Two International Student Stories for International Education Week
Ayaka Nishino poses on Chatham’s quad with Carson the Cougar. (Courtesy of Ayaka Nishino)
Nov. 18-22, 2024, is International Education Week, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State. To recognize this, Pulse@ChathamU interviewed two international students currently studying at Chatham University.
When Akaya Nishino was walking through Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood on a summer day, a stranger smiled at her and said, “Hi. How are you?” And this took Nishino by surprise.
In her hometown of Higashiōmi, in Japan’s Shiga Prefecture, Nishino doesn’t usually receive greetings from people she doesn’t know. “I was so happy,” she says. “I think most people don’t do that [in Japan].”
It was one of the small ways Pittsburgh has made a big impression on Nishino since she arrived here this summer. Since then, she’s toured local museums, traveled to West Virginia, and watched the Pirates play baseball. She started classes at Chatham in August, and she’ll study at the University for one term.
Nishino is a student at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto, where she studies English and education. The connection with Doshisha is one of Chatham’s longest running international partnerships, says Kate Emory ’06, Chatham’s associate director of global engagement.
At Chatham, Nishino continues her English education while immersing herself in other courses, which cover topics such as academic writing, U.S. culture, and World War II propaganda. That latter course connected her with international students from Iraq, she says.
“I like writing, so I take two writing classes now,” Nishino says. One of her instructors is Sean Nonnenmacher, a post-doctoral fellow at Chatham, who helps her with English spelling, grammar, and academic vocabulary. “It is so helpful for me,” she says. She wants to be an English teacher in Japan when she finishes school.
Outside of school, Nishino enjoys shopping and walking around the Squirrel Hill and Shadyside neighborhoods, which sit on either end of Chatham’s Shadyside Campus. She buys groceries at Panda Supermarket in Squirrel Hill. They specialize in Asian products. When she misses food from home, she goes there for rice, mochi, ramen, and kimbap, a Korean dish similar to sushi. She also enjoys browsing and buying clothes at Heat Check, a small secondhand store and coffeeshop in Shadyside.
“I love vintage clothes,” she says. “The staff working there are so friendly. I recommend that store.”
Mercy Nyoni, MBA ’25, stands for a photo in the Jennie King Mellon Library. (Mick Stinelli)
Mercy Nyoni, MBA ’25, grew up Bulawayo, a city in southeast Zimbabwe. After graduating from college, she worked as an accounting officer for Air Zimbabwe in Harare, the nation’s capital. “That’s where everything happens,” says Nyoni. “That’s where all the fast life happens.”
But when she came to Chatham University in August 2023 to pursue her Masters of Business Administration degree, Nyoni found herself enjoying the calm of the Eden Hall Campus. “It was so quiet, it was nice, it was so peaceful,” she says.
During her first semester, she took courses like Information Systems & Analytics and Corporate Finance & Governance. Doing research and learning new software systems have been some of the biggest learning curves in graduate schoool, Nyoni says. She also spent time working in Career Development and the School of Business & Enterprise.
Leading Organizations & Projects, BUS575, was a fun elective, Nyoni says, partly because her instructor, Assistant Professor Keratiloe Mogotsi, was also African. “I think a positive experience in a course always comes from the professor,” Nyoni says. “When she explains things, she also gives African examples that I can relate to.”
While she finds the Pittsburgh climate too cold for her liking and misses eating sadza—a thick cornmeal porridge that looks like smooth mashed potatoes—she enjoys going to local Church of Christ every Sunday and meeting with congregants on Wednesdays for Bible study.
“I love church,” she says, adding that she was part of a national church youth committee in Zimbabwe. “I don’t know if it’s the environment or something, but you don’t find a lot of young people at church here. The church is a lot of old people, and they are so happy when they see youngsters.”
To anyone thinking about studying abroad, Nyoni says, you need to have a strong support system. “Always talk to your family,” she says. With Pittsburgh time several hours behind Zimbabwe, it can be hard to always get in touch with her loved ones every day. That’s why it’s also important to make new connections. “As an international student, you get to meet a lot of people, a lot of new people,” she says. “For you to survive, you have to be friendly to everyone.”
Learn more about international students and study abroad opportunities at Chatham by connecting with the Office of Global Engagement.