When senior Jane Lutken tells people that she’s from Mississippi, she often gets a strange reaction.

“People always ask me, ‘Where’s your accent?’ And there have been a lot of really funny questions: ‘What kinds of rodents have you had for dinner?’, ‘Do you have a bunch of broken down cars in your yard?'” said Lutken. “And it gets even more intense when they ask, ‘How do you feel about abortion?'”

Although applicants from the Pacific Northwest are most common at Whitman, the campus is made up of students from 45 different states and 30 countries. Adjusting can be difficult, as both domestic and international students must adapt to a different way of life, including new regional mannerisms or educational styles.

For Lutken, leaving the South has led to an increased awareness of the negative image of Southerners that persists throughout the United States.

“If someone’s going to tell a joke about a stupid person, they’ll give them a Southern accent, almost without fail. And I try to call people on it,” said Lutken. “It’s something that I have definitely come to realize way more since I’ve been out here. I think that Southerners are some of the only people that you can still make fun of and have no one get mad at you for it.”

Lutken has tried to be vocal about her Southern upbringing, hoping to make people aware of the prejudices that remain.

“I think what needs to happen is that there need to be a lot of intelligent people who don’t hide their accent,” said Lutken.

Coming from Massachusetts, first-year Roseanna Loring has adapted to a different set of cultural issues.

“At the beginning of the year, I was drawn to other kids from the Northeast, and now I have a lot more friends from the West Coast. I didn’t even know where people were from, but they were just the people I connected to originally,” Loring said.

Loring has also discovered that people in the Northwest are generally friendlier than those in the east.

“I think that making the jump from west to east would be a lot more difficult because when you walk by someone, you probably say ‘hi’ at Whitman, and I don’t think that would happen at a lot of East Coast colleges,” said Loring.

Moving from a large city to Walla Walla can pose its own problems. For first-year Hayley Beckett, who came to Whitman from Berkley, Calif., this was originally a big concern.

“I realized that I could never live in an isolated area coming from such a diverse, vibrant city, so I got really nervous about living in Walla Walla,” said Beckett in an e-mail.

However, after seeing the campus, Beckett realized that she didn’t need to worry about being stifled at Whitman.

“Walla Walla is small, but after visiting, I realized that it has enough character and Whitman has so much to offer that it would be a wonderful place to live as a college student,” said Beckett.

Beckett, like many other students, has a unique perspective on Whitman because of her home city, and has learned to turn regional differences into an advantage.

International students attending Whitman experience many similar adjustment issues, although cross-cultural differences often make the transition a much tougher one.

As the International Student Adviser at the Intercultural Center, Kris Barry understands many of these challenges.

“Sometimes it’s the little things,” she said. “Because you’re kind of mentally prepared: you’ve read about the big things. It’s the little irritating things that can be important, and they’re very individual but you know they’re there.”

The support provided by the Intercultural Center includes an orientation for international students, as well as programs like Friendship Families, which matches participating international students with a local family, and the Buddy Program, which pairs a sophomore with an incoming international student.

“We have many different levels of support, and whichever one students relate to is great,” said Barry. “We just want to provide as many options as we can, because everybody’s so different.”

For junior Elena Zheglova, these programs have helped enrich her time at Whitman, although many aspects of   life in Walla Walla remain difficult. Zheglova came to Whitman from Bulgaria as a first-year student.

“It’s great to have a friendship family because it’s really nice to have dinners with them and see the way people live,” said Zheglova. “At Whitman, and in college in general, you’re kind of out of everyday life.”

Zheglova has not adjusted to some aspects of academic life, however.

“It’s the type of studying that you have to do: I can’t get used to it,” she said. “You can’t focus on anything specifically important for you. It’s very broad and vague and it burns me out.”

This summer, Zheglova hopes to get an internship in Walla Walla where she can slow down and focus on her environmental studies interests.

For some students, like Ayana Hatsuda, a sophomore from Japan on a yearlong program, English has posed the greatest obstacle. Hatsuda participated in the international students’ orientation, yet adjusting was difficult because she felt behind in her language abilities.

“Other international students already spoke English pretty well,” said Hatsuda.

Despite this challenge, Hatsuda has enjoyed living in Prentiss Hall and has gotten to know some of her section mates well. She has noticed some differences between Japan and America, but enjoys these changes.

“In Japan, people like group harmony, and here people are more independent. But I like that,” she said.

For Tumisang Mothei, a junior from Botswana, academic challenges have not been as noticeable as cultural differences. During his time at Whitman, Mothei has learned to focus more on commonalities.

“Some of the nuances are difficult for me to digest simply because I’m from a different culture and social environment,” said Mothei. “I’m just trying to relate on some of the common things we can share. Like ideas, we can talk about ideas: we might not have the same material resources, but we can share ideas and there’s common ground in that.”

Mothei has heard many misconceptions about his country during his time in the United States, and, like Lutken when faced with stereotypes about the South, he tries to use those moments to educate others and to learn himself. At Whitman, Mothei has found that people are generally excited to listen and discuss.

“Here there is this open feeling towards other cultures and countries,” he said. “There’s an effort that you can actually see to know where you’re from and what your culture’s all about.”