S3E41: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Student Cosmas Chibombwe of Zambia

In this our forty-first episode of Season 3, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews international student Cosmas Chibombwe of Zambia about his experience here at Seattle Colleges and about life in the United States. 

1:19 - Meet Cosmas!

Copyright © Seattle Colleges International Programs 2023. All rights reserved. For more information about being an international student at Seattle Colleges, please visit intl.seattlecolleges.edu

The theme music 'Bounce' is an audio file pursuant to the Pixabay License as defined in the Pixabay Terms of Service available at https://http://pixabay.com/service/terms/

Also, connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) at
SeattleCollegesIntl

Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show 'Conversations with!', where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:05  
Hey everybody! Welcome back to Seattle Colleges 'Conversations with!' We're here in the great city of Seattle at Central in Capitol Hill. Very excited. Today is our first guest from the great country of Zambia. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:21  
Oh, yes. 

Evan Franulovich  1:22  
Yeah! Welcome. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:24  
Thank you so much. Happy to be here. 

Evan Franulovich  1:26  
Ah, it's really great to have you here. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:27  
I'm happy to be here. 

Evan Franulovich  1:28  
We just saw him perform the other night on stage. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:32  
Oh, yes. 

Evan Franulovich  1:33  
You want to tell him about the talent show?

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:36  
Oh yes, we had a talent show on Wednesday. I was singing, performing I'm an artist. It was pretty awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  1:44  
It was. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:45  
I had a lot of support, it was really good. I got third place. 

Evan Franulovich  1:51  
It was really great. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:53  
It was awesome. So much talent in the school. 

Evan Franulovich  1:55  
It's pretty wild. There were like 12 different acts. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  1:58  
Yeah, dances and people singing as well. Yeah, it was really interesting.

Evan Franulovich  2:05  
Some people wrote their own music, it was really cool. Well, anyway, why don't we tell everybody who you are, so they could look for you on iTunes. So tell everybody who you are, where you're from exactly, and then what you're studying.

Cosmas Chibombwe  2:19  
Okay. Hi everybody! My name is Cosmas Chibombwe The Second. I am from Zambia, Kitwe to be specific, and I am studying International Economics.

Evan Franulovich  2:19  
What do you want to do with something like international economics?

Cosmas Chibombwe  2:35  
Well, hopefully make my country better. I'm hoping to maybe branch out into international relations and try to use different languages that I speak to interact with different countries. 

Evan Franulovich  2:46  
Cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  2:46  
To make better decisions for my countries, I'm hoping to get some sort of leadership position one day. 

Evan Franulovich  2:53  
Fingers crossed. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  2:54  
Yeah, and just use something like that to make Zambia much better. 

Evan Franulovich  2:58  
Cool. What would you say is the number one biggest thing facing Zambia that is preventing it from becoming a better country?

Cosmas Chibombwe  3:08  
I think overall, Zambia is a very good country, but there's a lot of corruption, if I'm being honest. 

Evan Franulovich  3:14  
Sure, yeah. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  3:15  
And a lot of resources are going to people that don't really deserve it, because we have a lot of hard working people in Zambia that didn't get the resources they deserve. So kind of hoping that I could be in that position where the people that need to get the resources given to them actually given to those people, as opposed to government that's corrupt and only care about themselves. Very individualistic society that we live in. 

Evan Franulovich  3:41  
Cool. Yeah, if you get a chance to go Zambia, I highly recommend it. It's a great country. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  3:47  
Yeah, you were in the Lusaka.

Evan Franulovich  3:50  
I was in Lusaka, so I didn't get up to the Copperbelt. But yeah, Lusaka was great. Did you live in Lusaka as well?

Cosmas Chibombwe  3:55  
No, actually, I was born in Lusaka. I've lived in Copperbelt my whole life. 

Evan Franulovich  4:00  
I got you, but you visited. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  4:03  
I've been there once or twice. 

Evan Franulovich  4:06  
Did you go to the National Museum? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  4:08  
No, I didn't go to the National Museum. Funny story, the only times that I've been in Lusaka is for the visa interview. 

Evan Franulovich  4:17  
Oh, okay. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  4:18  
The first time I went there was the first visa interview that I had to go to China. 

Evan Franulovich  4:21  
Sure. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  4:22  
And then the second visa interview I had was to come here to the United States. 

Evan Franulovich  4:26  
Oh, yeah. So let's talk about first, your visa process for getting into the United States. Because everybody always asks me about that. I usually wait to ask you this later in the show, but let's get right into it. Since you mentioned going to Lusaka, from the time you got accepted here at Seattle Colleges, and you got your I-20, to the time you actually got your visa interview date. How long was that stretch of time?

Cosmas Chibombwe  4:53  
Approximately a month. Well, it's not bad. 

Evan Franulovich  4:55  
It's not bad. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  4:55  
Yeah, approximately one month. It was pretty quick.

