By Angela Green, BGSU intern

Twenty-year-old Shahad Sudad came to the United States on Aug. 24 as a member of the Iraqi Student Project to study at Bluffton University.
Sudad was born in and grew up in Baghdad and in 2007 her family moved to Damascus, Syria.
"I couldn't get a chance to go to school because it was expensive," said Sudad, whose English teacher told her about ISP. "I called and joined and I started working with them."
ISP is an organization based in Damascus that works with American universities to provide Iraqi students with an undergraduate degree and as much financial support as possible in hopes that when they return to Iraq, they can help rebuild the country. It also provides them with the education they cannot get in Iraq because of violence. Bluffton University is one of 30 universities in the country that is involved in the project.
After students are accepted into the program, they start preparing for life in the United States.
"They taught us English and prepared us for college and the system here," said Sudad. "I couldn't speak English at first, but after I took classes I became better."
Sudad also said she became close to the other Iraqi students.
"There are a lot of people," she said. "Last year there were 14 and in my year there were 21 students. They were all sent to different states, but we became close and they became like my family."
Sudad is majoring in fashion and interior design at Bluffton University, but plans to focus on interior design.
"I love interior design," she said. "I love decorating. I hope that when I'm done here, the situation will have improved and there will be a need for my major in rebuilding. I want to work with people who design hotels."
When Sudad first arrived, one aspect of Bluffton she had to get used to was the size.
"I told ISP I wanted to go to a small school and small town to be safer," she said. "I think I read somewhere that the population is around 40,000 and that's about the size of my neighborhood in Syria. I'm used to living in big cities. I'm used to taking transportation. Bluffton is very small."
Another difference is the meal schedule.
"We don't eat lunch at noon," she said. "I was surprised when I heard people eat lunch at noon and then dinner at 5 p.m. because I'm used to eating lunch at 3 or 5 p.m. and then dinner at 10 p.m.. It's also very cold, but I'm excited for snow."
Sudad has also had to deal with being thousands of miles away from her family. She has a younger brother and her mother is retired. Her father is an assistant lecturer in athletics at a university. She is able to keep in contact through e-mail and by using Skype.
"My family wasn't excited about me coming at first, but I was very insistent," she said. "I hadn't done anything for three years and they saw how ISP was a good thing for me and how ISP did what I wanted by sending me to a small city. They can see I'm happy here, both financially and emotionally."
ISP sets up support groups for students as host families, which has helped Sudad's homesickness.
"Even last week I was missing my family," she said. "I was depressed and stayed the night at their house. It was very helpful for me. I consider them my second family. I didn't imagine that I would feel so comfortable with them."
Sudad is involved in ICON (International Connection) on campus, which is for American and international students.
Like most college freshmen, Sudad is living in a dorm on campus for the first time.
"At first I didn't like it," she said. "In Baghdad, there are no dorms. The college was near my house so we could just go by car. It is a new experience. I have friends and we play games on the weekends. Friends help me talk and make me feel comfortable, and I forget about missing home."
Even though she hasn't traveled anywhere yet, Sudad would like to go to some of the major cities in the United States.
"I'd like to visit Chicago and New York City," she said. "I've always heard about these places. They're famous places and huge cities."