Embarking on the USF Journey!~ 


Rashi Bhatt: Hello, and welcome back to Global Connections at USF. We're kicking off this semester with an exciting conversation with new students who have just started their journeys here at USF. Please welcome Radhika, Khaled, and Kotaro. First off, we have Khaled Al-Duaij, an undergraduate student in the entrepreneurial studies program. We'll then hear from Radhika Wagh, a master's student in marketing intelligence, and finally, we'll hear from Kotaro Soyano, who is an exchange student from Japan. So welcome, and let's get into it. 


Khaled Al-Duaij: I'd like to preface this by saying that today is my mom's birthday, so I would just like to say happy birthday to my mom because she will be watching this episode. 


Rashi Bhatt: Awesome! Welcome, today we have Khalid Al-Duaij with us. He is a new admit freshman student, and he is in the entrepreneurial studies program.  Welcome, so lovely to have you, and happy birthday to your mom. 


Khaled Al-Duaij: It's lovely being here. I'm really I'm glad I've made it this far, and if my past self would look at me right now, he would not believe that I'm currently here. So I'm really excited and happy to be here right now. 


Rashi Bhatt: Lovely, welcome! So starting off with, please tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and how did you end up choosing this program? Were you always kind of passionate about business and starting your own business? Is that why you chose entrepreneurial studies? 


Khaled Al-Duaij: Okay, so I come from Kuwait. It's this very small country in the Middle East. Not many people here are familiar with it. I've had to explain where it is like a million times to different people and I chose entrepreneurship because I've always felt this passion towards business, like studies and stuff like that. And my entire family, I come from an entrepreneurship-based family, pretty much. All of my family they have their own businesses, and they're all very successful, and just seeing that growing up, I've always wanted to start my own business. I've always had some passion towards that, and I do envision myself starting a business soon enough, or after I graduate, maybe. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Awesome, yeah, that sounds lovely. I'm sure your family's really proud of seeing you here as well, and following in their footsteps. So, how have the first sort of 2, 2.5 weeks of classes been?  I know it's very daunting with so many resources and so much information, and everything kind of coming at you at one time. So, how has it been for you? Have you been able to navigate through all of that? 


Khaled Al-Duaij: To be completely honest, my first week, I was adjusting pretty badly, but that was only because I didn't hav proper resources, like, I didn't have any notebooks, so I only had my laptop and it was just trying to keep up with the with my professors through my laptop, and that wasn't very well, that didn't get me far. So after I ended up buying some resources from Amazon and just since then, it's been smooth sailing. I haven't really faced much difficulties since. 


Rashi Bhatt: Awesome, and for the first few weeks, have you been able to figure out what your non-classes or like non-academic interests are and how you can find those student orgs or clubs or maybe club sports that you're interested in and get connected into those communities as well? 
 
Khaled Al-Duaij: Yeah, so actually I have reached out, around campus I've asked around, and I found this one organization, if you may, it's called ASU Arab Student Union, and puts emphasis on where I'm from and our culture, tradition, whatnot, and it basically groups Arabs like me into this room and not room, like, you know, community. And I am interested in that, and I have put an effort into joining that. We actually have an event going on next week, I think. I'm pretty sure it's going to be like a feast. And yeah, I'm pretty excited about that. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, that sounds really fun actually, a feast. So kind of stepping back from the first few weeks before you were even here in the US, can you talk us through how you ended up choosing coming to USF? Was that a school that was already on the top of your mind, or did you happen to learn about it through a friend, or was it just like looking up schools in San Francisco? 


Khaled Al-Duaij: So, actually, I've always wanted to study in California, and I was just looking up, I've been researching a lot about schools, I have a strong entrepreneurship, like business management program, and USF was up there. It was really well ranked. So naturally I applied and I got accepted and I'm really grateful being here, so I wouldn't change anything about that, like how that went down. So, yeah, I'm, I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be in USF. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Excellent, yeah, we're glad to have you here. So had you visited California before or was it your first time here in the bay and in the state? 


Khaled Al-Duaij: Actually, I've been to the US before, and it's my first time in California. I've been loving it here. Everyone's so nice, everyone's so sweet. The environment is nice, the weather is nice. I like everything about this place, it's just like been over the top. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Wow, okay, that's good! You've had a fairly warm welcome, to California and the Bay Area, and I'm guessing you're adjusting fine with the weather. We have very windy. 


Khaled Al-Duaij: It's actually very nice. It’s very nice, like a more welcoming weather than back at home, because back at home it's like 40 °C. I don't know how that translates to Fahrenheit, but here it's so much cooler, and I can actually go out and breathe. So yeah, that's been a nice change. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: That's lovely. And then talking a little bit more about your home country and your background, I know before we were conversing that you noticed a little bit of a difference in just like culture and how people approach academics, as well as just your personal self. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that? 


