Instead of spending his last days in America packing and preparing to return home after six months studying at the University, Benoit Laveau ended his career as a University student fighting to save the interior of the International Cultural Center from the wind, rain and wrath of Hurricane Gustav. “Due to the proximity with the lake, the ICC was not protected from the wind coming from that direction, so we started hearing glass breaking, and suddenly the roof started to leak,” the former University mechanical engineering graduate student said via e-mail from his native France. “So we did our best to save the ICC — save the mattress, sheets, electrical stuff. We tried to put different buckets to contain the water flowing from the ceiling.”Students who hail from locations throughout the Gulf Coastal Region are typically used to hurricanes, according to Maureen Hewitt, manager of the International Cultural Center, but the storms leave international students concerned — especially in the wake of       Hurricane Katrina.”[International students] have a theory when they come that a hurricane is going to hit them on the head at any minute,” Hewitt said. “It is not something that keeps them away though. In their own perspective, the reports of hurricanes are not so much different than their own versions of catastrophic events that happen in different parts of the world, and they are anxious to at least learn about it.”Hewitt said most of the concern comes from international students’ parents.”During Katrina, after seeing the dark news reports, one of our students’ mother literally thought Louisiana was falling into the ocean,” Hewitt said. “After Gustav, something odd happened; we got more damage in the Baton Rouge area than [during Katrina], but it was under-reported, and people didn’t understand we were without electricity for a very long time. We had terrible tree damage and immobility.” Despite Laveau’s and other students’ efforts, the ICC suffered an estimated $295,000 dollars in damages, said Facility Development Director Emmett David.Gnel Gabrielyan had only been in America for two weeks when Hurricane Gustav hit Baton Rouge.”It was a big surprise,” said Gabrielyan, agricultural economics graduate student from the southwestern-Asia country Armenia. “I came to LSU on August 13 last year, and in two weeks, Gustav came.” Gabrielyan weathered the storm volunteering in the PMAC.”I was more excited than scared,” Gabrielyan said. “I wanted to see what was going on everywhere. We had a lot of patients that really needed help, so it was a good experience helping other people.”Gabrielyan volunteered more than 90 hours in the PMAC after the storm and said the experience helped him become acclimated with life in America. “At first, I had no idea what I was doing,” Gabrielyan said. “But I ended up making a lot of friends that I am still friends with today.”Abhishek Bharad, an agricultural engineering graduate student from India, was also new to America and volunteered with Gabrielyan during the hurricane. “All the patients were warm and happy and taught me a lot of things about English accents because they are different here,” Bharad said. “It was helpful to find people who had the same attitude and wanted to help.”While Bharad and Gabrielyan weathered the storm in the safe confines of the PMAC, some international students had a much more frightening experience.”I was actually not prepared at all and didn’t know what to expect,” said Merie Ham, University alumna.Ham, originally from China, said she had never experienced weather so powerful until Hurricane Gustav hit. “At that time, I had a child that was 5 months old,” Ham said. “I was very scared for my child that it would get hurt. The wind was very scary, it made such a [loud] noise.”Gabrielyan said Armenia is no stranger to its own natural disasters. “[People in Louisiana and people in Armenia] are mentally alike,” Gabrielyan said. “People are aware that earthquakes can happen at anytime like people in Louisiana are always prepared and aware of the risk of hurricanes.”Although the ICC kept international students updated with e-mail reports about the impending hurricane, most students said they had no idea what to expect.”I was not actually prepared,” Bharad said. “I was not expecting that it would be as big as it was, and after the hurricane, I was a bit scared. Before I was really taking it lightly.”————Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]