Chinese student population skyrockets, causes students, UI to adapt

This is a University of Iowa student lifestyle feature.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Studying-at-the-library fatigue is a common condition among college students – symptoms include: excessive caffeine intake, a nap at home, or (the classic) repeated claims of quitting school.

But for Chinese students, it makes perfect sense to just take a nap at the library when they’re tired, and domestic students often ridicule this abnormal behavior.

A misunderstood cultural difference

“I think a lot of domestic students don’t know that back in China, sleeping in the library or sleeping in public places is perfectly fine,” UI junior Yuhao Chen said. “But maybe, on the other hand, a lot of international students don’t know that sleeping in the library is not a normal thing that people would do in the states – so I think that misunderstanding of cultural differences is interesting.”