Prakash Rijal is from Nepal, is a senior at Winona State University, and is majoring in accounting.



   Prakash came to Winona, Minnesota in 2009 with a group of Nepali students, some of which he has known since attending boarding school in Kathmandu. “There were 16 of us when we came here,” he said, “we live together and we are like family.”
 

   When Prakash came here he knew very little English. He went to boarding school in Kathmandu and learned English very slowly. Prakash describes his experience learning English as, “very hard.” Over the past four years his English comprehension has improved drastically, but he has said he still has difficulty expressing his opinions.
 

   Prakash found most of his professors very helpful. He is still in contact with one of his math professor’s who checks up on him to see how he is doing.  Prakash has had negative experiences with professors too. “I was singled out by one my professor’s, but I don’t know if it was because I was an international student or not,” he said. He has described the relationship between American students and their professors as, “very casual.” He has said this took some time to adjust too.

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   Prakash described that he had many issues with group work and classroom lectures and he said he has struggled adjusting to it, especially during his first year at Winona State. Prakash said that a few students would shutdown some of his ideas during group work. “They would prefer their opinions than mine,” he said.
 

   Currently there are 19 Nepali students at Winona State. Rijal said, “I’m very lonely this semester.” He has said that he has very few American friends. “The American friends I do have wanted to know everything about Nepal,” Prakash said, “I became friends with them because they were very curious.” He suggests that Winona State should do more travel studies with international students so more friendships can be made with Americans.
 

   Winona State University has held an annual Nepali Dinner that provided entertainment and educational material about Nepali culture. Prakash has been involved every year in hosting the event, but sadly this year the event did not occur due to most of the Nepali students having graduated the previous year.