Evan Franulovich  4:59  
And how did you spend that month getting ready?

Cosmas Chibombwe  5:02  
Well, I was nervous. Honestly, you get to hear the stories of you don't get your visa, it's gonna be denied. But I think what kind of helped is I have been to different countries, so I have different stamps on my passport. 

Evan Franulovich  5:20  
Right. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  5:20  
I think this kind of helped. However, that doesn't take over the nerves, because you never know. 

Evan Franulovich  5:25  
Nope, it doesn't.

Cosmas Chibombwe  5:26  
 You never know. So you go online, you research what type of questions they're going to ask you, and you try to prepare yourself as much as you can, but just be yourself and try to be as honest as you can.

Evan Franulovich  5:38  
Right. So how long did your interview last? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  5:40  
A couple of minutes. 

Evan Franulovich  5:40  
It's really fast. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  5:40  
It's really fast. Yeah, about seven minutes, maybe or less. Five, seven minutes. 

Evan Franulovich  5:47  
And what did they ask you? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  5:49  
They asked me, why do I want to go to the United States? What am I going to study? And, yeah, general questions. Not questions that will make you think deep, just general questions.

Evan Franulovich  6:02  
Did they ask about your financial statement at all? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:04  
Not really, because I did provide a bank statement. 

Evan Franulovich  6:07  
Okay. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:08  
The guy that was interviewing me, looked at the bank statement, and I guess it was okay for him, but most of the questions were just basically, why do I want to go to the US. 

Evan Franulovich  6:19  
Were there other people waiting for their F-1 visa interview?

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:23  
Yes, they were other people. And you could see other people getting denied. 

Evan Franulovich  6:29  
Oh, no. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:30  
Yeah, and that would make you question, like maybe I might not get it. 

Evan Franulovich  6:36  
Right. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:37  
I remember this old lady, she wanted to come to the United States for her daughter's wedding, and was denied. 

Evan Franulovich  6:46  
That's a tourist visa, though, right?

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:49  
It's not enough F-1 visa, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  6:49  
People get denied for all those different types. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:49  
Yeah, it happens. 

Evan Franulovich  6:54  
So did you see other people getting accepted?

Cosmas Chibombwe  6:58  
Yes, I did. You can get accepted, but you can get denied.

Evan Franulovich  7:03  
I could be way off pace here, but I think Zambia has a little bit better visa approval rate than some other African countries. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  7:10  
Yes, yes.

Evan Franulovich  7:11  
So hang in there. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  7:14  
If you are from Zambia, you stand a high chance. 

Evan Franulovich  7:18  
A pretty good chance, but prepare.

Cosmas Chibombwe  7:21  
Prepare. Don't go there, blank. 

Evan Franulovich  7:24  
Yeah, that's not a good idea. Know where Seattle is. Know where the community colleges is.

Cosmas Chibombwe  7:41  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  7:41  
I mean, if you're applying to this school. Did you consider applying to any other schools? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  7:43  
I did. I applied to the University of Houston. 

Evan Franulovich  8:01  
Right.

Cosmas Chibombwe  7:40  
And some other universities that, honestly, I don't even remember. So I had the option of coming to Seattle and Houstonas well, but I did a little bit of research. I could say there's a huge cultural aspect to being in Seattle. So I looked at that because I'm somebody that's very social, so I wanted to come to Seattle. It was my first choice. 

Evan Franulovich  8:05  
Yeah, cool. It's a good choice. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:09  
I'm enjoying it over here. It's awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  8:13  
Well, I've been to Houston. No offense to you, people from Houston that are listening, but Seattle's a better choice.

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:19  
Seattle's a better choice. I haven't been to Houston, but I think nothing can top Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  8:24  
I mean, the winter in Houston is probably a little nicer, but the summer in Seattle's glorious. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:29  
It's terrible in Texas. 

Evan Franulovich  8:31  
So hot. Well, that's really cool. Did you consider any other countries like UK, Australia?

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:38  
Oh, yes. I did consider other options.

Evan Franulovich  8:43  
That's good. Okay, so let's go back. This is usually the way I start. Let's go back to when you were a kid. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:53  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  8:54  
You have a family?

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:55  
Yes, I do have family. 

Evan Franulovich  8:57  
How big is your family? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  8:58  
I have three brothers. 

Evan Franulovich  9:00  
Oh, wow. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:01  
Yeah, they're all younger than I am. 

Evan Franulovich  9:03  
You're the oldest. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:04  
I'm the oldest. Me, my mom, and my three brothers.

Evan Franulovich  9:10  
Cool. Are you a mean big brother? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:13  
I used to be. If you're watching guys, I'm sorry about those times. 

Evan Franulovich  9:20  
Sure. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:20  
I'm much better now. 

Evan Franulovich  9:21  
Oh, good. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:22  
I'm much better now. 

Evan Franulovich  9:23  
How old are they? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:25  
So, my youngest brother is turning 13. 

