国际学生在LR Hickory的家中

对一些人来说，勒努瓦-雷恩大学只是雷达上的一个光点. Thousands of miles away from the megacities of Europe and urban meccas of South America and Africa, it's tucked in beneath the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains an hour away from a large city.

但是圣地亚哥·安布罗吉奥最喜欢的地方就是小房子, private campus at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 8th Street in Hickory, 北卡罗莱纳.

“这里很受欢迎，就像一个家庭,安布罗焦说, 他是阿根廷最大城市之一的雷斯坦西亚人. “适应一切需要很短的时间. All of our students are from all over, so we find it easy to connect with each other."

全球赌博十大网站人数大约是2人,三个校区共有750名学生, Lenoir-Rhyne is smaller than many of 北卡罗莱纳's institutions of higher learning. 但有100多名国际和交换学生, LR is geographically and philosophically prepared to provide international students with life-altering experiences in the classroom and the world.

“我真的很喜欢和学生们一起工作, meet their families and see them achieve something a lot of people don't have the opportunity to achieve,埃里克·布兰登说, LR国际和特殊项目总监."

和家里不一样

In any given year, LR has 100 international students enrolled at its three campuses.

Students from across the globe have sojourned to Hickory for a unique opportunity. They've hailed from Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Rwanda, Nigeria, Malaysia and more.

“他们中的大多数人都有点老，”布兰登说. “很多人都没有意识到这一点, 但是在一些国家, 他们在上大学前接受了13年的教育. 一些学生选择间隔年或参军. 互联网帮助很大. 有招聘机构推荐他们来找全球网赌十大网站, and sometimes they're referred to us by the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) office out of Chicago."

Ambroggio was interested in studying abroad when he contacted his university, 国立东北大学, 去阿根廷询问交换生的机会. He had already completed two years of college, but was looking for a life-changing opportunity.

“他们只是给你一张大学名单，你选一个，”他说.

现年23岁的他在西弗吉尼亚大学(West Virginia University)之间做出了选择, 阿拉巴马州特洛伊大学(Troy University)和劳力士大学(LR) 2016-17学年的奖学金.

"To be honest, I didn't know where 北卡罗莱纳, West Virginia or Alabama were," he recalled. “对我来说，他们都是巨大而令人敬畏的."

Beulah Yusuf was a recipient of a four-year scholarship from the ELCA through the International Women Leaders Scholarship Program, which provides female students from around the world a sponsorship to study in the United States.

The 19-year political and international relations major hails from Yola, Nigeria. Yola is the largest city in Adamawa State, population 330,000, which borders Cameroon.

"I was given a form to fill out (for the scholarship) after high school," Yusuf said. "I went to a university in Nigeria before coming to LR because it was a long process, 我不确定我能不能拿到奖学金.

"Hickory is definitely different from Yola because of the way of life and movement of people from one place to another, 所以我不得不调整."

在教室里, Lenoir-Rhyne has provided them both with unique opportunities to pursue their desired profession.

在课堂之外，这是一次与众不同的经历. In Resistencia, Ambroggio had the opportunity to hike in the mountains and he could visit the ocean. 然而，如果他想去海滩，那就得开18个小时的车. 到山上- 12小时. 在《全球赌博十大网站》中，他可以在同一天做到这两点.

“山胡桃的位置非常好，”他说.

同样，优素福离海洋有800英里远. She had seen mountains before, but didn't take part in hiking them until arriving in Hickory.

对于这两家公司来说，在到达LR之前，雪是电影里的东西.

大流行期间在国外

当他们决定来勒努瓦-雷恩时, Ambroggio and Yusuf were looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience not a once-in-a-century pandemic.

3月初至中旬，COVID-19大流行爆发, much of the world was figuring out how to do their jobs and keep their families safe all from home. 优素福和安布罗吉奥甚至不知道他们是否能回家.

“在春天, every year, I have to sign off on all our international students' immigration paperwork so they can return in August布兰登说。. “三月份相当混乱. 在所有的国际学生都去放春假之前, I thought it would be best for me to sign all of their documents because there was the chance they wouldn't be back."

这种远见是必要的.

随着美国冠状病毒病例开始上升, LR made the decision to extend spring break by an additional week and transition the rest of the semester and all of summer term to online instruction.

劳氏的国内学生最终回到了美国, and the international student population began to make their way home through congested airports one-by-one. 安布罗吉奥和优素福等少数人发现，更安全的选择是留下来.

"Argentina closed its borders, so even if I wanted to go home, I was not able to," Ambroggio said. 一开始, 要是能见到我的家人就好了, but it ended up getting so bad in Argentina that it's much safer being here."

阿根廷政府3月6日宣布关闭边境, and a ban on flights into the country has been in effect for months amid rising COVID-19 cases.

尤素福在春假之前就决定留下来了.

"There were so many risks attached to going home because of the uncertainty of the coronavirus," Yusuf said. “当我回家的时候，我必须确定, 我将能够续签我的签证, 因为如果我不能, 我不能再回美国了.S. 我甚至不确定大使馆会不会开门.

“我很高兴我留下来了? 我百感交集. There are definitely good sides to my staying, but I wish I was able to go home."

作为F1签证持有人, Yusuf was exempt from the United States' travel ban placed on citizens of Nigeria, however, Yusuf and Brandon didn't want to risk her being denied re-entry for the fall term.

"There ended up being about 15 international students that I recommended them to stay in the U.S.布兰登说。. “当时，全球网赌十大网站的国家比他们的国家要好得多."

Lenoir-Rhyne permitted those students to remain on campus in the residence halls, 工作人员保持联系，帮助满足他们的需求. However, with faculty, staff and the rest of the student population working and attending classes remotely, 他们最需要的是互动和正常的感觉.