from, learned about the different resources available, and slowly started adjusting to the new environment that we now called home.

Staff at the International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) emailed us every week to update us on the things that we had to do, remind us of the different support or resources available and invite us to a variety of welcome activities like a BBQ or ice skating. My favorite activity was going on a rafting trip with my fellow international student friends.

The ISSS staff have become some of my besties! With their support, other international students and myself were able to organize the first International Night on campus. My friends from Bhutan, Indonesia, Palestine, Kenya, Nepal, Japan and more shared their culture through presentations, singing, dancing and wearing their country’s traditional attire! My first-year roommate, now bestie, was excited when I asked her if she could dance a Filipino folk dance with me. It made me feel reconnected to my home country and my heart was jumping, being able to share my culture with my friends and the rest of the Whitman community.

ISSS helps us create a community while we as international students are far away from home. I enjoyed having mochi at the Japanese House, playing Filipino songs at the Asian Night Market, relishing in the Holi celebration, getting invited to eat at Asian Fusion with the Pan Asian Club and doing random karaoke nights with my friends.

I feel like I belong here. And that I am part of the community. 

It is in contrast to how I imagined my Whitman experience would be, I did not go through anything alone. From my international friends, roommates, ISSS staff and the broader Whitman community, I feel supported throughout my entire time at Whitman.

Gelic Gerona ’27 (she/her) is from Surigao City, Philippines. Currently, she is considering double majoring in Brain Behavior and Cognitive and Film and Media Studies. While growing up on an island, Gelic and her friends would go to the beach after classes to swim and enjoy some seafood they caught themselves.