Evan Franulovich  9:29  
Oh, okay. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:30  
The one who's after him is turning 18. 

Evan Franulovich  9:32  
Right. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:33  
And then my young brother is 21. 

Evan Franulovich  9:35  
Nice. Yeah, what's your 21 year old brother doing? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:38  
Oh, he's studying medicine. 

Evan Franulovich  9:39  
We're at? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:41  
At Apex University in Zambia.

Evan Franulovich  9:44  
Oh, cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:46  
It's in Lusaka. 

Evan Franulovich  9:49  
Oh, it's in Lusaka. Gotcha. I don't recognize that name.

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:52  
Yeah, it's in Lusaka. 

Evan Franulovich  9:54  
Well, maybe I'll run into them next time. That would be pretty cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  9:58  
That would be pretty cool. That would be awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  10:00  
Do they have any plans to come visit you? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:03  
Well, the one who's studying medicine? Yes, he does. But my other brothers like the UK, because they're really big on soccer.

Evan Franulovich  10:12  
Oh yeah. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:13  
Soccer is really big in the UK, so they want to go there instead. 

Evan Franulovich  10:16  
Right. Well, I think I just saw the World Cup brackets, and I think Zambia is on there. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:21  
Well, no. 

Evan Franulovich  10:23  
I thought you guys qualified. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:25  
No, we didn't, unfortunately. In the US, you are not gonna see Zambia, unfortunately. But there are other African countries that I really like, the Democratic Republic of Congo, I'm going to be supporting them. 

Evan Franulovich  10:25  
Is Cameroon qualified? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:26  
I'm not sure. 

Evan Franulovich  10:27  
They have a pretty strong team. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:30  
They have a really good team. But I'm excited about the World Cup.

Evan Franulovich  10:36  
I'm sorry Zambia is not going to be in there. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:40  
Unfortunately. 

Evan Franulovich  10:41  
Well, they might end up going to the African Cup, though. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:46  
Yes, we are in the African Cup. 

Evan Franulovich  10:53  
In Morocco. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  10:54  
In Morocco. Excited about that. 

Evan Franulovich  10:57  
Yeah, we'll definitely be going. I'll try to schedule my trip to Morocco about the time Africa Cups is happening. You can go with me. We can go watch the Zambia play.

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:11  
Yes, exactly. That'd be awesome. Please do let me know. 

Evan Franulovich  11:11  
So you are a little kid, did you go to public or private school?

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:12  
I went to a private school. 

Evan Franulovich  11:12  
You did? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:13  
Yes, I went to a private school. 

Evan Franulovich  11:16  
Good school? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:18  
It was a good school. I enjoyed my high school. 

Evan Franulovich  11:23  
Want to give them a shout out? What's the name your school? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:25  
Faith Christian Trust Academy.

Evan Franulovich  11:26  
Nice. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:27  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:28  
Okay, and did someone at that institution kind of encourage you to think about going overseas?

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:35  
Well, not really, not from my private school, but I had really good teachers that were very supportive of me. Maybe in some way they did kind of made me think in that that way, but not really directly. 

Evan Franulovich  11:49  
So then at what point did you think to yourself, 'Oh, I should probably go overseas to go to school.'

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:56  
Um, it was around the time I was finishing high school. 

Evan Franulovich  11:58  
Okay.

Cosmas Chibombwe  11:58  
I finished high school in 2017, and I was considering where I was going to do my my bachelor's degree. And so the opportunity came for me to go study to a university in Zambia, but I just didn't really feel like it was for me, and I leaned towards international more. I just kind of felt the exposure would be better for me. And so I had the opportunity to go to China, that is where I went first.

Evan Franulovich  12:27  
Okay, well, let's talk about that. Yeah, so did someone recruit you? They're like, 'Hey, come to China.' Kind of like, I do, I go, 'Come to America.'

Cosmas Chibombwe  12:35  
Yeah, a little bit, because there's this Chinese man that is in Zambia, that's very close to my dad. Because my dad is a doctor who works for a Chinese hospital. So there was that sort of connection. Yeah, it makes sense, right? So, there was that connection, that pull that took me towards China. 

Evan Franulovich  12:54  
Right. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  12:55  
That's where I went to, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  12:57  
Where'd you go?

Cosmas Chibombwe  12:58  
So the first year I was in 2019, I was in Beijing. 

Evan Franulovich  13:02  
Okay. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:02  
I studied language there for a year, and then in 2020 I went to Liaoning.

Evan Franulovich  13:09  
Cool. We talked at the orientation in Chinese. That was very cool. How many years were you there? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:20  
I was there for five years, from 2019 to 2024. 

Evan Franulovich  13:20  
You were there at the same time I was. That's crazy. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:23  
Oh, really? 

Evan Franulovich  13:26  
Yeah, I was there from 2018 to 2022. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:33  
Oh, wow. 

