Many college students have to face their fears of living on their own for the first time while being separated from their families by several miles or state boundaries. LSU cross country senior Amal Esmail knows a little bit about being a long way from home.An almost unfathomable 7,761 miles separates Esmail from her native Dhahran, Saudi Arabia as she completes her bachelor’s degree in journalism at LSU.”I knew I was going to come to LSU for my whole college career, so I was prepared, but nothing can prepare you for such a thing because you have no idea what I was going to encounter,” Esmail said. “It’s kind of hard being away from home, but a lot of my friends from back home are in the same place I am, so I always have people who understand.”Being on the LSU cross country and track program provides a benefit to Esmail. The team has a large component of international students that LSU coach Mark Elliott said eases the transition to the American lifestyle for incoming foreign exchange runners.”[Esmail] joining the team wasn’t too unique because we have so many international students,” Elliott said. “I mean I’m from Jamaica. We have athletes from Africa. We’re a little bit like LSU’s United Nations.”With the exception of her first year, Esmail said she didn’t feel the transition into American life was too hard. Esmail attended international schools for the majority of her life, where she learned how to speak English and experienced a melting pot of other cultures.”I guess my first year was the hardest just because homesickness struck, and there’s nothing you can do but suck it up,” Esmail said. “As the years go on, it gets easier to deal with.”Esmail played soccer while growing up and never participated in cross country while in high school. But she decided to walk on to the LSU cross country team her sophomore year in Baton Rouge because of her affinity for the sport. Esmail said she would run on her own, but boredom would eventually creep in. Esmail says she is content with her decision.”I couldn’t ask for better teammates; we all have the same addiction. Everyone just loves to run; we get along and push each other to do our best,” Esmail said. “My coach is pretty cool, too.”Esmail’s teammate, sophomore Laura Carleton, said she relishes the opportunity to immerse herself in other cultures through the international students on the cross country and track teams. She said Esmail has adjusted well to America and LSU.”[Esmail] relates so well to everyone that you’d never realize she was from so far away unless she told you,” Carleton said.Elliot said Esmail was a step ahead of other student athletes because of the year she spent in school before walking on to the team. “She had a little more age and maturity than your average freshman,” Elliott said. “We didn’t have to do a whole lot to help her out.”Esmail has an example to look at in Elliott. A native of Spanish Town, Jamaica, Elliott had visions of America’s most iconic cities in his mind when he learned he was coming to America.Elliott said he was unsure of what to expect when he got to America but settled in when he made a key realization.”When I initially arrived [in Brenham, Texas], it wasn’t at all what I was expecting,” Elliott said. “Being from a small town in Jamaica, when you think of America, you think of New York, or Los Angeles or Dallas. When I came in, I was surprised that most of America was small towns like the one I grew up in.” —-Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]