Khaled Al-Duaij: Sure, so back at home, there's a lot more emphasis on community and communion, like, you're not expected to do stuff on your own. It's always in a group with people, family, whoever it may be, whereas here there's much more emphasis from my experience at least on personal autonomy, and that kind of gave me a culture shock in a way, but that's to be expected. I'm not here to complain about that. I'm always glad to rely on myself more, so it's a nice characteristic to attain over the time and that's as far as that goes. I haven't really been around here long enough to catch on to anything else, but that's the first thing that met me, I noticed I mean.


Rashi Bhatt: Oh, that makes sense. And when you kind of go through your journey here at USF, you'll also end up making new friends. You said you're already joining the student org that has a lot of members that might be from your country back home or countries from similar backgrounds, so at least you guys can kind of share tips or have one another to rely on if you really don't feel like you want to be doing some of those things on your own. And then, before we close, what are some of the few things that you're really looking forward to for your first year at USF or maybe even the first semester? 


Khaled Al-Duaij: I think the first thing that I would definitely say that I'm looking forward to is just networking. Meeting people here has been a blast. I live in a dorm, and just meeting people on my floor is like all kinds of people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, cultures, traditions, whatever. It's just been so nice getting a feel from everyone else. Everyone is different from me, and seeing that it's not on the internet, it's actually real. So that's been very well, that's been a breath of fresh air. I do enjoy networking. I'm a very social person. And who knows how long that will take me in the long, where that'll take me in the long run, but yeah, I have high hopes. 


Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, nice! Networking. So as our last question, if there was one tip or advice you could give, maybe like a friend coming over from maybe your home country or also an international student here to the US, what do you think that would be? 
 
Khaled Al-Duaij: I think just to be wary of the first week because you're not gonna be able to adjust as well as as I did maybe, Just the first week is just like usually an adjustment period and then after that everything is smooth sailing, just to get everything going first week, setting up everything with everyone, getting moving and, all that, but besides for that, it's just smooth sailing from first week on, and yeah, that's, that's my only word of advice. 


Rashi Bhatt: Well, thank you so much for taking your time out to speak with me during this very busy, first month of coming into school. I really appreciate it and I look forward to seeing how you grow throughout your journey here at USF. 


Khaled Al-Duaij: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure being here. And now we'll be hearing from Radhika Vog. Hello Radhika, and welcome. Do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and tell us where you're from? 


Radhika: Hey, yeah. So, starting with my journey, I moved to the US in March this year due to some personal reasons. And I left my job back in India. I was working for close to 4 years for an, IT MNC, and I was quite enjoying my job over there, but, due to a couple of reasons, I had to leave it and move to the US. So that's when I decided that if I'm moving, I'm going to do something about my career. And I was always very much intrigued by pursuing master's here. And since I moved to the Bay Area, I was looking out for options nearby. So there were a lot of universities that I was looking at and I was trying to kind of shortlist the program that best suited my interests. So currently in USF I am a master's in marketing intelligence program. This was the only program. I think this is one of its kind. It's very unique and also the curriculum and something that USF is trying to offer to us. It's very, outstanding. So that was something that I was really, intrigued into. Having an experience into marketing and in having some background within the tech industry, I thought this will be a good blend for me to go ahead with. Also with USF, I was very much thrilled by the Live opportunities that the university offers. It's just like you get to work on a lot of projects, a lot of case studies, so it's not just theoretical, but on a day to day basis. You just kind of get an exposure to what's really happening out there in the job market and what are the expectations and the skills that people are looking for actively. So I was really, intrigued and very much thrilled by the overall curriculum structure. And, I kind of went a little more, deep into understanding what other universities were also offering. And after a very careful, understanding and research is how I selected USF. So that's pretty much about it. It has been close to one month now that, our college has started, our course has started, and I must say that it has truly been what it was promised earlier, and every day it's just so much fun to come to college. However, I traveled 2 hours to come down to the college, but I'm not even for once felt like, I might take this class online or something like that. It's always so much fun to come to the campus and sit in the class and, you know, just go through that two hours of coaching. So I have been quietly, quite fairly enjoying it so far. 


Rashi Bhatt: Wow, OK. 


Radhika Wagh: I'm sorry if that was too long. 


Rashi Bhatt: Oh, no, no, that's totally good. 


