Katie Schmitt
Assistant Editor

They came halfway around the world for an education and found a bit of home.

Arcon Concepcion and Wileva (Leva) Murray, international students from the Philippines, originally came to Iowa with their families prior to coming to NIACC.

They were both from the same island, only living a few miles apart and their families even knew each other but they had never met, until they came to NIACC.

At the International Welcoming Dinner on campus in the Activity Center, the two were the first to arrive.

They noticed that their nametags said they were both from the Philippines. They looked at the map that Ann Kuhlman, the International Student liaison on campus, had provided for the students to show each other where they were from and realized they were from the same island in the Philippines.

"I'd love to challenge the statistics in the math department to come up with the probabilities," Kuhlman said about the two students meeting. "For me it reiterated what a small world this is."

The Philippines is slightly larger than Arizona with a total population of 86,241,697 people. Concepcion grew up in Iloilo but moved to Quezon City and Murray was from Manila.

Talking further at the event, they came to realize that their families were friends because Murray's oldest son and Concepcion's older sister were both going to medical school together. "It was weird. I didn't expect it," Concepcion said.

"It's amazing," Murray said about meeting ten thousand miles away from home.

Concepcion moved to Charles City in June of 2002 while Murray moved to Clear Lake last year after meeting her husband over the internet.

At a house blessing party for Concepcion's family, the Murray family was invited but she didn't get to meet Concepcion because he had other plans and didn't attend.

Concepcion, a business major, plans to work and save money to transfer to another college. Concepcion said he chose NIACC because it gave him better career options.

Murray is working toward her ADN degree and is currently working at Mercy Medical Center - North Iowa. Murray said she wanted to be a nurse a long time ago and has finally got the chance to do it.

Concepcion said he had to make adjustments to the simple life. "It was weird. I came from such a big city," he said.

Murray said the way of life was "really different" because she seldom sees people in comparison to living in a big city.

They both agreed that the people in Iowa are friendly but they get homesick.

"I miss a lot... I miss it all," Concepcion said. "I miss the ocean."

They said that the cold winters and blizzards were the least likable thing about life in Iowa and they would like to visit the Philippines on a vacation.

"It was sunny or it rained," Concepcion said. "It was like summer all the time."

Kuhlman said that the international students hold a meeting every month and is open to anyone interested in learning more about other countries.

For more information contact Kuhlman at (641) 422-4343 or Gerry Schwarz at (641) 422-4324.