What advice would you give to a new international student?
I think most countries now offer English A Second Language in the secondary school system. And obviously one of the things that is very important is to get the language skill, at least for survival, that's the first thing. Secondly, to do a little bit of research. The educational system is a vast system. We have over five thousand colleges and universities in the United States. Well over five thousand.

Trying to pick a college or a beginning spot in their education system is going to be difficult. Most people know the big names, the Harvards and the Yales and Stanfords and Berkeley and that type of institution. But that may not be the appropriate place for a student to begin. My feeling is that going to some source of information in their home countries, if that's available, either through the various institutes, like the Institute Of International Education, or overseas advising offices that are connected with U.S. consulates can give a great deal of help and support.

Also the internet is a tremendous source of information. This is something that students didn't have 10 years ago, or didn't use very widely, and now there's a great deal of information as well as misinformation over the internet. But that's a good source. Most colleges and universities have a website that students can look at.

I think also being aware that the American that they may see visiting their home countries, and the American definitely that they see on television and in the movies, is not the typical American. I remember being in France at an international student fair, a student fair, a few years ago. And the students that I talked to, this is when the series about the Beverly Hills High School, 90210.

I think every student I talked to said, "oh, you're from California, what's Beverly Hills like?" And I want to go to that high school. And I thought, "oh, please, don't even, don't even think that this is what American students are like. This is really fiction." So, they should prepare that way as well. Also, if they can find support groups in the U.S. to give them advice.

What newcomers should be careful about in the US?
We always try to caution students about standing out, about being conspicuous. One of the big things is that, you know, in a society like ours, we have people who are willing to take advantage of, who are ready to take advantage of others. And international students can sometimes be very vulnerable because they're not aware of some of these tricks that people can play.

And of course this would be the same thing that would be true anywhere that you were traveling. But since students are looking to stay for a while, they should be very familiar with their surroundings, with their community. They should learn the ways of their community if they're going to be surviving or living in it for a while.

They should try to be wary, but not be totally intimidated by the society. They should know, for example, in their community, where it might be safe to travel, and where it might not be advisable to travel. They should know that if they're going to be in a city somewhere, they shouldn't be conspicuous in terms of showing a great deal of money.

But this is all common sense. I would say the other thing is to try to learn as much about the culture that they're living in as possible and as quickly as possible. There are a number of ways of doing it, even before they come to the United States. There are publications that talk about the American way of life and so forth.

One of the advice, pieces of advice that I give to people who come to me saying, "I would like to become an international advisor, what's the first thing I should do?" I have a volume on my bookshelf that's called American Cultural Patterns. And I hand it to them, and I say learn about yourself first.

Learn about your own culture, because there's no way you're going to be able to appreciate others unless you know what your own value system is, and you're aware of it. So learn about your culture. And I'd say the same thing is true with internationals, know, have a good idea of what your culture is all about before you try to learn about another culture. So that, I think is another piece of advice that's really important.