Editor’s Note: This is the seventh part in a series of stories chronicling international students in their experiences at OU and in the United States.

While settling into new lives in Norman can prove difficult for international students, sometimes figuring out how to keep in touch with loved ones back home overshadows the adjustment process.

Stela Molinero is an exchange student form Madrid, Spain, studying business administration. Molinero will be at OU for a full year, but plans to travel back to Spain during winter break.

“OU wasn’t my first choice, but I got a scholarship here and I thought this would be a really safe place to be,” Molinero said.

To keep her relationships back home steady, Molinero talks to her parents, grandparents and boyfriend on the phone every day. This is the first time Molinero and her boyfriend have been separated during their five-year relationship.

“I talk to everybody on the phone so much, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here longer than two weeks,” Molinero said. “I also use Facebook and Skype a lot.”

Skype is an internet-based service that allows users to talk, chat and video-conference for free.

Molinero said she misses the same things that other students miss the first time they are away from home, like her mother’s cooking.

Pilar Mediavilla is an exchange student from Cordoba, Spain, studying advertising. She lives with Molinero, but said she has different habits than Molinero for remembering loved ones.

“I’ve lived in the U.S. before and I always travel with the same pictures of family and friends,” Mediavilla said. “I also have boxes back home in Spain that represent each year. I fill each box with pictures and things that remind me of that year.”

Norman was not Mediavilla’s first choice either, but she is adjusting to the many different aspects of Oklahoma living.

“I did some research and saw that the school had a good football program and when a school has a good football team like the Sooners, the atmosphere is generally good too,” Mediavilla said. “Since I only talk to my parents once a week anyways, having to drive everywhere would have to be the biggest adjustment.”

Petroleum engineering junior Docri Martins has been at OU three years and moved here from Luanda, Angola. Martins said she talks to her mother all the time, yet time zones are still a challenge to manage.

“My mom still sometimes forgets about the time change,” Martins said. “There is a seven-hour difference between us, and sometimes she calls me at 2 a.m. and wonders why I’m asleep.”

Martins said she also has three younger brothers she helped her mother raise.

“I talk to the 17-year-old mostly on Facebook,” Martins said. “If I want to talk to the younger boys (ages 14 and 9) then I have to call.”

Back in Angola, Martins would have Sunday brunch with other families. She said more than 300 people would attend those brunches.

She and her roommate at OU, who is also from Angola, sometimes cook a traditional dinner to remind them of home.

The campus food proved difficult for Martins to adjust to, and at one point she had to be hospitalized. However, after the first six months of transition, Martins said she now feels comfortable in her Norman home.

“I don’t have a flag or anything like that up, just a lot of pictures in my room,” Martins said. “I still get to see my family over winter and summer breaks, so that is really nice.”