International students face challenges due to COVID-19

Although Western Texas College (WTC) has moved classes online and closed its campus for most students for the rest of the semester, there are still a few students who remain, including international students, one of whom is Shoma Iwasaki from Miki, Hyogo, Japan.
Iwasaki is a business major finishing his second semester at WTC. 
He arrived in Texas in August and hasn’t yet been able to return to Japan, though he makes sure to stay in touch with his friends and family overseas.
“Once a day, I call and talk with my family, and they’re pretty good,” he said. “If I want, I can go back home, but I have to stay in the Japanese airport at least two weeks. So I could go back there, but I’m staying here.”
Iwasaki said that Snyder was not exactly what he expected, but he has enjoyed the experience. He has especially enjoyed the food, although he misses Japanese cuisine.
“I really like Subway. I also really like Mexican food,” he said. “During Thanksgiving and spring break, I went to Dallas to a friend’s house, and we ate that. It was really good, kind of hot, though.”
He said that the food he missed most was sushi.
“I’ve been to (Snyder’s sushi house),” he said. “It’s not bad, but it’s not the same.”
Iwasaki said he had made friends on the WTC soccer team and began working out and going to games and practices. 
He had hoped to be able to see a professional baseball game while in Texas, but he hadn’t had the opportunity.
WTC Vice President and Dean of Student Services Ralph Ramon said that there were a few humorous misunderstandings when Iwasaki first arrived.
“We were joking because what we call ‘fast food’ like McDonald’s or Burger King, he calls ‘junk food,’” Ramon said. “When he said junk food, I was thinking, like, candy, sodas, stuff like that.”
“Yeah,” Iwasaki said. “Now I know.”
Iwasaki said that he was also surprised by the number of people in Snyder. The community he came from in Japan was only a little bigger than Snyder in geographic size, but that his community had a much larger population.
“It’s not too big a city, but it’s a city compared to here,” he said.
Iwasaki said that he hadn’t done a lot of research before traveling to Texas because he wanted to be surprised, and as a result, he was surprised that some of the stereotypes he had envisioned were not actually true.
“When you came to Texas, did you think everybody was going to be wearing a cowboy hat and boots?” Ramon asked him.
“I really thought about it. That’s the stereotype,” Iwasaki said. “I thought it was all going to be rodeos.”
Iwasaki said that he plans to stay at WTC for the rest of the semester, even though he can do online classwork from anywhere. 
He said it would be a hassle to return to Japan due to COVID-19 precautions. 
Although he does feel homesick and the spread of the virus is slowing down there, he feels that the best thing is for him to stay here for now and plans to return to Japan once the semester ends.
“It’s getting better (in Japan), I think. They’ve been staying home, so the speed of the virus is getting slow,” he said. “I don’t really worry about anything here, but I want to go back home. I miss my family, my friends.”
Ramon said that WTC encourages students to go home during the summer because the college doesn’t offer face-to-face classes during the summer. 
“Rarely do we get students who stick around because they’re like, ‘Well, I can do this in the comfort of my own home with my family,’” he said.
Iwasaki said that online classes are going well for him and he is making good grades, but he prefers in-person classes and is looking forward to seeing his friends and family at the end of the semester.