Evan Franulovich  13:37  
So there's some overlap there. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:38  
Yeah, there is. 

Evan Franulovich  13:39  
We didn't run into each other. It was amazing to me, I met so many not just African students, but African workers. I mean, it really is quite a population. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:49  
Yes, yes. 

Evan Franulovich  13:50  
Very cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:51  
Which part of China were you? 

Evan Franulovich  13:52  
I was in Chengdu. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:53  
Chengdu. 

Evan Franulovich  13:54  
Sichuan Province, panda bears and good food. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  13:59  
Yeah, the food is pretty awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  14:02  
Were you able to travel around China at all? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:04  
During the pandemic, it got really hard to travel within the city, but afterwards, it became much better. But honestly, my thrill for going out just kind of died. So I was just around the city, and I got to travel outside of Liaoning. So I was there from 2022 up until the time I graduated. 

Evan Franulovich  14:25  
Cool. So you did graduate? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:28  
I did graduate. Yes, I got my bachelor's degree in economics. 

Evan Franulovich  14:31  
Wow. So then you apply here to study economics. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:36  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  14:38  
And you're working on an associate degree? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:40  
Yes, I am. 

Evan Franulovich  14:41  
Did you take any of your transcripts and have them evaluated for this school to maybe award you credit for what you'd already done? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:50  
I did, but they weren't really recognized. 

Evan Franulovich  14:53  
Really? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:54  
Yes, yes. 

Evan Franulovich  14:55  
That's interesting. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  14:56  
Interesting, yeah. And funny thing is, I wanted to leave China in the middle of the pandemic, it got really hard. That was when I decided that I wanted to come to the United States. 

Evan Franulovich  15:11  
That was really a challenging time. I had a little bit of a different experience in Chengdu. Things were pretty chill out there. You know, you had to wear a mask when you went out, and you had to show your QR code whenever you went somewhere. But we were able to get back into the restaurants pretty quickly. We didn't lose much time in the classroom, because I was teaching at a university, maybe we lost a couple months, that was it, and then we were right back in it. So I think Chengdu wasn't hit as hard as some of the eastern areas like Shanghai. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  15:41  
Yeah, exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  15:43  
How did the Chinese people treat you while you were there, did you have a good experience?

Cosmas Chibombwe  15:43  
I had a really good experience. 

Evan Franulovich  15:43  
Oh, good. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  15:43  
I think other people get different experiences. 

Evan Franulovich  15:47  
Definitely heard mixed results. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  15:52  
Yes, mixed results, exactly. But for me personally, I had a great experience with a lot of Chinese people that I met, most of them were very helpful, especially with helping me how to speak Mandarin. It helped me improve. A lot of them were very curious about learning how to speak English, and then also where I'm from. So most of the people that I met were pretty chilled. It was a good experience for me personally.

Evan Franulovich  16:22  
Well, if you go to the National Museum in Lusaka, you'll learn that actually Zambia has a pretty good history with China. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  16:29  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  16:29  
They helped build your railroads. They were very instrumental there. There's actually a small Chinese population within Zambia itself. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  16:37  
Yeah, there is. You find them mostly in Lusaka, because that's where businesses and also other places, whereas a huge industry for mining as well. 

Evan Franulovich  16:44  
Yes, that's true. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  16:44  
Yeah, there is a big population of Chinese people.

Evan Franulovich  16:45  
So your language is going to come in handy.

Cosmas Chibombwe  16:49  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  16:50  
That's pretty cool. Did you go back to Zambia to apply for here? Or did you apply for here from China? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:02  
I applied when I went back to Zambia. 

Evan Franulovich  17:06  
Yeah, so you had a little downtime? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:08  
Yeah, I worked for a little bit when I was in Zambia. 

Evan Franulovich  17:11  
What'd you do? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:13  
I was working as a translator. Then also I was doing a little bit of market analysis for the company that I was working for. 

Evan Franulovich  17:24  
Chinese translation? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:24  
Yeah, yeah, Chinese translation. Yes, that's my advantage, so I did that. 

Evan Franulovich  17:26  
Yeah, but I think your Chinese skills must be much stronger than mine, because I don't think I'm qualified.

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:33  
You were in China for how long? 

Evan Franulovich  17:35  
Four years. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:35  
Four years. 

Evan Franulovich  17:36  
I'm old, though. You're young. Well, that's really cool. So you applied here. How did you even find Seattle Colleges in the first place?

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:48  
Yeah, it was actually a recommendation from somebody that's already here in the United States. 

Evan Franulovich  17:53  
Oh, cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  17:54  
I was trying to figure out where I could go. And then Seattle was one of the places that we looked at. And then Seattle Colleges came up, so that is how I got to know the about the place. And I looked at the courses that they offer, I looked at the community, I just decided, hey, why not give it a shot? 

Evan Franulovich  18:15  
Looks good. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  18:16  
And here I am having an interview. 

