She walked hurriedly into Suzzallo Café at 9:07 a.m., just a few minutes past our arranged meeting time. After the standard apologies, followed by the standard pleasantries, I am taken aback by her answer to the standard four-word question: Where are you from?

Rose Al Marshood is half-Polish and half-Kuwaiti by ethnicity. Born in Szczecin, Poland, she lived there until she moved to Kuwait at the age of 17.

Today, she resides in Seattle as a junior at the UW.

With her unique cultural background, one can imagine the difficulties that would accompany her transition into the American lifestyle.

Al Marshood is one of the thousands of international students currently enrolled here. Since 1999, there have been at least 2,000 international students attending the UW in any given year, and the numbers have been steadily increasing, according to the International Student and Scholar Statistics Web site. In fall 2008, it was documented that 103 countries were represented at the UW, the top four being China, Korea, Taiwan and India.

Al Marshood maintained that she feels more accepted in the UW community than in Szczecin or Kuwait due to the ethnic diversity found here.

“Being international here is really nice because there are so many international people,” she said. “You don’t feel left out because everyone is from a different background.”

While growing up in Poland as a girl of mixed race, she faced a few battles with other students in retaliation to some racist remarks.

“They’re not very used to foreigners; that’s the problem. We don’t get a lot of them, especially in my city,” she said.

The battles continued even when she moved to Kuwait.

“I had a Kuwaiti girl picking on me, and I basically told her a couple of words in Arabic,” Al Marshood said. “Since then, I never had any more problems.”

She advised that confidence is crucial when confronted with these situations.

“Whether I’m Polish, or Kuwaiti or whatever they consider me, I’m still me,” she said.

Upon moving to Seattle and matriculating at the UW — a decision that she admits was somewhat influenced by an episode of Grey’s Anatomy — Al Marshood was finally given the opportunity to put down her metaphorical gloves.

“I definitely feel freer and more comfortable over here,” she said.

Angela Ya-Tzu Cheng, a junior and fellow international student, would agree with Al Marshood’s sentiments regarding the generally accepting nature of the UW community.

Taiwanese by ethnicity, Cheng was born in Taichung and lived there until age 14.

Barely into her teenage years, she packed her bags, said goodbye to her parents, and ventured to study abroad in Auckland, New Zealand. During her stay there, Cheng was bullied by the other students. She said that their taunts centered on the fact that SARS had become an epidemic in Asia at the same time.

After only a year, she decided to move to Boston and attend a private high school. Four years later, Cheng began the next chapter of her life in Seattle.

While living in Seattle has eased her concerns about racism, Cheng still has one other obstacle to overcome as an international student at the UW: the language barrier.

Although Cheng has lived in the United States for about six years, Mandarin is her first language. Because of this, she continues to have trouble communicating in English, especially in class.

“My English is still not really fluent, and when we have discussions, we have to speak our opinion really fast and clear,” she said. “But sometimes, I am unable to do that, so I will be afraid to speak in class.”

The language barrier also extends to Cheng’s personal life. She admitted that outside of class, she rarely ever speaks English, since the majority of her close friends are also fluent in Mandarin.

“When you make friends, you have to communicate with your friends well, and they have to be patient and listen to you,” Cheng said. “But sometimes, it’s hard for me to meet someone that really wants to get to know international students because usually people like to stay in their comfort zones.”

Siddhartha Sinha, a recent UW graduate, has been forced out of his comfort zone for several years now.

Upon moving here from Rourkela, India, Sinha became heavily involved in a number of international programs on campus. As a member of the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) for four years and as the RA for the international-student floors in Haggett Hall for two years, he is well acquainted with the international community at the UW.

To Sinha, the UW “never feels like a very homogenous campus.”

The hectic schedule that matched his participation in these various programs helped to distract Sinha from the fact that he is thousands of miles away from his parents and his home.

“It gets easier after a while,” he said. “I had academia, I had friends, and I had a lot of events to just keep me occupied. Feeling homesick was really a luxury to allow myself.”

Sinha hasn’t been back in Rourkela in about three years. While the experience has been accompanied by its own set of challenges, Sinha attests that leaving home and starting a new life in a foreign country has changed him for the better.

“You’re very much on your own. If you want something, you have to stand up and do it,” he said. “It’s helped me become an adult in a lot of ways.”

In retrospect, Sinha is grateful for the opportunities that were made available to him at the UW.

“As an international student fresh from my country, I could have easily fallen into the trap of staying only with my own community,” he said. “Working with FIUTS and as well as an RA has helped me interact with the widest community possible.”

To those international students just at the beginning of their career at the UW, Sinha’s advice for you is this: “Go out there. See what’s out there. Make friends with someone who is from a totally different culture from yours, and see what you can learn from that.”

Reach contributing writer Joanna Nolasco at development@dailyuw.com.