By Sara M Berry
Last year, CCSU was home to over 300 international students. Horace Hamilton is one of them.
Hamilton, 33, has been studying in the US for four years.
He came to this country from Jamaica in 2007 to study computers at Capital Community College in Hartford. At Capital, he earned his Associate’s Degree in computer information systems.
Growing up in Jamaica, Hamilton said he wasn’t a good student. “That was because I didn’t study… I never really liked school.” But after graduating from high school and working different jobs for several years, including one as a trophy engraver, he realized that he needed an education to get a better job.
“I applied for college back home in Jamaica and I applied here also, because I had a cousin [who] went to capital at the time, and I told her I wanted to start college, and she said ‘why don’t you apply here?’ So I was like ‘Alright, I’ll apply for college in my home town, in my home country, and apply for college here.’”
“To go to college in my country, you have to have at least five subjects, and at the time, I had three and I was doing three more,” Hamilton said. After taking a placement test for college in Jamaica, they told him that he didn’t have enough subjects, even though he was in the process of completing them.
“I had applied for college here, and I got an acceptance letter… so I just moved all my focus from the University in my home country and put everything here, and that was it. That was the beginning.”
After graduating from Capital in 2009, Hamilton transferred to CCSU for a bachelors’ degree in networking technology. Like Hamilton, more international students at CCSU are enrolled in the Carol A. Ammon School of Arts & Sciences
The biggest difference between the US and Jamaica, Hamilton said, is opportunity. “There’s a lot more opportunity here. There’s opportunity in Jamaica too, but because it’s such a small country, the market isn’t as wide as here and there’s a lot of people [competing] for just that one job, whereas here there’s a lot more opportunity to branch off into something different.”
Education is also different in the US than it is in Jamaica. In Jamaica, classes are not broken down into semesters, and Hamilton finds the semester schedule to be easier, as you only have to know what you have learned in a semester, rather than an entire year. He also said that there are very few multiple choice exams, and “your answers have to be written in essay-type [format], so that makes it a lot harder.”
I got my first computer in 2000, and I knew nothing about it,” Hamilton recalled. “I remember turning it on and looking at the blue screen for a couple of days,” until a computer-savvy friend could help set it up. “Every day I just sat in front of it and pressed buttons,” he said, until he figured it out. That is where his interest in computers came from.
When choosing on a major, he decided that he was going to get his degree in whatever subject he got the best grades in, and that happened to be IT. In addition to his degree in computer information systems and being a networking technology major, Hamilton also works in CCSU’s IT department. When he finishes college, Hamilton hopes to continue working with computers. “I’d definitely like to own my own computer firm, whether it be hardware or software issues or networking issues.”
One of the hardest things about coming to the US for Hamilton was being away from his family, including his sister and four brothers.
The other most difficult thing was the difference in language. “It was really hard to learn to speak the language. Even now, I have to pause to make sure I get what I want to say correct in my head before I actually say it.” In Jamaica, they speak a form of broken English known as Patois (pronounced pat-wa). “A lot of the words we say is not grammatically correct, so I have to be constantly fixing words in my head before I actually say them.” In the Jamaican version of English, the same word can be spelled different ways, and several words may have the same meaning.
Hamilton also found the American way of interacting to be a bit troublesome. “I’m from a different place where we’re used to saying ‘good morning, good evening,’ stuff like that. I could be in the same house as my cousin or my aunt, and they just walk past me without saying anything, and that really bothered me. I’m getting used to it now,” he said.
Another difference between the US and Jamaica is the sense of time. Hamilton remembers a job that he had in his home country where “I could come in late and just tell my boss that I’d just stay an extra half hour and make that time up, and he was fine with that. But I come here, and if I’m late, it’s a different story.”
Hamilton is not a fan of the seasons. “Last week it was like 90 degrees and today it’s freezing. I really… I don’t want to say I hate the snow, but… I hate the cold.” An average day in Jamaica is usually near 88 degrees all year, but with less humidity.
“I would recommend to anybody to get your college degree… It’s not [just] about what you learn, it’s [also] about how you apply yourself,” Hamilton said, stressing that college is as much about the experience as it is about the education.
Since he’s been in the US, Hamilton has traveled to New York, Florida, Alabama, and Maryland. “I liked Maryland. It’s not as fast-paced as New York and it’s definitely not as cold as Connecticut.”