At 17:20, Mandy states that American students tend to think that international students don't want to communicate with locals. She believes that American typically fail to understand how international students feel having to adjust to an entirely new culture.
I think this is true. It is easy to underestimate the impact of all those adjustments on the emotional and psychological experience of international students. In my language-learning efforts, I have had a small taste. Expressing oneself in one's native language is hard enough. To have difficult expressing oneself in another language on more basic levels is a formidable challenge to the cross cultural experience. There can be a sense of inferiority, intellectually, to those you're talking to. It really helps to have understanding natives who understand what a foreigner goes through.
On the flip side, the bashing of the native culture and clinging to the familiar (often times in "gangs") is a habit of international students that can make it difficult to build meaningful connections. It's difficult for Americans to befriend or reach out to an international student who isn't willing to risk vulnerability, to make a genuine effort to help the other side understand them. It's certainly not easy to put oneself out there, especially in a foreign environment. But if an international student has a genuine desire to build close relationships, I think this is a must.
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