International student photo gallery created to build community

An international student created a photo gallery of her peers as a way to help ease her transition to Grand Valley.

Gabriella Martinez is a photography major and comes from Gibraltar. Over the fall semester, she interviewed and photographed nearly 30 international students and asked them about the culture shock of moving to Michigan.

Martinez posted the project to her Facebook profile and it has since received more than 55,000 views. She also used the project as an independent study with Anthony Thompson, professor of communications.

"I wanted to take a souvenir from Grand Valley that was not a standard sweater or group of photos," Martinez said.

She said forcing herself to meet other international students helped ease homesickness and "the ups and downs" of transitioning to American college life. Martinez attends Kingston University in London and is attending Grand Valley until the end of the spring semester.

"What's made my experience here so great is the people I've met," she said.

The international students Martinez interviewed revealed that they, too, were somewhat puzzled by some aspects of American culture.

Hamad Alhatlani, from Saudi Arabia, said American food lacks flavor and spices. Jamie Bejarano, from Mexico, can't get over the "rules of eating" at certain times, like eating lunch at noon and dinner around 6 or 7 p.m.

Bea Indurain Blasco, from Spain, thinks it's disrespectful when people burp at the dinner table or in public. It was the mail system that confused Abi Gbewonyo, from Ghana. "Why are mailboxes standing outside the house? Unlocked?" she said.

Click here to see the entire photo gallery.