Evan Franulovich  18:18  
So did you consider the other campuses because you're at Central, did you think about South or North, or did you just always want to go to Central? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  18:26  
Well, to be honest, it was like flipping a coin. But I didn't really have much knowledge about the differences between South and Central, but yeah, I applied to Central.

Evan Franulovich  18:43  
Sorry, I don't remember, I talk to so many students. But we didn't communicate before you came, did we? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  18:48  
No, we didn't. 

Evan Franulovich  18:50  
When I was in Lusaka, I went to the American corner, and did a presentation at the Education USA office. And I met a lot of people. So I don't remember everybody I met, but it was a big crowd of people. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  19:04  
Okay. 

Evan Franulovich  19:04  
Keep hoping I'll run into one of those guys. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  19:07  
Yeah, hopefully. 

Evan Franulovich  19:09  
Well, so you got here. Tell me about the trip over, did it go smoothly?

Cosmas Chibombwe  19:16  
It was very smooth. 

Evan Franulovich  19:19  
Oh, good. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  19:19  
So I moved from Zambia to Tunisia, and from Tunisia, I came here to Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  19:27  
You had to go through Paris?

Cosmas Chibombwe  19:30  
No, firstly, it was Zambia, then I went to Ethiopia then Tunisia. 

Evan Franulovich  19:39  
Oh, cool. Well, you've obviously flown a lot. You said you had traveled more than just China and America? Had you been to Europe? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  19:52  
Oh, well, no. I've been to other African countries. I have been to Zimbabwe. I've been to South Africa. I've been to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Evan Franulovich  20:03  
Where?

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:04  
Lubumbashi.

Evan Franulovich  20:03  
It's a tough neighborhood, there's a lot going on there.

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:06  
There's a lot going on, but Lubumbashi is pretty great.

Evan Franulovich  20:09  
You felt pretty safe? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:14  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  20:18  
When you travel within Africa, do people automatically know that you're not from their country? If you go to South Africa, for instance?

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:26  
If you speak, they might know, because maybe my accent might throw them off a little. 

Evan Franulovich  20:30  
Okay. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:31  
Yes, but also just a glance looking at you, they can't really tell. 

Evan Franulovich  20:37  
Although, when I go to Ethiopia, people look different in Northeastern Africa. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:43  
Oh, really?

Evan Franulovich  20:44  
I think so personally, and I definitely get a different vibe also when I'm in West Africa. I mean, I try to explain to people that ask me, because not too many people travel to Africa, and I'm like, 'Dude, you got to go, but it's a big place.' 

Cosmas Chibombwe  20:58  
It's very big. 

Evan Franulovich  21:00  
Yeah, I mean, Zambia is big, and then the content is massive. People have different looks definitely sound different, for sure. So you flew over when you got here. Did you have housing waiting for you? What'd you do for housing? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  21:17  
Oh, yes. My dad made an arrangement with somebody that's already here, so it was easier for me to just settle in. They were really helpful. 

Evan Franulovich  21:28  
That's great. Like a friend or family?

Cosmas Chibombwe  21:31  
Family friend, I could call them that.

Evan Franulovich  21:34  
Do you have any family here? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  21:36  
I do have family here. I do have family over in the East Coast, in Michigan, and I have family in Illinois. Yeah, and actually, after this quarter, I'll be going over there to visit family. 

Evan Franulovich  21:49  
So your summer break? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  21:51  
Summer break, yeah. I already saw my summer break. 

Evan Franulovich  21:53  
Did you say you already? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  21:55  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  21:56  
When did you do your summer break?

Cosmas Chibombwe  21:59  
I'm gonna do this summer.

Evan Franulovich  22:00  
It's coming up. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:00  
It's coming up. 

Evan Franulovich  22:01  
So how long you gonna take to go over there? You're just be gone the whole summer?

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:09  
The whole summer. 

Evan Franulovich  22:09  
That's awesome. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:10  
I'm gonna take everything.

Evan Franulovich  22:13  
And then you come back for the Fall. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:15  
Come back for the Fall. 

Evan Franulovich  22:15  
And then you have one more year?

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:19  
Um, yes. I have two more years.

Evan Franulovich  22:22  
Why two more years? Did you change your major? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:26  
No, that's the way the program is designed. I have two years on it. 

Evan Franulovich  22:32  
But how long have you been here? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:34  
This is my first quarter.

Evan Franulovich  22:36  
Oh, this is your first quarter! Sorry, that's my confusion. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:36  
That is where the confusion is.

Evan Franulovich  22:36  
My bad. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:36  
Yeah, this is my first quarter. 

Evan Franulovich  22:37  
Now I understand. Oh, that makes sense. Okay, cool. And then when you graduate, where are you hoping to transfer to?

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:50  
Seattle University. 

Evan Franulovich  22:51  
Oh. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:52  
I actually already have pre admission from Seattle University. So that is where I'm leaning towards. 

