The language barrier between international students and and their American university might be creating a barrier for information about drinking on campus.
To some Chinese students, the answer is obvious when they’re asked why they choose not to drink.
Anthropology sophomore Weizhen Lu prefers video games over drinking.
“I drank alcohol in China but not in America,” Lu said.
Lu is an international student from China and said that she and her friends refrain from drinking because they aren’t old enough. Despite seeing other students around campus not abiding by the law, she sticks to what she knows is right.
Although Lu chooses to not drink in America, she's fully aware of stories about drinking.
The news about Jiayi Dai, the MSU international student from China who passed away before Welcome Week, has spread throughout the international community.
Human biology senior Christy Ky has connections with the community through the Chinese Student Coalition, a group she used to be a leader of. The club she is a part of shares Chinese culture with the community.
“I just thought it was pretty sad because these types of things do happen each year, but it was really tragic it was before school even started,” Ky said.
Alcohol has not been determined as a cause for Dai's death, but police said preliminary, alcohol could definitely have played a factor.
Ky said the incident didn't surprise her too much, because exposure to and an interest in alcohol can be common for incoming students; international or domestic.
The death of an international student is seen as both unexpected and expected depending on who you ask.
Office for International Students and Scholars Director Peter Briggs said the number of incidents and arrests is overwhelmingly comprised of U.S. students, not international students.
“My stereotype is that the Americans who come to campus and experience freedom are more likely to do binge drinking than the international students,” Briggs said.
Back home in China, students said the drinking age is much more relaxed than in the U.S.
“The law say 18 but nobody cares when you drink,” Lu said.
Mathematics freshman Lang Qin has consumed alcohol for Chinese celebrations back home, but refrains from drinking at MSU. He said many Chinese students want to make friends at MSU and attempt to go to parties, but they don’t like the party atmosphere.
Ky has noticed the differences in drinking cultures between international students and students from the U.S.
“(International students) don't really tend to, like I guess, binge drink or like drink a lot all at once ‘cause it’s more of like a social thing,” Ky said.
Lu and Qin both said that they’ve actually seen Chinese students use marijuana more often than alcohol.
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Lu has heard about Dai’s death, as well as another international student who she said passed away in the summer. Besides those cases, Lu hasn't heard too much about excessive drinking in the international community.
Drinking green tea and dumping cold water on an overly intoxicated person’s head is what Lu would do to help. She was unsure about who to call for help if the situation gets serious.
International students and U.S. students are supposedly given the same information about alcohol when they first come to MSU.
"They just told me you can't drink under 21," Lu said.
The term “medical amnesty” doesn’t register immediately for Lu and Qin, but one of them have seen it being used.
Lu said someone she knew called the police because she drank too much, and only received discipline from back home in China.
There’s disagreements on whether American students and Chinese international students feel separated from each other.
When Lu’s former roommate would host parties in their room, Lu would head to the library instead of stay around for drinking.
“I think drinking is bad, but party is good,” Lu said.
Although Lu would remove herself from her friends who would choose to drink, she said she doesn't feel completely separated because everyone has their own lives and makes their own decisions.
Ky said she definitely thinks international students are separated from the students who are originally from the U.S. She said international students, specifically Chinese, tend to stick together, rather than break outside their groups.
The language barrier makes communicating and socializing difficult for students from different countries, Ky said.
