The Capitol (Photo: Pixabay)
on January 7, 2021
International students around the world and on campus said they let go of the picture of exemplary American democracy after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. yesterday.
For Lore Vazquez Olivera ’22 from Mexico, the events bore a striking resemblance to politics at home, with the president throwing “tantrums” after losing elections, she said.
“As an international student, you idealize [the U.S.] a little bit,” Vazquez Olivera said. “You think this is the best country in the world, this is the definition of democracy, this is the moral standard.”
The Bechtel International Center patio. (Photo: LINDA A. CICERO/Stanford News Service)
on December 10, 2020
“It’s been a year since I’ve been home,” Burcu Gulsah Alici ’23 said. “This was the best opportunity I could get.”
Alici is from Turkey, but she spent her fall quarter on Stanford’s campus due to uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, just weeks into the seven-week winter break that began on Nov. 21, international students like Alici face the unique decision of whether to return to their home countries and risk spreading the coronavirus, or to spend the holiday season on campus, away from home and family.