Soon after his arrival at the University of Mississippi in August 2020, David Henen, an Egyptian student pursuing his Ph.D. in Linguistics, found that attending an American university as an international student came with many unexpected challenges.
“No one came for me at the airport, no one helped me to find housing, so I struggled very much. It was a horrible experience,” Henen said. “I felt totally alone and helpless.”
The lack of support and community sent Henen searching for a solution.
In fall 2020, Henen started a WhatsApp group chat to connect with fellow UM international students. What started as a simple chat soon created a community of over 300 students from around the globe, inspiring Henen to create Better Together.
Better Together focuses on building a family-like community, bridging the gap between international students and campus life and supplying international students with the information they need in order to feel more at home in a foreign environment.
With a new culture comes new rules and expectations. Through Better Together, students are given the opportunity to get answers to questions ranging from “What bank should I use?” to “Where do I go to get a driver’s license?” The community also helps to explain American culture and etiquette.
“What is considered offensive words or discrimination? What is considered racism or taboo? What is considered illegal here? We try to help close that gap and build a bridge that we transfer what we learned from our experience here. Like, when somebody smiles at you on the street, that’s friendliness,” Henen said.
Elise Denoulet, an international student from Lille, France, says that when she arrived in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not much support for international students.
“It was really sad that there was no community, and I’m probably not the only international (student) who just arrived and doesn’t have any friends,” she said. “I’m probably not the only one that just can’t reach the other people, just like they can’t reach me.”
For Denoulet, the lack of transportation was a major hindrance in the beginning. Getting to the grocery store, bank or doctor’s office is a difficult task for international students. Through this community, students are able to make connections and build relationships with other students.
“The idea was just like helping each other out if you need a ride to go get groceries or a ride to the airport,” Denoulet said.
The group has positively impacted the lives of not only international students but also American students.
Madison, Miss., native Peyton Shirley has been a member of Better Together for about a year. Shirley says that his interest in meeting individuals from new cultures is what inspired him to join the community.
“As you communicate with people, different topics get brought up, and then you can see how other people react to those things, or what their opinions on them are,” Shirley said. “I definitely feel like I’ve become a much more rounded person since I’ve been a part of the group because I’ve had so many different perspectives on certain things.”
Better Together has many plans for the near future of the organization, including short trips to nearby cities, recreational sports, such as soccer or frisbee, to get students socialized, and monthly lunches in American households.
According to Tamara Karakozova, — a professor of Russian and a member of Better Together from Tbilisi, Georgia — an important part of the fully immersive, American experience as an international, is to visit an American home. Better Together has given international students this opportunity by organizing lunches and occasional stays at American households.
Karakozova said that visiting an American home is especially necessary for international students to immerse themselves in American culture.
“What are these people like on a daily basis?” Krakozova said. “What do they cook? Do they gather around the table? Do they pray before the meal? That is the experience that everybody is seeking.”
According to the Ole Miss International Student and Scholar Services data, 866 international students enrolled in the fall of 2021.
More information on Better Together can be found on The ForUM, as well as the WhatsApp group chat. The group meets in the Grove everyday Thursday at noon for lunch.
