Silliman University accommodates more than 200 foreign students. The majority of the foreign population is comprised of Koreans and Iranians. Also present in the international community are students from the USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and other Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand and Indonesia.

Many foreign students decided to study in Silliman University because it is the only University in the Philippines that offers an English Orientation. Many also study in Silliman University because of the tuition fee, which is cheaper compared to their home countries. The foreign students see the opportunity for them to widen their horizons and to learn about other cultures, but there are also many problems they are encountering because of the differences in culture.

As a German studying in Silliman University, you will notice that the social life and the academic life are worlds apart from way back home, as we like to say. The first problem that many foreign students stumble upon is the enrollment process. Strenuous hours of waiting in line to pay your tuition or to get you class schedules is what foreign students are not very used to. In Germany for instance, enrollment is done only once, which is when you become freshman. You apply with a letter and with your curriculum vitae at the University you wish to study and if you meet the requirements, you are accepted. There is no waiting in line to pay your tuition and no waiting until your schedules are processed. The payment follows through bank interaction and the schedules are to be picked up in the beginning of the semester.

The same goes for the grades. While in Silliman you have to collect each grade from each department, in Germany the grades are either sent to you before the next semester starts, or you can pick them up at the University.

When it comes to the regular day to day classes in Silliman, foreign students no only have problems in comprehending the subject matter discussed, but the subject matter itself is sometimes being taught in the dialect. In Germany class attendance and participation is not a must, and the grades are composed of the outcome of your final exam and projects.

Many foreign students have another big problem with the Filipino culture, which is the “Filipino time”. In many countries such as Korea, Japan, Iran, USA, or Germany, timeliness is an important virtue, and very often it is a must. German high school teachers will not let you come into the class room if you are late. They will only accept you to sit in class if and only if the student brought an excuse letter or if there is any proof that it was not the student’s fault that he or she was late, such as a bus-or train ticket. In the professional environment, being constantly late is a good reason for having a worker resigned, because for them, money is time.

Although foreign students have experienced a culture shock upon arrival, there are also positive things about the Filipino culture that were welcomed by the foreign students. The Filipino people were friendly and they welcomed you into their country with an interest in you that cannot be seen anywhere else. There seems to be something about young foreign students that captivates the Filipino people and makes them wanting to more about that particular student.

But again there are differences within the social culture as well which are hard to avoid. One of these differences is that people from Belgium, USA, or Germany tend to speak their minds and also tend to be very blunt. The Filipinos get hurt easily if someone is being frank, compared to the Japanese and Koreans, who are quiet and tend to be very polite towards people. This in return makes the Filipino seem blunt.

We cannot deny that the Philippine people like to gossip, this can be another culture shock for foreign students because they have never been the given so much attention from other people in their country. Another different factor in the Philippine culture is that people like to look and sometimes stare at other people. And again the foreign student feels like being in the spotlight due to the stares and looks of other people. Eventually being an outsider, you have to adjust to the new environment however different it may be from your own culture.

College students in the Philippines learn a lot, yet they learn in a way different from the other countries. The school system in the Philippines requires excel in exams and in co-curricular activities to become a good student. In the German Universities for instance you are encouraged to excel in your final exam only, for there is only one exam covering the whole semester. There are also no co-curricular activities in the German Universities, because every academic institution concentrates on strictly the academe. Activities similar to co-curricular activities have to be done in your private time, and are not accredited for in your University.

The way the Philippine schools teach the material is also different. It is almost a daily habit of full time students to study, learn and read the material over and over again until you completely memorized it. Yet in Germany majority of the exams are essay questions that try to evaluate you, not necessarily based on the correctness of the answer, but on the line of thought and on the critical assessment of the material.

By the senior year of many colleges in Silliman University, you are required to have an on-the-job training which will be graded, yet in many other countries especially in European countries, this internship is already taken in high school and separated into two different groups; the first one is a job of your choice, usually the profession you are planning to go into, the second one is the social internship which entails you to work only in either Hospitals, Schools, or Retirement Centers.

While the Philippines is a tropical paradise for most of the foreign students, the culture shock comes time after time. In the end you see many great things the Philippines has to offer the people and the foreign students and that is why you accept the little and the greater differences within the cultures, and with the collaboration between Filipino visions and foreign experiences, we can create a better future not only for Silliman University but also for the immediate community..