Souweha was born and raised in Giza Egypt, and decided at 24 years of age, after completing a BS in mechanical power engineering at Cairo University, to return to school. “I chose to come to the United States because my second language is English,” he said. “I wanted to study theatre, I was always fascinated with the American progress in this field.”
While first year students struggle with the transition from high school to college, that transition is only made more difficult when the student is international. Souweha, unlike most, is also faced with the struggle of being a 24 year old man in classes filled mostly with 18 year old students just out of highschool.
Ironically, through all the cultural differences, age has been the hardest adjustment for Souweha. “I'm a special case. I'm a graduate. I have work experience – two years,” he said. “ It's pretty difficult to communicate with people younger than me – they've just graduated from high school. Their interests are completely different than mine, I'm a little more serious than they are. I wasn't culturally shocked at all, I knew a lot before I came. Being older is the hardest thing.”
Nate Conant, a 21 year old student who returned to school this year after 2 years of working fulltime, understands the frustrations of being an older student. “It can be challenging. We are in different stages of life, and are definitely working through different things,” he says. “I remember being their age and having a whole different set of worries and interests.”
In addition to struggling with being older like Conant, Souweha also grew up in Egypt. He says that what surprised him most about America was that we are not all as sexually forward as we're portrayed. “When I came here I realized not every American is like that,” he says. “Everyone in Egypt thinks Americans are all abnormally open minded [sexually]. And, no it's not like that. There are religious people who care – and moral people. That's the most surprising thing I think.”
Sarah Riad, a 19 year old first year from Cape Cod MA, also has seen the cultural differences between Egypt and America. Her father was born and raised in Egypt and it wasn't until he married her mother, an American he met while she was teaching in Egypt, that he moved to America. “One of the biggest things that was hard for my father was that his sense of humor was totally different,”she says. “So he would say something and be joking and somebody in America wouldn't understand it and be offended. You don't expect that.”
In addition to expectations being different, there are also some pop culture things that are differ from Egypt to the United States. “Sports here are completely different. Hockey – we never play hockey – baseball, football, lacrosse - no, we don't play that,” Souweha says. “I don't know anything about football – everybody speaks about football – of football teams, I can't participate in their conversations.”
Riad commented on the different ways that Egyptians and Americans differ on a more personal level. “Everyone in Egypt shows their emotions, people aren't afraid to speak their mind to each other,” she says. “They just say they don't agree. I think in America everyone sort of tip-toes around everything and we repress emotion. Egyptians don't have reservations.”
That sense of emotional honesty may be one reason Souweha says he misses Egypt. “I miss friends a lot. I also miss the ability to speak in public language. I can speak English, but not public English. Like slang. That's something I am trying to get used to.”
Still, Souweha says he values the freedoms Americans have. “The government in Egypt claims that democracy and the freedom of opinion is what rules the country,” he says. “However when the citizens try to protest in demonstrations, nobody listens. Instead the government sends policemen to suppress the situation by hitting them and arresting them.”
Riad says her father also faced discrimination because he was a Christian in a Muslim country. “It's difficult to be a Christian in Egypt.” She explains that if you are a Christian student and have a Muslim professor he can find any excuse to fail you. “The dean's have to sign something to say you can graduate and you can be threatened with not graduating just because they are Christian.”
Souweha explains that in Egypt everyone carries an ID card on which your religion must be printed, an idea that he doesn't quite understand unless it is merely a means to discriminate. “ Also, if there are votes for official positions in the government, Muslims will never vote for a Christian, which means a Christian will never be in charge and represent the minority. If this is allowed to keep going, it will never end,” he says.
Though transitioning both because of his age and culture, hasn't been simple, Jack is enjoying being in America. “I love being here in America,” he says. “I’ve never been this happy because now I’m studying what I’m passionate about. I’m so grateful to God that I’m here, I believe that it was God’s guidance that led me to Gordon College.”
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