EMU Today

Often, we take what we have and what we know for granted. We go to school or work, grab a bit to eat and chat with our friends—it’s just a regular day. But what is that regular day like for someone new to our country, someone who may find our everyday banter, customs or conveniences abstract? Every year, pioneering students from around the world arrive on the EMU campus to pursue degrees in a country—and often in a language—that is foreign to them. Here’s what former student Theres Rungenhagen (BS14, MBA16) had to say about her time at EMU.

Getting Her MBA a World Away: Theres Rungenhagen

Perhaps Theres Rungenhagen’s wanderlust can be attributed to the fact that she was born in Berlin on November 24, 1989—just 14 days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Having never known a world that wasn’t wide open to her, Theres struck out for the United States at 18, a journey that brought her to Michigan and, eventually, to EMU. Less than a decade later, she has virtually lost her accent—an observation she answers with “Yay!”—has completed her undergraduate studies in hotel and restaurant management and her MBA. She is now living in Pennsylvania. It’s quite a résumé for a young woman who arrived in the U.S. to work as an au pair and planned to stay only a year.

“I like the Eastern community; it’s very diverse,” she says. “I worked as a graduate assistant in the Office for International Students so I met international students every day, and it was really nice to learn not just about American culture, but about lots of other cultures, too. Germany and the U.S. are similar, but the Chinese, Indian and Saudi Arabian cultures are completely different.”

Despite the similarities, Theres had to adjust to U.S. culture; she recounts those adjustments with lots of laughter. 

“It’s superficial, in a way,” she explains. “At first, when somebody told me, ‘Let’s meet up!’ I assumed we were really going to meet up. So, I was waiting for a call or a text.”

It was a little discouraging, she says, and at first, she couldn’t help taking it personally.

“But it’s just such a busy life here in the U.S., and I just had to get used to that,” she says. “Now I’m kind of in that place, too.”

Another foreign concept: free refills.

“I had no idea what that meant,” she says with a laugh. “We don’t do free refills.”

Drive-up convenience was also a surprise.

“Everything in the U.S. is so convenient,” Theres says. “You can drive up to anything pretty much, and not have to get out of the car.”

Superstores that are open 24 hours and businesses being open on Sunday also make the list. In the classroom, Theres appreciated the relaxed atmosphere, and says EMU professors are more approachable than the professors are back home.

“They’re very interested in who we are, and who we want to become,” she says. “I enjoyed that.”

Less enjoyable was the homesickness brought on by her first hectic American Christmas, and the lack of friendships with American students early on. Theres says that because of their common experience of coming to the U.S., international students often stick together, but that becoming an insular group defeats the purpose of studying abroad.

“I think the best way to really get involved is to get a job on campus, and get involved in campus life activities. It’s so helpful, and it’s really great that Eastern provides that,” she says. “You can break away from your international group.”

For Theres, football games and Student Center activities, like movies and the President’s Lunch, were both fun pastimes and opportunities to become more a part of the student body. She also wants American students to know they’re welcome at events sponsored by the Office for International Students, noting that foreign students are nervous-but-eager to meet their American counterparts, and to share their cultures.

“That’s why we come here,” she says.

This is an excerpt of a story that originally appeared in Eastern Magazine.