Between Books and Borders: Navigating Life as an International Student

How do you feel at home in a new place? How to build community here? And how do you hold on to who you are while growing into someone new?

Those are huge questions for people like Shruti Chandrashekhar Nadkarni, who are working hard to navigate the often-invisible threads of belonging. But now, as a fourth-year international PhD student in Applied Social Psychology at the University of Guelph, Shruti’s journey is yielding results. She hopes her story offers hope for others facing challenges finding their way.

Shruti’s academic career started in India, where she earned her BA, with her focus on psychology and a minor in sociology and politics. From there, she obtained her Masters in clinical psychology, with her thesis on overseas citizens of India and the factors that affect their national identity and belonging.

While Shruti was doing research for her thesis, she came across the work of Dr. Saba Safdar, a professor at the University of Guelph. Ultimately, Shruti came to Canada to do her PhD with Dr. Safdar, focusing her thesis on ethnic identities and acculturation.   

When Shruti moved to Canada from Pune in India, the connections that she held close for years started to slowly drift away. That’s a challenge many international students face. However, she found ways to reconnect with her roots by recreating her cultural identity through food, clothing, and symbols. This sense of cultural connection helped her adapt to Canadian life and stay grounded amidst the challenges of being far from home. These connections not only support personal well-being but also foster a stronger sense of belonging, she says.

Shruti notes that one of the most important parts of being an international student is comfort in one’s work. “That's the only way that you will feel like this is home because sometimes people think, ‘I can suffer through this, I can live through this. I can figure it out, I can’…but it's not true,” she says.

Shruti found pieces of home in Guelph in small but meaningful ways: a garland on the front door, spices in the kitchen, friends who laughed at the same cultural references. “I know sometimes when friends come over who are from my culture, they're like, ‘oh, it felt like I went back to India.’ And for those few moments, you recreate your own culture in a completely different context, and you remember home,” she says.

Outside her research, Shruti is deeply involved in community work, including a collaborative project with Canadian Blood Services. She works closely with South Asian student populations to better understand systemic barriers that affect their ability—and willingness—to donate blood, plasma, or stem cells.

“Health and blood donation is deeply related to belonging,” she says. “Because you are donating something, and when you want to donate something, you do want to feel like you're giving it to people you care about.”

CIRCLE was first introduced to Shruti during her initial days on campus. “It’s spoken about within the Indian communities on campus, especially researchers and grad students, which is a wonderful thing,” she says. Encouraged by one of her seniors, she joined during her second year and quickly found it to be a rare space of connection.  

The CIRCLE community was welcoming. “I’ve really missed the Indian community,” she says. “I don’t know how else to find Indian community or even South Asian community in general and bring them closer.”

She encourages international students to find communities where they can feel supported and where they can thrive, like she found CIRCLE. “Maintaining a strong connection to who you are is key to navigating the challenges of living and studying abroad,” she says.

Neha Chandrasekaran is a student writer for CIRCLE. She is in her third year of her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Guelph.

Connect with us! Do you want us to profile you and your research in this section? Or you might want to tell us how you encountered India or South Asia in our Encounters section. Write to us at circlel@uoguelph.ca.