UCSD Housing for International Exchange Students
About
International exchange students apply to UCSD to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience by living amongst people of different cultures and backgrounds. UCSD offers the International House as on-campus housing for UCEAP students. Every quarter, around 30-100 students are able to apply for on-campus housing. According to the HDH, around 70 to 80 UCEAP students are accepted into I-House per year. Although they claim to house about half of the UCEAP students who apply for on-campus housing, only 1 out of 7 international exchange students are accepted into I-House.
UCEAP students who are rejected are simply provided with two online sources that help search for off-campus housing. International exchange students have no choice but to search online while being in their home countries. Various obstacles arise as these students do not know anything about San Diego. The overflow of students and shortage of UCSD on-campus housing is a problem for not only exchange students, but all UCSD students who are in need of on-campus housing. This topic is personally relevant to me because as an international exchange student, I experienced the difficulties that many other international exchange students have faced and will continue to face.
Approach
At first, I wanted to represent this issue by showing the gap between what UCSD intends for international exchange students who are part of the UCEAP to experience and what these students actually experience. To do so, I wanted to initially show an interview of HDH regarding housing for UCEAP students, and, later on, show interviews done by UCEAP international exchange students. I thought that this would be able to show the contrast between what these students expect from their time at UCSD and what they truly undergo. However, HDH was not as responsive as I had wished. I had sent them an email beforehand to let them know what questions were going to be asked. I ended up getting a simple reply via email. Thus, I decided not to go with my original approach.
I interviewed one exchange student because based on conversations with other exchange students, many went through the same difficulties. Also, two minutes seemed like a very short time to fully tell completely different stories. I chose to film some main UCSD spots such as Geisel and Library Walk for B-roll to establish the setting as UCSD. Additionally, I also chose to use footage of International House as B-Roll because it is the only on-campus housing that is available to UCEAP international exchange students. Through this process, I was able to learn more about the issues with student overflow at UCSD and how that is negatively affecting the lives of UCSD students.
Aura Location & Trigger Image
The aura is located at International House because it is the on-campus housing option that is provided for UCEAP students. The trigger image will be the front part of the building, which says “International House.” I chose this location and image because they are the most relatable to the topic and easy to find.