Evan Franulovich  22:57  
All right. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  22:58  
And Eastern Washington University as well. 

Evan Franulovich  23:00  
Cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:01  
And also UDub.

Evan Franulovich  23:03  
Yeah, of course. Have you been out to the Eastern Washington campus? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:06  
No, I haven't. 

Evan Franulovich  23:07  
It's a nice drive to get out there, you might want to go check it out. Eastern Washington's different. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:12  
How far is it from here? 

Evan Franulovich  23:13  
Maybe three hours. But it's a beautiful drive in that part of the state's really nice too. It's just different, that's all. Eastern Washington's a great campus, and since you have a little time, get some friends, hop in a car and take a road trip. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:34  
Yeah, I'll think about it. 

Evan Franulovich  23:35  
The summers are the best, because then you have to fight the snow. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:38  
Oh, I hate the snow. As a child, I always admired places that had snow, but once I got the experience of snow, I was like, this is horrible. I'm so glad we don't have this Zambia. 

Evan Franulovich  23:52  
Oh, did you get snow in China? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:54  
In Beijing. 

Evan Franulovich  23:55  
Yeah, it's freezing there. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  23:58  
It's so cold. 

Evan Franulovich  23:59  
It's so cold. You get those winds that come down from Russia. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  24:04  
Yes, If you're thinking about snow, do not, it's not as hyped as it is. 

Evan Franulovich  24:14  
Well, the good news about Seattle is, it gets moderately cold, but it's not too bad the snow is really in the mountains.

Cosmas Chibombwe  24:21  
I looked at the weather as well. 

Evan Franulovich  24:26  
Very smart. Were you able to do the snow tubing activity?

Cosmas Chibombwe  24:32  
No, I wasn't. 

Evan Franulovich  24:33  
Not that you would want to. What about the Mariner game? Did you go to the Mariner game? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  24:40  
No, I didn't. I think we spoke about it last time, I didn't know about it. 

Evan Franulovich  24:45  
Well, they do it every year. Yeah, you'll have another opportunity. A lot of people ask, especially from Zambia, about scholarships, those kinds of things. I know you've only been here for a short time, but have you looked into scholarships?

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:01  
We have the Foundation Scholarships. 

Evan Franulovich  25:05  
Yeah, yeah. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:06  
You also have benefits from Project Baldwin, you can look into that. 

Evan Franulovich  25:12  
Cool. What kind, can you explain that to me? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:16  
With the Foundation Scholarships? 

Evan Franulovich  25:18  
No, the Project Baldwin. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:20  
With Project Baldwin, you have to be here first. After you're done with your first quarter, then you'll be able to get some benefits. 

Evan Franulovich  25:29  
When you say benefits, what do you mean by that? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:31  
Financial benefits. 

Evan Franulovich  25:33  
Do they give scholarships, or they...? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:37  
Coaching as well. It's not really just about the money, they also give you financial advice that you can have with that, so it's just a good place to be, honestly, socially. 

Evan Franulovich  25:51  
Sure, I agree. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:52  
Yeah, so that's what I mean by benefits. It's not just really about the money part. 

Evan Franulovich  25:56  
Right, right. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  25:57  
You kind of get this whole different experience. You get to meet different people. Socially, you get to meet a lot of people. 

Evan Franulovich  26:04  
It's really supportive.

Cosmas Chibombwe  26:05  
It's really supportive.

Evan Franulovich  26:09  
I'm going back through all my old episodes, I don't think we've talked about Project Baldwin, maybe King talked about it. Do you know King? He's from Angola, he's at North Seattle.

Cosmas Chibombwe  26:18  
Oh, I met him. I did meet him once. 

Evan Franulovich  26:23  
If you haven't, you should. But maybe tell everybody what project Baldwin is, because most people overseas wouldn't know what that means.

Cosmas Chibombwe  26:30  
Well, I just got into Project Baldwin as well. I'm still learning what they what they offer, but Project Baldwin is about students of color. So it kind of helps with a lot of people navigate different things, financially, socially as well. You get a lot of help from Project Baldwin.

Evan Franulovich  26:30  
And they're right across the hall... 

Cosmas Chibombwe  26:36  
Right across the hall. 

Evan Franulovich  26:41  
...from our international projects office, so I see a lot of our international students coming and going from there. And they're welcoming of everybody. I mean, it really is set up for students of color, but I've seen everybody go.

Cosmas Chibombwe  27:04  
So it is for students of color, but a lot of people go there.

Evan Franulovich  27:09  
And they do hire from time to time, don't they? I think they do. Are you looking for work on campus?

Cosmas Chibombwe  27:19  
I actually got an on campus job. 

Evan Franulovich  27:20  
Hey, where'd you get it? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  27:23  
When did I get it? 

Evan Franulovich  27:24  
Yeah, when and where?

