While simply going back to school is a transition enough for most students, one Eastern student has traveled from Egypt to Wisconsin, and has now begun to establish his place at Eastern.

Mohammed Saeed Dauroug, an international student from Egypt, just arrived at Eastern this fall.

Before he came to Eastern, he was enrolled at University of Wisconsin at Green Bay for two and a half years.

“Wisconsin is a lot colder and there’s not as much diversity as there is here at EIU,” he said.

He said one of the reasons he left Wisconsin was because there were not as many accessible resources there for doing research.

“I found out it was easier to get employed if you are in a program opposite to your major,” he said. “I was there studying human biology and then I transferred here.”

Dauroug is majoring in clinical laboratory science and has plans to attend medical school when he graduates this year.

“My favorite part of being here

is the fact that Charleston is such a college town” he said.

Though he said it sounds cliché,

Dauroug said the professors at Eastern have made his transition easy.

“All of my professors have been so helpful,” he said. “I had no clue what to do or how to deal with my credit transfers but they’ve all just been so awesome.”

Dauroug said his biggest struggle with being away from home is missing his family.

“You just have to take it day by day,” he said. “I don’t really know a lot of people here, but I’ve been staying busy with class and homework.”

Dauroug said Eastern classes are a lot different from classes both in Wisconsin and in Egypt.

In Egypt, he was enrolled in a private university in the pharmacy

program.

“Classes are very big there, often with 300 or 400 students in a lecture,” he said. “I like how here at Eastern, it’s in the middle and classes aren’t too big or too small.”

He said one of the big differences between the United States and Egypt is the culture.

“People here are more independent and tend to mind their own business more than in Eastern civilization,” he said.

At Dauroug’s school in Egypt, males and females were in separate classes all the way up until they graduated high school.

“Egypt is very liberal compared to the rest of the Middle East, especially after the revolution,” he said. “But since our classes were separated, we didn’t really interact with the opposite sex as much.”

He said he only spent one year back home in college where males and females were mixed together in classes.

Dauroug said he originally planned to study abroad in Madison, Wis. because of the excellent pharmacy program they have there, but it was too costly.

“I wanted to study abroad because I already spoke English and I knew it would be an interesting experience,” he said. “The whole process of transferring to the United States wasn’t even that difficult.”

Dauroug said he is currently applying to hospitals in the area to complete the internship that is mandatory with the clinical lab sciences program.

“If I get in, I will be done this year,” he said.

After he graduates from Eastern, Dauroug said he plans to go to medical school, though the road will be tougher for him since he is not American.

“I’m using my clinical lab as a step to get into (medical school) because since I’m not American, I’m not eligible for all the loans and grants,” he said. “I’m hoping to work for a couple of years and then go to med school.”

Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.