Name: Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk: Student Life at the University of Kansas with Amanda Ostreko and Astha Thapa
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T17:44:57.000Z
Duration: 20 min 37 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Boundaries, the world's premier podcast for international students.

I am joined today by two esteemed guests, Amanda Ostricho, the assistant vice provost and director of graduate program enrollment at Kansas University in beautiful Lawrence, Kansas.

Amanda, thank you for hopping on the pod today.

And we're also joined by Asta Thapa, a senior at the University of Kansas, all the way from the beautiful country of Nepal.

You had a long journey from Nepal to America's heartland.

I'm curious to hear what, what were your initial, what was your initial take on Lawrence, Kansas, which is.

Which is located smack dab in the middle of the United States?

Well, my journey is full of beautiful ups and downs.

And there were so many choices that I was given and I took.

I was also in the east, in the west Coast.

I've been a different school, so I'm a transfer student.

It was not my first decision because I was hopping from one school to another school.

And I think I was struggling a lot with disability, feeling heard, feeling represented, kind of the belongingness piece was lacking.

And for me, when I came to Kansas, I kind of came with a defeated mindset where I was like, you know, I'll just, I'm just here for credit and I won't feel the belongingness.

I've been about two to three colleges, so that was my mindset.

But the minute I came in Kansas, it was like the right pace for me.

Lawrence was the right place for me because the diversity here is so beautiful.

You will see people walking from different backgrounds, different socioeconomic backgrounds, multicultural backgrounds.

This cross cultural melting pot, that's Lawrence for me.

So I saw people that look like me, people with different aspirations and stories.

And, you know, I always say this story to so many people in admissions.

I work for admissions, for recruitment and all.

When I was walking down the Mass street in Lawrence, I saw a restaurant and it was a taste from home.

And honestly, it's always been beautiful.

My first perspective about Lawrence is always diversity.

The world exposer, the melting pot where you will see every taste of the world from culture to conversation to educational opportunities.

So that's my first impression about American universities.

And having been to Lawrence several times, I can testify to this.

The University of Kansas itself is this amazing magnet for all kinds of talented people from around the world.

And it's interesting to hear your take on your impressions of that part of Kansas.

Now, Amanda, you have deep experience at KU and working in international education.

I'm curious to hear your perspective on the support programs available for international students at ku.

Yeah, we have a first, I would say a really great international support services office.

So we often work closely with issuing certainly in graduate admissions.

And I know any international student works really closely from the time that they are admitted all the way throughout their career here as a student.

So that's a great resource for all of our international students.

We also have, through that office, a lot of programming that they do that really helps the entire community understand international education.

They certainly involve their faculty and staff and their students.

But I've attended some of those, those sessions that they've hosted.

So, like they might host a session, you know, on Peru and they'll have students from Peru come and talk about their experience.

And so as someone who likes to travel, who's not an international student, but

someone who does like travel and, you know, sometimes have an interest at least in learning languages, although I'm not very good at it, you can you, as a staff member or just member of the community, have an opportunity to go to these programming sessions that also very much support students and engage students.

And then we also have a number of student organizations, so some that are specific, that really do focus on different cultures, but

then also just so many different student organizations that any student can be involved with that's really supportive to the entire student community.

And Amanda, my secret shame is that I really only speak English.

And I suppose there's an irony working for an English exam, but I share that.

That's why I love working with international students to gain exposure to other cultures via a similar language.

You mentioned that you had been at another school or two before you can speak to your experience at KU or elsewhere, but

Was there anything that surprised you about the American university experience compared to what you were accustomed to back home?

The flexibility in education, definitely.

That's what we drew me to come to make that decision, to fly all across the world and come here to get my education.

The flexibility in education is so amazing, and that's something I believe everybody undermines.

But it's so beautiful because I am majoring in computer science right now.

But that's not just the only thing that I do because of the flexibility, the options, the choices that you have, the, you know, educational pathways that you can create on your own.

And I think that's a blessing because, you know, when I first came in my head, I was like, it's only going to be computer science.

I'm going to be putting on my migraine glasses and just coding.

But then I sat down with my advisor and I was like, I'm very passionate.

And, you know, I'm very much interested in leadership opportunities.

And we sat down and we created a program where I'm graduating this semester with a major in computer science from School of Engineering, minor in Women Gender Sexuality Studies.

I also am graduating with dual certifications program and global awareness program and leadership enhancement, something I truly care about.

And I also have two dual associate's degree in general science and liberal arts and science.

But I know that if it was not for that decision to come here and explore American universities, I would not have this diversified experience where I am taking my career as an engineer, at the same time caring about the issues across the world, being the feminist that I am.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk: Student Life at the University of Kansas with Amanda Ostreko and Astha Thapa

specific

mindset

overwhelming

journey