Cosmas Chibombwe  27:26  
I got the email about two days ago. 

Evan Franulovich  27:29  
Oh, cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  27:29  
I'm working at the information center.

Evan Franulovich  27:34  
Go say hello when you come by. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  27:35  
When you come by, just go down the information center, and I'll be waiting for you. 

Evan Franulovich  27:40  
Yeah, that's really great. You didn't get a chance to meet him, but Telvin Kameta was one of our students from Mombasa, Kenya. And he worked at the information office, and I always loved going in there and saying hi to him, because he's such a happy guy, you're gonna be great in there. That's awesome. Well, congratulations. Do you know how many hours a week they'll have you working?

Cosmas Chibombwe  28:00  
Yes, I'll be working for 12 hours a week. 

Evan Franulovich  28:02  
Oh, that's great, and they pay over $20 an hour, so do the math that'll add up, that'll really help you out with the tuition and fees. Real quick, before we get into the last part of our program, but any food restaurants that you found so far that serves kind of authentic South African food?

Cosmas Chibombwe  28:30  
I honestly wanted to try out different things, so I've been to a Mexican restaurant. 

Evan Franulovich  28:37  
Oh, yeah. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  28:37  
I've tried Thai food. 

Evan Franulovich  28:38  
What do you think? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  28:39  
It's good. I think if my expectations were too much, I wouldn't really enjoy it that much, but it was okay. 

Evan Franulovich  28:50  
What about Chinese food? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  28:51  
Of course, I love Chinese food. 

Evan Franulovich  28:53  
What's not to love? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  28:54  
What's not to love, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  28:57  
Yeah, have you found a particular Chinese restaurant that you really like?

Cosmas Chibombwe  29:00  
A few weeks ago, I went down to... I forgot the name of the place, but there's a station when you take the railway. 

Evan Franulovich  29:08  
Yeah, yeah. Is it Chengdu taste?

Cosmas Chibombwe  29:11  
Yes. So I went over there, and the Chinese food was really good.

Evan Franulovich  29:15  
I agree. It was legit. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  29:22  
It's lovely. 

Evan Franulovich  29:24  
Yes, I thought they'll probably Americanize it, and it won't taste like it does back in China. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  29:29  
But it was good. 

Evan Franulovich  29:31  
It's really good, I was impressed. Yeah, if you're in town, and you need some pretty authentic Chinese food, that's a good place to go. Another good place is along Aurora Avenue on Highway 99 there. There's a Asian market out towards Shoreline, and they've got a little restaurant in there that's pretty legit as well. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  29:54  
Okay. 

Evan Franulovich  29:54  
I can't remember the name of it. I took a picture of it, I'll show it to you sometime. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  29:58  
Okay.

Evan Franulovich  29:59  
Oh, do you hear that? It's Trivia Time. This is the part of the show where we ask you five questions could be about anything, so good luck. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  30:10  
I'm ready. 

Evan Franulovich  30:10  
All right. Question number one: The city of Seattle has a soccer team. What is the name of their soccer team? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  30:19  
I know this.

Evan Franulovich  30:22  
Such a tough question. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  30:24  
Marines? 

Evan Franulovich  30:26  
The Mariners are the baseball team.

Cosmas Chibombwe  30:30  
Soccer team, I should know this. 

Evan Franulovich  30:33  
Yeah, you should. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  30:34  
The Hawks? 

Evan Franulovich  30:35  
It's the Seattle Sounders. Very popular here, they sell out regularly. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  30:43  
I don't know why I didn't know that, because I was actually looking into soccer teams, because I am a big soccer fan.

Evan Franulovich  30:49  
Well, you can go down and check out one of their games. I don't know if the season is going on right now, I'm not familiar with the seasons too much. But we're hosting the World Cup games here in Seattle, assuming that the FIFA doesn't cancel them, send them off to Mexico or Canada.

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:05  
Actually the Club World Cup is starting soon. 

Evan Franulovich  31:08  
I think next year. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:11  
No, right now. It's the Club World Cup.

Evan Franulovich  31:15  
Oh, Club World Cup.

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:17  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  31:17  
That's correct. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:18  
There is a game happening over this weekend.

Evan Franulovich  31:20  
Yes, that's true. Who you rooting for?

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:26  
Honestly, Arsenal is not there, so I don't really care that much. So maybe PSG.

Evan Franulovich  31:32  
All right. Cool. Very good. All right, question number two: We are in the state of Washington, and as you know, Washington's a big place, every big part of the United States, every state has its own capital. What is the capital of the state of Washington?

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:47  
Seattle? 

Evan Franulovich  31:48  
No, good try though. Olympia. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:51  
Oh!

Evan Franulovich  31:52  
Olympia, Washington. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  31:54  
I'm pretty bad at this. 

Evan Franulovich  31:57  
That's all right. No problem. So if you get a chance, you can take the train down to Olympia and check it out. It's a cute little town. I mean, it's not as big as Seattle, but it's really nice. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  32:07  
Olympia. 