Rashi Bhatt: I was just taken aback by the 2 hour commute, but yeah, a lot of our students, you know, live in the greater Bay Area and they kind of make the journey up here. For my program, I am in The School of Ed and we have like alternative teaching weekends, so that works well, but, but I'm glad that you feel justified the long drive because you get to meet your peers and be in like in-person classes and hang out with the professors after. So that's awesome. 
 
Radhika Wagh: Yeah, every day there's something new happening. There are extra sessions that are being conducted either by the graduate services team or the international students team. So yeah, there, there's always something that we are looking forward to. Even today, we have a happy hour just after our classes, so we are quite excited for that as well. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Wow, that's awesome. And I know initially when you started mentioning a little bit about your background, you were saying that you worked at a IT. MNC and MNC for our listeners is a multinational company, so it's just like a global company back in India. So (does) that transition from being a career woman to going back to school, and maybe also, I don't know if you're looking to work part-time or just like have an additional qualification to reinvigorate your resume, how's that transition been for you? 


Radhika Wagh: So yeah, I assumed that it will be a little more tricky for me since, I, I was not, I was completely out of habit of, you know, maybe sitting in a class and listening to a 2 hour lecture because it it come on, like, let's be honest, in the, tech world or in meetings, like none of your meetings are for 2 hours and where you're kind of dedicated. So I was thinking that it could get a little tricky for me, but surprisingly, I was able to kind of pull it off well till now, I think, also when I was working, I always have this, had this thought of pursuing one more masters. So I have done my MBA in India, and after that, I could actually get into the tech industry. But even while working, I had a thought of kind of going ahead and doing maybe a professional degree, like an executive MBA or something like that. But I am more than happy that I chose to do this marketing intelligence degree a little sooner because I think this is also a right time to kind of just elevate your skills, and this program does exactly that. Like it just adds on top of whatever you have learned so far and whatever you have worked, and it kind of blends in with the new technologies that are coming in day in, day out, like AI and there's coding languages that companies are asking for. There's big data methods, there's everything that, you know, people just assume that everybody today should know about. So I think it has been working well for me so far. So I'm actually really happy with the way it has been turning out. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, that's lovely to hear. And you mentioned that you'd moved to the US in March. Was that the first time that you made a big move to live abroad or had you done it before? And what kind of went into it, was it like a fairly easy transition? 


Radhika Wagh: So that was the first time that I've decided to move to a different country to stay for a longer period of time. While I was in college in India, I have traveled to a different country for a global, global immersion program, but again, that was very shorter than what this has. Talking about the transition, it was, I think, fairly simple as compared to maybe other peers because I have family here and I could get a lot of support from them. When I landed also think there were a lot of things that were taken care of for me. So I think for me it was fairly simple. But again, there are some Nuanced pain points that everybody faces, I feel like, and I have been also kind of figuring out my way around that. 


Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, definitely. Well, it's really good to hear that you have some family here that you can rely on for support and make that like big move a little bit smoother. Yeah, and so, I know you mentioned that you want to be really involved on campus due to all of like the post-academic activities and such. Have you been able to check out some of the student organizations and signed up for clubs that you're interested in already? 


Radhika Wagh: Yes, I have been on top of that. There's one graduate management group, which is for all the graduate students, and we have the applications going on for it right now. Also, there's a specific club for marketing, which is called GMA. So for that also, I have applied, so you can you can choose between a lot of positions, like if you want to get into web design, if you want to get into finance, if you want to get into public relations.  So there are a lot of things to choose from in a single club. I think that's, that's very, astonishingly good. Other than that, I think, our professors also try to bring out a lot of opportunities for us while working, I mean, while studying. So it's like while studying, you can register to a lot of clubs that they have to offer. For example, one of our professors works for this company called Malloy Consulting, so they work with companies across industries, like maybe a nonprofit. Retail consumer technologies and our professor is trying to bring out those real-life projects to us, and he's trying to assign those to us by forming some groups of 7 to 8 people. So I think that is pretty interesting and these are the couple of things that I'm kind of trying to tap into. 


Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, that sounds really cool that you got to kind of already start applying some of the things that you're learning in class via such hands-on projects. That's lovely to hear. So before we close, if there was one piece of advice you'd like to give, maybe a friend or somebody else coming from your home country or someplace international, here to USF, what would that be? 
 
Radhika Wagh: I would definitely suggest them to start making connections before you actually get onto the campus and before you act before your orientation actually begins. I feel like when you try to reach out to people earlier and just to drop in maybe a LinkedIn message saying that hey, I'm an incoming student for so and so program and I'm excited to be a part of the Journey and I would like to know about your experiences and learning so far. I think that kind of really helps because I think, we have such wide array of people here, like from every stream, from every culture. It's the kind of diversity here is incredible. So I think if somebody really wants to make use of their journey at USF, they should try reaching out to different types of people. And, the university has so much to offer that it can get intimidating for someone who is doing it for the first time, maybe, but I would really suggest someone to actually understand each and every offerings that the university has and literally choose only the specifics that they are really intrigued by. So that, that would be my advice, maybe. 
 
Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, that's really great. And I know you mentioned orientation, outside of the mandatory orientation event, were there any additional events that you had a chance to attend, like the graduate happy hour or maybe the trip to Trader Joe's or Target, where you also got to further network with some of your peers before your classes actually started? 


Radhika Wagh: Oh yes, I did attend a couple of them. We had a happy hour. Even before we started our classes, there was one happy hour organized. Also, I think specific to courses also, there were a couple of orientations that were organized. We had a keynote speaker that came in and talked about his journey, and he was a USF alumni, so he kind of just walked us through what he has been doing lately in his life and how USF has helped him throughout. And I think that was the first session that I attended, and it literally gave me a really positive vibe about the entire situation here at USF. Other than that, I think we also had a session, which was a very casual chit chat session with all the professors. So I think that was really helpful to actually, get into the notion of classes and courses and what, what's what you mean, what the university has in store for you. So I think there were a couple of sessions that I was a part of, and yeah, I mean, it was really well done. 


Rashi Bhatt: Awesome! Yeah, that's excellent to hear. Well, good luck with your journey here at USF and maybe we'll check back with you a year later how you've got on and all the amazing things that you've been able to achieve, okay? 
 
Radhika Wagh: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Rashi, for having me on this podcast. It was lovely talking to you. 


Rashi Bhatt: And lastly, we'll hear from Kotaro Soyano, who is an exchange student from Tokyo, Japan. Welcome, Kotaro, and please tell us a little bit about yourself. 


Korato: Hello, everyone. My name is Kotaro and I'm from Tokyo, Japan, and I'm currently in a JEEP exchange program and then I'm gonna be staying here for 11 year, which means 2 semesters. And then the reason why I chose this program is that you know, I wanted to go abroad in the university and then. Yeah, and then the reason why I choose this place is because, you know, I wanted to come to the west coast of the United States and then and initially I wanted to go to LA, but I couldn't get the enough score for the TOEFL to get in the LA university, so I came here. But I think now it's better for me to be here, I guess. And then, yeah, something like that. 


Rashi Bhatt: Nice. And so what is it the program that you're in at your home country's institution? 


Kotaro: So my major is English studies. So initially, I learned English and I also use English to learn some English-speaking cultures. And then, for example, I took some classes about like Japanese immigration to the the Pacific Islands or I took some sort of what was it, the American women's history or black history and everything, and then which makes me interested more in the culture of the United States and and so yeah, that's what that led me here, yeah. 


Rashi Bhatt: Okay, that's awesome. So it's definitely a very immersive form of learning, and it senses that you're here, on an exchange program in the US, so you can really like practically practice some of the English skills that you're learning at your classes as well as get to learn about the culture like you history and things like that. So that's awesome to hear. So how's the first sort of few weeks, first month of classes been for you, here at USF? 


Kotaro Soyano: Okay so actually, this is my very first time experience abroad. So everything is new and everything is exciting, but also, everything is kind of, super intense because, you know, before I came here, I was so scared cause I'm not sure if I can like communicate with others with my English. And then, yeah, I was so scared, but After I came here, everyone is so supportive and everyone tried to like understand each other. And then, yeah, they gave me all the support I need, so I feel very comfortable with them and I very feel safe and confident here. 


Rashi Bhatt: Nice. And so do you have like an initial support group from your friends that you've made on campus? Is it like people that you're taking classes with, or did you know somebody from Japan that you're traveling together? 


Kotaro Soyano: Yeah, right. You know, some of the ISS staff told me that there are always two Japanese students from a university, but this semester, it is only me. Oh yeah, they told me that it's rare for them to have only one from my university, so I didn't have any friends here in the beginning. But in the first day of orientation, I went to the the some sort of work session or something like that. And then there I met so many friends from Japan or just anywhere. Yeah, and then we get close and then, yeah, we try to support each other every day, yeah. 


Rashi Bhatt: Nice, so you were still able to make friends kind of like from day one, maybe not from before you were here, but you still had like somebody that you can reach out to with questions or kind of explore the university and San Francisco together with somebody, Now that it's been a few, few months, not a few months, few weeks. 


