Bridges International<\/a> is helping make that transition a little easier.<\/p>\nThe organization works with international students throughout the school year, and one of its efforts helps newly arriving students find affordable furniture for their apartments.<\/p>\n
Students visit UT Austin\u2019s Surplus Reuse Store, where used university furniture and other items are given another opportunity to be put to use.<\/p>\n
For Raghav, an incoming graduate student from Chennai, India, the trip meant searching for some of the basics.<\/p>\n
\u201cTables, chairs, sofas, things like that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s super helpful. I got myself a chair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bridges volunteers don’t just help students shop.<\/p>\n
Micaiah Kuhl, a former Bridges intern who now volunteers with the organization, said part of his job is providing some muscle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a muscle to help out lifting all of the heavy, heavy furniture,\u201d Kuhl said.<\/p>\n
But his role continues after the furniture has been delivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the school year I’ll try and connect with as many students as I can, help them feel welcomed, help them adjust to American culture,\u201d Kuhl said.<\/p>\n
That personal connection is an important part of the program.<\/p>\n
Bridges International Team Leader John Achilles said helping students with practical needs gives volunteers an opportunity to build relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a way to develop friendship with them, to develop trust with them, and to show them that we care for them and that we’re glad that they’re here studying here,\u201d Achilles said.<\/p>\n
The effort also gives used university furniture another life rather than allowing usable items to go to waste.<\/p>\n
For students, the result may be a chair, table or sofa for an empty apartment. But for someone adjusting to a new city and a new country, organizers hope it provides something less tangible: a sense of community and a place that begins to feel like home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin, TX \u2014 For thousands of students arriving at the University of Texas at Austin, the beginning of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-419211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}