Brazilian, Uruguayan and Japanese students are among some of the campus population at the University of Kentucky who refuse to wear pajamas to class.
Where the international students are from, leaving the house in pajamas or any clothes a person slept in is unheard of, until they saw their peers walking into the classroom during the first week of school, fitted in pajama pants, baggy sweatshirts and slippers.
The students were shocked, wondering how Americans were perfectly okay with wearing lounge clothes outside of their homes. This is something South American and Japanese cultures do not condone.
For Camilia Rezende Tavares Pimentel, a senior political science and international studies major from São Paulo, Brazil, dressing up for any outing, even a trip to the supermarket was a cultural norm in Brazil.
“People dress up to go places, and here (the U.S.) it was kind of shocking to see people in pajamas going to class,” Rezende Tavares Pimentel said.
As international students, new to the country, they realized that everything they had ever known was about to change.
Yuuki Cherian, a senior entomology major from Tokyo, Japan and Sofía Ledo, a sophomore engineering major from Montevideo, Uruguay, experienced similar cultural adjustments.
Like Rezende Tavares Pimentel, they also had to adjust to a new way of life in the U.S. where everyday activities, like meal times and choosing outfits and speaking felt unfamiliar.
“I didn’t know how to talk to people back then, I wasn’t shy or anything, but the language barrier was still there,” Cherian said. “So making friends, it was definitely difficult, but it made me learn how to communicate with people in English.”
Theo Klippel, a junior neuroscience and pharmacology minor, took a chance and applied to UK, even though he had never left Brazil and knew no one in the U.S.
“I decided to apply for the United States and Kentucky specifically because they had a good neuroscience program and very good international outreach,” Klippel said.
In face of these barriers and challenges, the students found their own creative ways to build and form their own communities and friendships within the large campus community.
Rezende Tavares Pimentel founded the local chapter of the Brazilian Student Association. Which is a global organization that creates a sense of community and offers support for students like herself and Klippel.
Both Cherian and Ledo, despite their initial worries of building friendships, found ways to connect their interests, whether through clubs or similar passions.
“Everything was new. University life, new country, new people and with completely new classes,” Ledo said. “I took the time to actually go to all of the events and enjoy myself, kind of taking advantage of everything. I managed to build my group of friends and join a club that I loved … which really helped a lot.”
Cherian found his community through his sense of style. He said wearing brightly colored sneakers or stylish pants proved to be an effective conversation starter with his peers.
“Once I started wearing something cool, people started talking … that’s the reason I made a lot of friends,” Cherian said. “When you’re into fashion and you see someone with good outfits, you compliment them and start talking to them and that’s how you become friends.”
Klippel immersed himself in NeuroCATS and the club tennis team.
This past semester he was able to get more involved with both, especially NeuroCATS, which focuses on the neuroscience outreach programs for students and schools in the greater Lexington area.
“I feel like here in the U.S. you have a lot more hands-on experience. It’s a place where you can actually put in practice what you’re learning and you actually have opportunities to work with your area and actively learn,” Klippel said. “I’ve been working in a research lab for over a year now, and we work with spinal cord and traumatic brain injury… it’s very hard to get involved in Brazil.”
Even though the several different experiences each student has had while in Lexington, there was one other thing they could all agree on: the American college experience has been everything they had hoped for.
From pursuing their academic goals, to seeking out new opportunities, attending college in the U.S. was the chance to follow their dreams, and somehow, each of those dreams led right here to Lexington.
“I cannot see myself going to college in Brazil knowing that I already had this experience here because it was so much fun,” Rezende Tavares Pimentel said. “I wouldn’t change a thing because it was just so special, and the opportunities I had made everything worth it.”
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