What International Students Think About UAlbany and America

By Mirai Abe | May 5, 2025

In the Fall 2024 semester, the University at Albany welcomed over 2,300 international students from 104 countries. For its diversity, academic excellence and location in the Capital Region, UAlbany attracts many international students from all over the world.

The number proves that UAlbany embraces an international learning environment. But are the international students happy that they chose UAlbany? How are their experiences of living in the United States?

About people, manners, food, and academics—six international students at the University at Albany told what they like and don’t like about UAlbany and the United States.

Natsuki Matoba, 21, a junior majoring in business with a concentration in marketing, said that when she first came to the United States, she found out Americans were not as polite as most Japanese people.

“When I was in Japan, I always had an image that they [Americans] are so friendly,” Matoba said. “But in reality, people are not very interested in others.”

Photo Credit: Natsuki Matoba

One experience that convinced her of Americans’ unexpected coldness happened in Dunkin' right outside the Uptown campus.

“I thought they [the cashiers] were upsetting [being rude to] me because I don’t speak good English,” Matoba said. “But it turned out that they’re just like that.”

Accustomed to the Japanese customer service known for politeness, she felt intimidated by how cold the cashier was to her.

Customer service in the U.S. appears confusing to some international students.

“The tip system? I don’t like it,” said Kotaro Minagawa, a 22-year-old senior from Japan majoring in business administration and financial market regulation.

Photo Credit: Kotaro Minagawa

However, overall, he doesn’t dislike U.S. customer service.

“Some waiters care about us a lot. They are doing it for tips,” Minagawa said jokingly.

But the tipping aside, he enjoys his life in the United States because his classmates are nice, and he has made friends in JSA—Japanese Student Association.

Nishini Koththigoda, a 22-year-old first-year graduate student majoring in fine art, is one of the international students who was surprised by the culture and manners Americans share.

What Koththigoda noticed when she came to the U.S. from Sri Lanka in 2022 was that there was “no sense of community.” 

“Because it’s an individualistic culture, and then I come from a collectivist culture,” she said.

Regardless of the cultural difference, she did not struggle with making friends because she thinks she is an outgoing person. In addition, she had good professors who were willing to help her whenever she needed guidance.

Minagawa also mentioned how people in the U.S. dress differently from Japanese people.

“I don’t have to worry about fashion,” he said. People in Japan, according to him, dress more properly. He thinks the difference in how people dress comes from the way people in each country perceive others based on their attire.

“We used to consider why they [other people] are looking at me,” Minagawa said. He likes how Americans dress as they want to without much care about how others might perceive them.

Americans who act unbothered by what other people think of them appear refreshing and admirable to many international students. However, assimilating to the culture is another thing.

Koththigoda thinks American people are nice and caring. For example, they open the door for the next person who comes in.

Koththigoda is graduating from UAlbany this month and said she enjoyed her study abroad in the U.S.  However, she has decided to move to Australia to continue her education after graduation.

“I feel like America is going downhill,” she said. “The new president, you know, doesn't really support immigrants.”

Koththigoda is not the only international student who has decided to leave UAlbany to continue their education elsewhere.

Yudie Ji, a 21-year-old former UAlbany student from China, came to the U.S. in 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic to escape the extremely competitive education system in China.

“The reason why I chose UAlbany is because they offered more scholarships to me,” Ji said in the email interview. “I don’t really regret it even though I transferred.”

Although UAlbany did not satisfy her passion to pursue her education in art—for reasons such as too many of her professors being graduate students — she found more freedom and professional opportunities in the U.S. than in China. Now, she is in California, studying fine art at Academy of Art University.

“I feel people are more open-minded in certain topics like women’s rights and LGBTQ-related topics,” she said. “I find it easy to get along with a lot of Americans, but I don’t really like the party culture here.”

The party culture in the U.S. was mentioned by Koththigoda, too.

“I’ve been to frat parties, and it was just like a weird experience for me,” Koththigoda said. “Like alcohol, cigarettes, and the hook-up culture... that’s all disregarded in my country.”

Sazia Kamal, 19, a Bangladeshi freshman majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, said she wants to stay at UAlbany to pursue her Ph.Ds.

“I love it here,” Kamal said. She likes the professors in UAlbany because they helped her explore her academic interests in biochemistry. Plus, she has her uncle and aunt in Albany with whom she lives, which makes her life in the U.S. less lonely.

Photo Credit: Sazia Kamal

Although Kamal is satisfied with the qualities and opportunities American higher education offers, she finds it difficult to maintain her ethnic and religious identity as a Bangladeshi in the U.S.

“Maybe I got influenced by the Western culture,” she said. “I feel like, maybe, I got judged for things.”

This interview took place during Ramadan. Kamal had an upcoming event called Eid al-Fitr, which she called “the most cheerful event for Muslims.”

“For Eid, I need to buy a new dress,” Kamal said. “But I cannot find any kind of traditional dresses here.”

Following her Muslim practices as a university student living in America is challenging.

She is happy that she has Halal options in the Campus Center. However, she has to give up on some religious practices—such as praying five times a day or breaking the fast as soon as possible— while being on an American campus.  

Amongst all the American experiences UAlbany international students had, perhaps the most common struggle was getting used to the food.

“I had pizza and French fries,” Matoba recalled on her first day in UAlbany. “I don’t eat junk food that much, so I was surprised that people here eat it every day.”

“It’s what they eat here, so I get it,” said Nefeli Christodoulou, a Cypriot 19-year-old sophomore majoring in cybersecurity.

Christodoulou came to the U.S. for vacation twice before she moved here two years ago. However, she still went through culture shock when she started her study abroad in UAlbany—and it was the food. Junk food.

Photo Credit: Nefeli Christodoulou 

“It’s just... you get tired of it,” Christodoulou said. “The food back home is perfect.” She misses the traditional cheese in Cyprus the most.

Depending on where they come from, international students have different reactions and experiences about life in the U.S. and Albany.

As six international students in UAlbany told, getting used to the differences of people, food, manners, college life and education system between their home countries and the United States is a challenging and even frustrating process.

Local students in UAlbany might not have many chances to hear about their experiences in the U.S.

But it will be an awakening experience to listen to their stories. Their candid opinions might offend some Americans. Yet, it’s one way to learn more about the U.S.