Linguistics junior Laura Valderrama talks to her mom by webcam almost every day.

The two are more than 4,000 miles apart, and Valderrama has had to learn to cook, study and function in Oklahoma alone.

While these tasks may seem simple for most students, Valderrama had the extra challenge of learning it all while in a wheelchair.

Valderrama, an exchange student from Buciramanga, Colombia, has been in a wheelchair her entire life, and says Oklahoma is far more accessible than her home country. Buciramanga has stairs in many places, and for transportation she always relied on her mom or paid for a taxi.

“Here, it’s easy,” Valderrama said. “If I need to go to the university for a few minutes, I can get on a bus.”

She said it would have been more difficult for her to study in Colombia, and her new-found independence has made the transition to a new country much smoother.

“Here, I can do it on my own,” she said.

Human resources junior Vanessa Najera said Valderrama is one of the most determined people she knows.

“She’s trying to overcome physical barriers, and she hasn’t let that stop her,” Najera said.

Despite spending a great deal of her time studying and learning to cope in a new place, Valderrama has found several friends through the OU Cousins program.

The friends she’s made have introduced her to several activities and OU traditions, like basketball games. Where most international students hold back, Valderrama pushes forward, photography sophomore Crystal Najera said.

“She wasn’t afraid to put herself out there, and hang out where she wasn’t comfortable,” Najera said.

Najera said that she and Valderrama have become close friends and now see each other almost every day.

Valderrama said she also has several requests from her friends to help teach them Spanish.

But, as a whole, Valderrama said Americans are not as open to new faces as Colombians are.

If an exchange student visits Colombia to study, everyone would want to talk to him and offer help whenever possible, Valderrama said. But in the U.S., few people have randomly walked up and talked to her.

“I wouldn’t say they’re unfriendly, it’s [just] not what I expected,” she said.

Exchange students are so common in the U.S. that most people rarely think twice about it, whereas students from other countries might be more shocked and intrigued by them, Vanessa Najera said.

Americans are more superficial as well, she said.

But that concept has not fazed Valderrama, and Najera said she admires that Valderrama is making the most of her experience and meeting as many people as possible.

Also, despite the distance, she contacts all of her friends from home on a weekly basis.

Valderrama will remain in Oklahoma until May, but said she wishes she could stay longer to finish her studies.

Once she returns to Colombia, she will have two years of school left. If she can, she said she wants to come back to the U.S. for her Masters Degree, and then continue working in the U.S. because she thinks there are endless opportunities.

Vanessa Najera said Valderrama would have no problems staying in the U.S.

“I think she could teach a class here and help people with their Spanish,” Vanessa Najera said.

Crystal Najera said when she met Valderrama she had no idea she was an exchange student.

She is so passionate in teaching herself English, and nothing will stop her from achieving what she wants, Crystal Najera said.

“She’s a trooper,” said Abi Solis, health and exercise sciences sophomore.

Despite some difficulties, Valderrama has no fear when tackling whatever life throws at her.