From May 27 to May 31, our office will be closed.  May 27, Tulane University is closed in observance of Memorial Day.  May 28- May 31, the entire OISS team will be attending the NAFSA Annual Conference.  As the most important annual event for international educators, this conference will provide our team with vital updates and ideas that will help us to better serve our international community.  As a bonus, we’re using this opportunity to update the carpet at 6901 Willow. 

If you have any timely requests, such as an OPT, CPT, or Academic Training application or a program extension, please be sure to get complete application to your OISS advisor no later than Friday, May 17 to allow for 3 to 5 business days for processing.  If not, we may not be able to complete your request before the conference. 

During this time, we’ll be monitoring our email for true immigration emergencies, but please be sure to expect a delay in our response.  We’ll still be there if you really need us. 

Thank you for your cooperation,

The OISS Team

Office of International Students & Scholars
East Asia

"In China, people say things directly. They don't use like 'can I...' do something. Sometimes, if you say it like 'give me that' -it's kind of rude in American culture. But it's okay in Chinese culture. That's the way we communicate. Soby that I mean to say all different cultures deal with things and have different perspectives. There's no way that you can learn those things from books.

When international students try to speak English to people around them, they're not always really sure, really confident [in their words], and that can become a barrier. And the same is true not only from the international student perspective, but also from the American student perspective -they think, 'if I say this, will they be able to understand me?' So because of that there's certain barriers between local students and international students and that's not a good thing. Once you get to know people, you see that people are willing to teach you. If you have the attitude of learning to communicate, you grow really quick. You figure out that people will respond to you, they will tell you what they know.

My recommendation is: do not be afraid of talking to people. Break that barrier. Make friends with them and you will come to realize that there's not much difference. Step out of your comfort zone, to do things that you're not really good at, not used to doing."