Evan Franulovich  32:08  
Or take a road trip with some students, It's not far. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  32:10  
Okay. 

Evan Franulovich  32:11  
All right, tough one. Here's one that you might get, this one's a little easier. The United States sits between two countries. What are those two countries?

Cosmas Chibombwe  32:20  
Canada, Mexico. 

Evan Franulovich  32:21  
Yes. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  32:23  
Only bad at geography. 

Evan Franulovich  32:25  
That's a good one, nice job. All right, great. Now let's say we want to go to Canada or Mexico. What do we got to do with our I-20 before we leave the country?

Cosmas Chibombwe  32:36  
Hmm, I remember this at the orientation. We're gonna have to have it signed up.

Evan Franulovich  32:44  
Yes, you have to have it signed. Cool. And what I understand, I just learned this today, if your visa has expired, some people are here long enough where it expires, you can go to Mexico or Canada and not have to worry about the visa being a problem when you come back into the country. If you go to Argentina, then you, of course, would need a new visa. But yeah, apparently those countries are not a big deal. Thought that was really interesting. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:08  
Very interesting. 

Evan Franulovich  33:13  
All right, last question: What was last movie you saw in the theaters? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:19  
Oh, in the theaters. Sinners. 

Evan Franulovich  33:21  
Yeah, I've heard really good things about this. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:26  
It's an awesome movie. 

Evan Franulovich  33:27  
Is it? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:28  
It's okay.

Evan Franulovich  33:29  
Awesome to okay. So what was your criticism about it?

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:33  
Well, I mean, I don't want to be spiritual, but being raised in the Christian background is probably something that my parents would recommend me watching. 

Evan Franulovich  33:43  
Well, it's a vampire movie. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:44  
It's very bloody. 

Evan Franulovich  33:46  
Yes. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  33:48  
But it's a good movie. Michael B Jordan is a good actor.

Evan Franulovich  33:54  
I really want to check it out. I was going to go to the theater to see it, and then somebody told me that they were like, 'Oh, you know, it's kind of really slow for the first part.' 

Cosmas Chibombwe  34:05  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  34:05  
So he's like, 'Wait till he comes out on streaming.' Well, I'll look forward to seeing it. Well, we're at that end of this show. I always ask my international guests to do a couple things for me. First one is saying something in your first language. Now, Zambia is an English speaking country, but you also speak another language. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  34:24  
I speak Bemba. 

Evan Franulovich  34:28  
So we're gonna get to hear maybe 10 or 20 seconds. It could be whatever you want to say, you could say hello to your family, or if you want to give advice to students, or whatever you want to do. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  34:42  
*Cosmas's advice in Bemba* 

Evan Franulovich  34:45  
Cool. So is that language mostly spoken in the north part of Zambia? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  34:52  
In Copperbelt, yes.

Evan Franulovich  34:53  
Not in Lusaka.

Cosmas Chibombwe  34:55  
Lusaka is mostly Nyanja. So sadly, I don't really speak Nyanja, but I do understand 60% of the language.

Evan Franulovich  35:01  
All right, cool. That's interesting. Okay, the very final question is: You've been through the process now, you came to the US. You're here, you're doing it. What advice would you give to those that are thinking about it or hoping to come?

Cosmas Chibombwe  35:18  
Well, my advice would be just don't be nervous, and it's hard to think about yourself in a place that you might not be comfortable in. Put yourself out there, apply, and if you get denied, that's fine too. It's not the end of the world. There's so many times where people have applied and they haven't gotten accepted, but you can always try and try again. 

Evan Franulovich  35:42  
That's true. Did you use an agent by the way? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  35:45  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  35:46  
You applied directly. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  35:48  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  35:49  
All right. Well, gosh, are you so happy you're here? 

Cosmas Chibombwe  35:52  
I'm so happy. Crazy that I'm the first Zambian here. 

Evan Franulovich  35:55  
Yeah, we don't have a ton of Zambian students, but that's one of the reasons I went to Zambia. I'm trying to invite more to come. We want to build that population up. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  36:07  
Come on. 

Evan Franulovich  36:05  
So if you're from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, come on over. We really want to build that representation. Have a great day. Enjoy your summer break. I'm excited to hear how your vacation goes. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  36:19  
Thank you.

Evan Franulovich  36:24  
It'd be super cool. 

Cosmas Chibombwe  36:39  
Thank you. 

Evan Franulovich  36:22  
Remember, we're here every Wednesday, interviewing students and staff all sorts of things, great information for you and your family. Don't forget to like, subscribe and share with as many people as you can, counselors at your school, your friends, everybody, your grandma. We want everybody listening in. Thanks again. All right, take care. Bye, bye!

Cosmas Chibombwe  36:47  
Bye, bye!  

Evan Franulovich  36:45  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl, that's Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.