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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Before coming to East Tennessee this year, Atif Khan had never left the rural mountains where he was born, and Sidra Fatima, who is blind, had never traveled abroad. But when asked what they missed most about their native country of Pakistan, they quickly — and clearly — answered the food.
"I talk to my family every day, and they are happy I am having such a positive experience in such a good environment." Fatima said. "But food is the only thing I miss."
Fatima and Khan are exchange students at Maryville College. They came to East Tennessee through the U.S. Department of State's Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in Euroasia & Central Asia, a highly competitive scholarship program designed to provide cross-cultural education and understanding.
Governmental relations between Pakistan and the United States have not always been amicable in recent years, reaching a low point in 2011, the year terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan.
Khan and Fatima agree that programs like the one that brought them to the U.S. are crucial to help improve relations between the two countries.
"If the Pakistani people had any negative stereotype about Americans, it is wrong," said Khan, a medical student at Khyber Medical College in Peshawar. "I have observed that the people of the U.S. are really innocent. This program should really be promoted to increase mutual understanding."
Fatima, an international studies major, said that some Americans hold negative, and often unfounded, opinions about Pakistani people, as well.
"They think all Pakistanis are terrorists," she said, in jest. "But the program is a form of public diplomacy and it is really good. The relationships between the governments might not be great but the people-to-people relationships are really nice."
Before coming to America, Khan and Fatima had a limited perspective of America. Most of what they knew, or thought they knew, was transmitted to them through films.
"In movies I would see violence and action, but here everyone is really helpful, very polite, and they are always there to help you," Khan said. "If you need help they will be helpful."
Fatima needed special assistance when she arrived because of her disability. She agreed with Khan that Americans, specifically the individuals at Maryville College, were kind and willing to be of service.
"The biggest surprise was the way people treated me with my disability," she said. "In my country the majority of people do not know how to act with a person with a disability, any kind of disability. People's attitude and awareness here really surprised me."
Fatima is now able to navigate the campus on her own, a place that has become home to both her and Khan, despite the immense differences from their homes in Pakistan.
For Khan, the only similarity between East Tennessee and FATA — the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan where he is from — is the presence of mountains. FATA is in northwest Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan. It is characterized by its mountainous terrain; accented by small basins or valleys, and dotted with villages and farms.
"Our community is more congested," Khan said. "Here there is so much more distance between houses. But in FATA they are kind of attached to each other."
For Fatima, conversely, coming to Maryville was a serene experience. She is from Lahore in northeast Pakistan, a city with more than 7 million people.
"The biggest difference is that Lahore is a big city and Maryville is a small city," she said.
Both students said they think they will miss most when they leave in December, besides their new friends, is the freedom they were afforded in their daily lives.
"The independent lifestyle is the thing I love most about American life," Khan said.
"I like to be on my own the most. I have never traveled and I have never been so far away from my family," Fatima added. "It really feels good to be on my own and to do stuff myself."
Both Khan and Fatima have traveled since coming to the U.S. Fatima went to Nashville and is hoping to go to New York City, a place Khan recently spent three days.
"I think they were the best days of my life," he said. "It is such a lively city, so full of tourists."
Khan said his favorite part of the trip was a boat cruise out to visit the Statue of Liberty.
"It was my first time on a ship," he said.
Khan said the experience helped improve his relationship with the English language and has given him an experience he could not have gotten anywhere else.
"When I got selected, it finally made me feel like I had some potential," he said. "I now have international exposure, I have an internship at the college. It will give a boost to my academic career and my English has improved, so obviously it is going to help me in my future."
When they return to Pakistan, both students will focus on completing their studies. But because of their overwhelmingly positive experience in East Tennessee, neither plans to stay away from the U.S. for long.
Khan, who is also an intern at Blount Memorial Hospital, plans to return to do a medical residency in the United States. Fatima wants to finish her undergraduate degree and return to the U.S.
"I am hoping to come back to America when I finish school. I really want to come back to Maryville," she said.
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