KOKOMO, Ind. — Colleges across the country are enrolling more international students than ever before, with more than 800,000 enrolling during the 2013-14 school year, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Internationals now comprise about 4 percent of all university students — graduates and undergraduates — according to a recent study by the Institute of International Education.

Those numbers are likely to increase in coming years, in part because foreign students are getting earlier starts on schooling in the U.S. through international student programs like the one offered by the Kokomo School Corporation.

Students come to Kokomo, a community of 55,000 in northern Indiana, from around the world, including China, Albania, and Mexico. For many, life in the U.S. is different from life in their home countries.

Marianne Cortes, a student from Mexico, says Kokomo High School is a big change from her hometown school, where the teachers rotate to different classrooms and the students sit at the same desks all day. She had to wear a uniform in Mexico, and she told the Kokomo, Indiana Tribune it’s a little overwhelming to have to decide what to wear each day.

Albanian student Rei Braja said there are more class options than he’s accustomed to. When he arrived at Kokomo High School, he didn’t realize there were multiple chemistry and math classes, and he was confused by his class schedule at first.

Nguyen Tran, a student from Vietnam, said his school back home had a designated time for naps during the day. It’s one thing he misses, he said, but he doesn’t plan to go back. He hopes to graduate from Kokomo High School and go to college in the U.S.

The availability of physical education and sports is another big difference for many of the students. Valdir Anghinoni, a student from Brazil, said his school doesn’t offer sports. When he came to Kokomo, he decided to try out for the football team. He remembers the coach telling the group of high school students to watch one of the returning players. Within five minutes, that player had broken his arm. Anghinoni said he immediately grabbed his things and went home. Football, it turned out, was not for him.

That story is one the students know well. Most of them live together in dorms downtown, cooking meals, playing games and socializing when they’re not studying. Though most of them come from different countries, they are able to connect with and learn from each other.

“We share a lot,” Anghinoni said.

“We’re more like family,” Cortes said. “We get to see each other every day, and we have family bonds.”

“It’s better to live in the dorms,” Braja said. “You get more interaction. We go to movies, play soccer. That interaction is good.”

The students in the dorms have host families they see over weekends and on holidays, but some students prefer to live with host families instead of the downtown dorms.

Teresa White is a host mother for Samuel Sfeir, a student from Brazil. White said she wanted to host an international student because of the exposure it could give her son, Blake White, a sophomore at the high school.

White said she wanted her son to experience and learn from another culture. She said Sfeir was a good match because he wanted to live with a host family rather than in a dorm, but there are some challenges. Sfeir is still learning English, and he has trouble with some slang words. However, she enjoys watching her son learn some Portuguese from Sfeir.

The students and host families aren’t just learning languages, they’re learning about other cultures. Many of the students were amazed by how the U.S. celebrates holidays, such as Christmas.

Cortes said she was shocked by how many gifts her host family gave her for Christmas. When New Year’s rolled around, someone told Cortes that it’s traditional to kiss a stranger at midnight. Cortes said she was worried she might have to kiss someone, and she saw other people kissing, but she preferred to skip that particular custom.

White said Sfeir put his shoes in the hallway on New Year’s Eve because in Brazil it’s customary for parents to put candy in children’s shoes overnight. Braja said only children receive gifts during the holidays in Albania, so he was surprised to get a gift at all this Christmas.

Anghinoni was surprised by the amount of food people eat over the holidays, especially Thanksgiving. Even outside of the holidays, the students said there are several things the U.S. does differently when it comes to food. There are more soft drink choices at restaurants, for instance, and they said they particularly enjoy Chick-fil-A.

Some of the students, including Tran and Braja, are hoping to graduate from Kokomo High School and attend college in the U.S. Tran hopes to move to Texas, where some of his family members live, and Braja hopes to move to New York for the same reason.

“It’s good to get used to another culture,” Tran said. “I thought I would be homesick, but I don’t think about it anymore. This feels like home now.”

Pemberton writes for the Kokomo, Indiana Tribune.