UC Irvine’s International Center, a place where students’ diversity is recognized and celebrated, organizes events throughout the school year to ensure that Anteaters from abroad are able to find and create community away from home.
The center offers events like game nights, parties, and a weekly Coffee Hour for all students.
As of fall 2023, UCI’s international student population was at 8,200 students, from 104 places of origin. The largest group of students came from China, at exactly 4,488. The second largest group was from India, at 1,056 students. Almost 4,000 students were undergraduates and the most popular field of study was engineering.
While unable to vote in U.S. elections, international students reserve the right to participate in the elections of their home country, all while experiencing American politics.
Enshrouded in the Science Library’s terrace of terra cotta-colored tiles, the weekly event called International Coffee Hour offers students a space to socialize, with the hopes of creating a diverse, welcoming community.
Berkay Guler, a second-year computer science graduate student from Turkey, said he attended the International Coffee Hour on Oct. 11 to make friends and speak to others who may know Turkish. When Guler votes in the next Turkish presidential election, he says it is as simple as going to the consulate in Los Angeles.
“I’m very interested in politics, for when I go back [to Turkey],” Guler told New University. “I want to see what is waiting for me when I go back. I don’t know where I’ll end up, the U.S., Europe [or] Turkey, so I want to stay involved.”
Approximately two-thirds of eligible U.S. voters turned in their ballot in the 2020 election. Turnout for the 2023 Turkish presidential election was 87%.
“Everyone votes in Turkey. It’s like a shame if you don’t,” Guler said. “We have something like a 90% turnout for voting. I have friends who traveled 10 [or] 15 hours by bus to go vote and come back.”
Maxim Pachnev, a second-year biological sciences student from Canada, is eager to participate through a mail-in ballot in the Canadian election scheduled for October 2025.
“I’ve already registered to vote because I haven’t voted before and I’m excited to vote when the time comes,” 19-year-old Pachnev told New University. “So when an election happens, I’m already registered.”
Pachnev explained that he cares about American politics through a Canadian lens. To him, foreign policy is important to keep an eye on as an international student.
“I’m not sure if this is selfish or not, but if the U.S. economy does well, the Canadian economy does well,” Pachnev said. “If the U.S. economy tanks, so does Canada and the rest of the world. The U.S. is just so influential on a global level.”
Ella Wu, a second-year student studying comparative literature and literary journalism, is from Guangzhou, China, a city northwest of Hong Kong. She moved to the U.S. to attend high school in the San Francisco area but had to go back home during the COVID-19 lockdown. Wu returned to California to study at UCI.
Wu does not consider herself a political person due to the way elections work in Hong Kong. Citizens vote for local officials, who then vote for higher officials and so on, until they elect the president. Wu said that in terms of politics in the U.S. and Hong Kong, she focuses on “the human, humanitarian, societal side of [politics], but less so of the economic side of it.”
Politics and policies aside, the International Center aims to make the transition from abroad to Irvine a smooth one. Anteaters are offered a space to share their cultural experiences through programs, workshops and social events. Immigration services, visa documentations, employment advising and more are some of the resources offered.
“We have a programs team that focuses on doing or creating involvement opportunities for all of these populations, and also developing programs that bridge that domestic and international student connection,” International Center Associate Director Archana Sheth told New University. “So, there’s a lot of programs where it shouldn’t feel like, ‘Oh, these services are only for international students,’ they can be for all students.”
Cassandra Nava is a Features Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at cassan2@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon.
