'It's been a challenge, but this has been the greatest experience of my life'

When USC student Raghav Mehra flew alone to Columbia from Calcutta, India, in 2003, he had a friend waiting for him at the airport.

“I traveled more than 7,000 miles to come to school here,” says Raghav, now a senior business student and president of the International Student Association (ISA). “I had to fly all by myself; my parents didn't accompany me. It was a great experience—pretty scary, though. I had never even traveled alone in India, so traveling here was a big step.”

Don Caughman, a volunteer with the Columbia Council For Internationals (CCFI), met Raghav and showed him around Columbia and USC. “Every other international student I meet, I ask, ‘Who picked you up?’ It's always like, "Don Caughman.’ I'm like, ‘Cool!’ They're great, friendly people.”

Working with the USC Office of International Programs for Students, Raghav has started a mentoring project to help international students, the Global Connections Program. He plans to pair 200 international students with 200 mentor students who will answer advance questions via e-mail and then help guide new students once they arrive on campus.

Through USC, Raghav has studied abroad in Germany and Sweden. He also has held positions in the Hindu Student Council, Global Business Council, and Student Government, and served as a resident advisor (RA) at Bates House.

“I'm an RA for 18 freshmen,” he says. “It's a great experience to live with local American students. I get to learn a lot and teach them a lot about diversity in other places.”

Hannah Taylor, a 2005-2006 exchange student from Leeds, England, was assigned to live in East Quad residence hall, away from the hub of international students in Carolina's Global Community in South Quad. “Personally, I would rather have a bit more of a genuine American experience, doing things with Americans as if I were an American student.”

She relished opportunities to travel to the beach, mountains, and along the East Coast. On campus, she found academic variety, and discovered that campus organizations set up displays on Greene Street, in the heart of campus, at the beginning of each semester.

“I went around to every table, picked up everything,” she says. “I took the opportunity to try things I hadn't done before. I found it was easier to make friends through clubs.”