Kotaro Soyano: Yeah, you know, initially I was like I met other exchange students and then that was my first community. But, you know, as I kind of start studying here and start class here. I met so many friends from United States and some of my friends know that I'm Japanese, so he wants me to teach him Japanese cause he cause he's taking the Japanese class. And also there's some friends from other Asian countries and then, yeah, we share some sort of like our own experience here, how like we feel about the, like diversity in San Francisco cause we have like Japantown, Chinatown, something like that. So we went there together and then “let's see if this is authentic or not” or something like that. Yeah, we are having fun. 


Rashi Bhatt: Right. And was it authentic? 


Kotaro Soyano: And to be honest, Japantown is not authentic. Yeah. But there's some like restaurants that like gave us authentic food, yeah, around the USF, yeah, but not in Japantown, yeah. It's got a San Francisco flavor to Japan but I like both, like the authentic Japanese food, and also I like the California roll. Yeah, I love that. It's new and it's kind of weird to me cause they mix rice, avocado, too and everything in one, but yeah, I like it.







Rashi Bhatt: Nice. Okay, good. It's approved by a Japanese exchange student, so I'll take it. That's awesome to hear that you're still able to like explore the city, so is your program quite intensive or do you have time to, like join some student organizations, like some cultural clubs as well, and take away or like kind of have an alternative to what USF has to offer just outside of the academics. 
 


Kotaro Soyano: I got it. So when I had a dinner with my friend at the UC, and then there were a chess club, and then I went there and then I played it and just make friends. I also joined the Japanese Student Association, so that I can make some more friends with Japanese guys and then, yeah. 


Rashi Bhatt: Awesome, so yeah, you're definitely able to explore some other activities that the campus clubs, student organizations put up as well. So that's, that's great to hear, and then a little bit more about your background and what your motivations are. I know you said that you initially wanted to go to LA, but were you fairly confident that like for your English program, and your motivations to even kind of study English in the first place was also to come to the US and come to the west coast, and spend like a little bit of time here, or was it just like an opportunity came up and you took it. Did you have like an alternative that you wanted to study or something else that you had in mind, as well? 


Kotaro Soyano: No, it was (an) initial idea cause when I enter like the university in Japan, it was English studies, so going abroad is like my dream. Yeah, so I wanted to come here in some place in the university and then now I came here. I also like the, my major is English studies, but personally, I'm also interested in film studies. Yeah, so, and then I'm looking for some university that teaches like film studies in university and then I found the USF. Yeah. 


Rashi Bhatt: Awesome. So yeah, you're kind of like exploring a little bit, getting some background in English studies going first, and then maybe later on or in addition, you can always add on like film studies or other arts. That's awesome. So have you noticed like any kind of cultural differences between being at a university here in the US and USF compared to back home in Japan? 


Kotaro Soyano: So let me talk about the like classroom situation in the lecture, the class is basically based on lectures. So the professors give lectures and then just we, we are kind of passive students. But here, the professors give us some lectures, but you know, everyone kind of raises their hand and they say whatever (they) want and they ask questions. That's kind of intense to me. Because everyone is so active and then they don't hesitate to ask what they want. Yeah, so I tried to get used to it and I try to be one of them, but still I'm, you know, try(ing) to adjust myself to that culture, yeah. 


Rashi Bhatt: Yeah, it's definitely very active participation from both the students as well as the professor here. In the US, I think that was a change because I am an international student from India, so very similar back home in my country as well. It's like you're just kind of listening to the professor even if you have questions, you just ask your friends, not really the teacher, so yeah, it definitely takes a little bit of time to adjust to and get used to. But I think the professors are quite warm and welcoming when you ask a question. So maybe after the first few times you'll feel more up to it and wanting to participate, especially if it's a slightly smaller classroom, intimidating, compared to like a really big lecture. So, to end us, if there were other students in your program back in Japan who are looking to have a similar experience and journey as you and want to come to USF, was there a piece of advice or something that you've experienced that you would like to tell maybe a friend back in Japan about your journey here? 


Kotaro Soyano: Well if I'm saying that I can get them, is that just first, just clarify what you want. Like It doesn't matter if it's in university or it's in the future, but just first know yourself and ask yourself what do you wanna do. And then also be engaged with the information and opportunities. There's always chances, so it's just a matter of you whether you take it or not. So yeah, the opportunity comes themselves. Opportunit(ies) do not come by themselves, so we have to take it. So just look for it and be prepared.


Rashi Bhatt: Awesome, that's a great piece of advice. Well, thank you so much for spending your time with us and sharing a little bit about your journey and your experience here at USF. 


Kotaro Soyano: Thank you so much. 


Rashi Bhatt: I hope you've enjoyed listening to our lovely students embarking on their USF journeys. Until next time, this is Rashi Bhatt