International students share how they find pockets of home in the city.
To leave home and travel to New York City is a huge upheaval. As of fall 2021, 34% of New School students were international students — many are far away from home, yearning for some familiarity. The city is daunting, but that missing comfort can be found anywhere from a friend’s apartment to a coffee shop down the street. Off the 57th Street station, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts first-year Kartik Gupta takes The New School Free Press to their home away from home: an apartment co-owned by members of the North American Association of Indian Students, who feel like family to Gupta. In Chelsea, Beatrice Fröjd, a fourth-year exchange student at Lang studying Journalism + Design, takes us to Fabrique Bakery, her favorite Swedish cafe in the city, with pastries that transport her back to her hometown of Stockholm, Sweden.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Summer Safi: Can you talk a little bit about your culture and where you are from?
Kartik Gupta: I’m from India, specifically from New Delhi, but I traveled a lot in my country. I think I associate myself a lot with the Indian community [here] and the South Asian community at large.
SS: How did this apartment become a home to you?
KG: I started coming here often for occasions and weekly dinners — the North American Association of Indian Students has a lot of events taking place here. I am trying to learn how to cook and Sandhya auntie [a friend of Kartik’s] is always cooking. I just always had an interest in learning from her, so I’d hang around with her at the kitchen. I get to learn a lot while working with Sudhanshu bhaiji [a term for brother], who is the Executive Director of the North American Association of Indian Students. We share interests in community engagement and electoral politics. I am also interested in photography and Devanshu bhaiji has been engaging in photography for at least eight years now. So, I have interests that I share with each person around here. I think that’s how it started to become home away from home for me.
We try to invite people for all our events and we think that anybody who’s interested in the Desi culture, or brown, Indian culture should come.
— Kartik Gupta, first-year international student at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
SS: How does coming here cure your homesickness?
KG: We’re in college, we can’t always cook meals. It’s funny, one time I stopped at this restaurant a few blocks down called the Bengal Tiger. It’s a restaurant serving Indian food, and I just went, ‘I’m going to have a solo dinner date with me. Let’s do this.’ I did not like the food at all. It felt so bland to me. And then auntie was like, “Why did you go there? Just come home.” And then I had two dinners.
SS: What are some specific things that you miss from home that you wish you could find here?
KG: I would have loved a space where there was more engagement with the students. And I think we all have to play our part slowly and steadily [so that] we will have that campus for us. Apart from that, I miss the food, the understanding, and I feel there’s a language barrier. Then there are things that aren’t replaceable, like parents, siblings. One of the cultural shocks that I did experience was there’s more distance between people here emotionally, and on a personal level they don’t really engage with each other. Students do not take active interest in student societies in The New School. One of the reasons why I think it’s not happening right now is the lack of good tech. We do not have a good model to fund certain societies, even though there are always methods.
SS: How difficult was it to find other people and places that you connect with culturally?
KG: I think New School staff are trying to help us out when it comes to networking and connecting with more people. But I think the resources aren’t sent out in a way that is accessible and understandable for everyone. Also, I think there’s a lot of prejudice and misjudgment. For example, Tadka [the New School Indian cultural club] is a society that they would think that, ‘Oh, it’s an Indian space’ but actually we try to invite people for all our events and we think that anybody who’s interested in the Desi culture, or brown, Indian culture should come. So, please join us, have a good time. People tend to miss out on things here on campus. But, now that the student societies have more freedom on campus since spring semester started, I think we’ll be able to do that better.
Summer Safi: How similar is the New York branch of Fabrique to the Swedish flagship in Stockholm?
Beatrice Fröjd: The cafe in itself is very similar, like the interior, also the flowers, it looks exactly the same. And the pastry, when I tried it, it was good, but there was something missing in there. I don’t know if it was the bread. The bread was a little bit lighter and the cream as well.
SS: What does your culture mean to you?
BF: In the foundation of who I am, I am very Swedish. The way I interact with the world I’m more of a reserved person. The Swedish culture, it has this thing that’s good and it’s bad; you shouldn’t believe that you’re better than someone else. That creates a very conformist society. In Sweden, you shouldn’t stand out and that’s a pretty bad thing. But it’s a very socialist society; you shouldn’t look down on other people. In that way, I tend to be a bit conformist too. I’m very influenceable.
Something I noticed when I came here first, I realized that I hadn’t hugged someone for three weeks and then I hugged my roommate and it was so nice. These small things, that’s home to me.
— Beatrice Fröjd, fourth-year exchange student studying Journalism + Design at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
SS: Are you able to find aspects of home here?
BF: No and yes. It’s quite hard, honestly, to find the Swedish part of the home here, but I would say I always tend to find home in smaller things and that I try and make it my home. Usually I discover a cafe that I really like in a place that feels very safe or comfortable and then I tend to go there many times. It makes me feel at ease to have somewhere where I can be and also be alone and feel very comfortable. And that creates a home feeling for me a lot, just finding these small places that I visit regularly. I guess I’m a bit of a habitual person in that sense. For some reason, I get great comfort from finding vintage stores owned by older men that used to work in fashion. They’re in their 70’s, and I go to these places regularly and just talk to them and that makes me feel at ease. I don’t know if it’s because they remind me of my grandparents somehow, but just having the senior citizens that are just so kind to you, they’re always warm, they never question you. That’s very much a home feeling for me.
SS: What do you miss about Sweden?
BF: I miss the food, to be honest, because I am a big foodie and food is everything to me. So, the food I miss, like my grandma’s cooking. And I miss just walking around Stockholm. It’s a beautiful city. There’s a lot of water. It’s a different feeling.
SS: What does home mean to you?
BF: I think home is all the people you surround yourself with. The people that I meet here, for example, in some of them I see my older friends as well. And home is just trying to get certain things out of people, like love and closeness of physical touch and hugs. Something I noticed when I came here first, I realized that I hadn’t hugged someone for three weeks and then I hugged my roommate and it was so nice. These small things, that’s home to me.
A version of this article appeared in the Spring 2022 International Issue of The New School Free Press. Read more stories from the print issue here.