Football, drug use and greeting without kissing – it’s all part of the culture shock Northwestern’s international students said they experienced in their first month on campus.

Nearly 200 members of the class of 2014 – or 6.3 percent – are international students, an increase from 5.6 percent in the class of 2013. Many of these students find they not only have to adjust to the rigors of college, but also to a new culture.

NU’s Undergraduate International Student Orientation, which took place five days before Wildcat Welcome this year, helps ease the transition to an American university.

The program gives students the opportunity to establish friendships and meet other international students before Wildcat Welcome begins.

Weinberg freshman Krithika Narayan, from Mumbai, India, said the orientation helped her make new friends.

“It lessens the blow of a new place,” Narayan said.

Narayan spent her last years of high school in England and said she was used to living away from home.

For other students, the experience of moving in poses a new challenge. Many students may be arriving in the U.S. and moving in without help from their families. McCormick freshman Hanyu Zhou, from Hangzhou, China, said the friends she made during ISO helped her move her heavy boxes into Hobart House.

Bruna Giberti, a Communication junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was an International Peer Adviser for ISO beginning in fall 2009.

“It’s normal to have culture shock,” Giberti said she tells international students. “It’s very different, but something you’ll get used to.”

At home Giberti greets people with hugs and kisses on the cheek, she said. At NU, she didn’t know where the acceptable line was.

Zhou said in the U.S. complete strangers will smile at each other. She said she likes greeting people with “How are you?”

Being in the U.S. is not entirely new to Zhou. She attended the Williston Northhampton School in Massachusetts and picked up some new habits to bring back to China, including saying hello to total strangers.

“We don’t do that in China,” she said, laughing. “I don’t know how people reacted.”

Other aspects of American culture surprised her. Zhou did not expect drug usage among students, she said.

“There is drug stuff in American movies,” she said. “I thought it was just, not for students, but for people who don’t get jobs.”

Drinking and social culture is one of the many subjects discussed during ISO, Giberti said.

Weinberg freshman Dominic Makepeace joined the International Student Association at NU after his positive experience during ISO.

Makepeace, who is from London, said the Oct. 9 football game against Purdue University was the highlight of his NU experience thus far.

“It’s completely nothing like you would get at a British university,” he said. “Big stadium and all the students go together and sing.”

After five weeks in Evanston, Zhou, Narayan and Makepeace all said they did not regret their decision to come to the U.S.

For Narayan, NU offered the opportunity to explore a variety of subjects in an undergraduate setting. She did not want to return to India and become an engineer or doctor, or remain in England and decide on a major before entering school.

Makepeace also wanted to leave the U.K., he said. He applied only to American universities.

“I wanted to do something different,” Makepeace said. “I thought, ‘Why not … challenge myself and do something completely outside of what most people get the chance to do.'”