There is always talk of the transient experience NYU Abu Dhabi students face and how we deal with our semesters across the Global Network University. While our new beginnings may occur in London, Tel Aviv or Shanghai, we often overlook the student from NYU New York who has never been to the Middle East, walking through those palms toward the Campus Center for the first time. During our time abroad as visiting students, we often face challenges and receive support from staff and our peers at global sites. When we return, it is important to acknowledge the presence of study away students and welcome them onto our campus. Although our community seems to do a great job of integrating incoming freshmen, how does it fare when it comes to study away students from other portal campuses moving in each semester?

Imagine going through a separate orientation process and then finding yourself on a campus where everyone already knows each other. A campus with this new social dynamic that you have to try to understand before you can truly get involved. We are a small community that takes care of itself, but that's a difficult community to jump into. We have a fundamentally different student body from that of New York or Shanghai, so perhaps we need to acknowledge those differences.

It's not uncommon to see a table at the dining hall with only visiting students or to see a group of them walking on the highline. While it's perfectly normal to spend time with people from a similar background as you, it also raises questions about their integration into campus life.

Visiting student sometimes have a harder time than freshmen and it's not due to a lack of orientation or events. Both freshman and visiting students are coming in new to this university environment, but it's their context that sets them apart. Freshmen come in as a stable part of the community and they will will be part of for years, while visiting students have a more transient presence and therefore typically have a harder time getting involved with the larger student body. The level of formal events organized for study away students increases and diversifies each semester. This time, study away students were more involved with Marhaba than before, attending events such as the Ba’Fa Ba’Fa cultural simulation and the Real AD show. Last week Student Government organized a meet-and-greet for the study away students. The visiting students also had their own set of events during Marhaba, which will continue throughout the semester. In the following weeks there will be trips to the different Emirates and more chances to explore the city of Abu Dhabi. The Offices of Global Education and Student Life provide several structural components in place to make study away students feel welcome.

Inclusivity is a problem that NYUAD struggles with. As our university gets older, we build a legacy that tends to be exclusive to NYUAD students. For an NYUAD student, events like Open Mic or the Real AD show come with a collection of nostalgic memories. Our small school environment gives us a collective sense of humour and references that are often drawn upon in such events. It's exactly these sorts of references that study away students lose out on. For both upperclassmen and freshmen, a sense of comradery has been built and comes through in all these events. You have fun with your friends and groups of people you know to be NYUAD students, a community that is hard for the study away student to really penetrate with just a semester or two on Saadiyat.

This should make us think about how we can extend that community and make it more inclusive to our friends from other campuses. While official resources for visiting students have increased markedly, NYUAD students still need to take an active role in integrating others. With just a bit of effort you can turn someone's semester around and make some great connections in the process. So invite a visiting student to join your SIG, or go on a city tour with some new friends, and don't hesitate because it’ll make your semester even better. Inclusivity may be challenging but it’s something our community must strive for.