How to stay in touch with friends and family

New experiences await international students when they travel overseas to study at IU.
Though many are excited to study abroad, homesickness can occur and have a negative effect on their experience here. It’s important for students to have a way to talk to parents and keep them updated on their lives.

“Whether it is grade, financial or legal issues, students are reluctant to disappoint their parents,” said Rendy Schrader, director of international student and scholar advising at the Office of International Serivces. “They need to tell their parents what is going on, even if it is bad.”

Not fully knowing the language and becoming used to different foods and customs of American life can be daunting, but there are ways for students to stay in contact with families while overseas.

Internet
E-mail, instant messaging and video chatting make students at IU feel more connected to their families than in the past. The Internet offers an inexpensive way for students to keep in contact with their families while they study here.

It is even easier to message and video chat because these applications don’t have to be downloaded; they are offered through e-mail accounts.

“I recently used Gmail’s video chat to talk to my brother, and it worked quite well,” said student Hany Alsalmi.

Skype is an application that can be downloaded through the Internet. It allows students to video chat, message or simply call others who have Skype for free.
And for a small fee, Skype makes it possible for students to call their parents’ phone from a computer.  

Phones
Though sending e-mails or messaging over the Internet might cost less, it is convenient to just pick up a phone and call home.

Purchasing an international phone plan through cell phone providers is an option for students, but many find the cheaper alternative is buying a calling card.

“I use a calling card because there are high charges on data plans,” graduate student Hardeep Singh Sabharwal said. “There is an Indiana company that sells them, and there are just a lot of calling cards in the market to choose from.”

Another option is Utalk, a phone service provided by MobileSphere, which allows international students to place phone calls to their families and friends overseas at minimal costs.

“I use IUB MobileSpheres service for international calls,” graduate student Jung Eun Lee said. “$25 usually lasts me two months if I call my parents once every two weeks.”

A prepaid calling service, Utalk allows students to register up to three phone numbers, send free domestic text messages and provides the same rate if the student studies overseas. Parents can use UTalk from overseas to place international calls to their children as they study at IU.

Students can pay for this service through their bursar account.  
 
Packages
Bloomington offers ways for international students to send and receive packages to and from their parents. Students can mail packages at FedEx or the United States Postal Service offices in town. Packages are delivered to the dorms or the student’s off-campus residence.

“I sometimes send documents and presents for my family by using the post office,” Lee said.

Despite easy access to the post office and FedEx locations, it can be expensive for students to send packages home. Sabharwal has found an alternative way to send things home.

“I usually send packages home with friends who are from the same city in India,” Sabharwal said. “If they are small, three to four pounds, it doesn’t add too much weight to their luggage.”