More than 500,000 international students studied at U.S. colleges and universities in the 2002-2003 academic year.

Michelle Sharaf, 19, joined their ranks last fall. She's from Lahore, Pakistan, and now attends Butler University. She went to an all-girl Catholic school in her home country and decided to study in the United States after visiting her sister, who lives in Illinois.

In a recent interview, Michelle compared life here and in Pakistan and reflected on her experiences:

"I applied to Loyola, St. Mary's and Butler. Butler was the only college that was willing to help me with my visa, my passport," she said.

"It's nice. And there weren't many Pakistanis and Middle Easterners here, so I came here.

"I don't want to be in a university where there is a large population of Middle Easterners, Pakistanis and Indians because you always end up in a problem when you're with people from the Middle East and you're Pakistani. If you're from Pakistan and you're a Christian, people make a fuss out of it.

"The education over here is, like, so much different. It's easier, but the assignments are, like, so huge, and I'm always telling myself, 'Oh, Michelle, did you do the right thing, like, just to get into the U.S. into pre-med? Will you be able to do it or not?'

"Back home it was difficult because it's all subjective. Like, you have to write a lot, and you can just go on writing whatever comes into your mind. You know you are going to be marked on the pages that you write, not on the matter that's in there," she said.

"No one would care what you're writing; all the professor cares for is how many pages you wrote. So I think the quality of education is much better over here. Way better.

"I'm not a Muslim, I am a Christian, so I had to go through a lot of discrimination (in Pakistan). Like, if I was getting an A grade on my exam, they would give me a B grade just because I am not a Muslim," she said.

"There are extremes. It's either a society of people who are enjoying life, going to college, going to schools, and like having fun, getting food, getting new clothes, and then there are teenagers, or even kids who are, like, 10 years old, working as mechanics at car shops, at the tire shops, little girls who are gypsies.

"We have servants back home, and maids. They don't have enough money to educate themselves, and it touches your heart. Those kids want to study so bad. Like, they would do anything to get educated," she said.

"While my servant was working, her kids would just, like, come over to my bedroom, and I would just, like, teach them A-B-C or something, although they would be, like, 9 years old. But you know, at least they're learning something.

"There is discrimination in Pakistan. Their thinking about gender is what it was in America 100 years ago. Like, they just think that they can shut up the woman any time they want, and that is not good. The city that I come from, Lahore, there is no boy-girl discrimination. Like, there is to some extent, but not the way it is in the rest of the Pakistan. It's like you can go around wearing Western clothes and everything.

"I am a typical Pakistani in many ways, like I eat a lot. Spicy food, I love it. Very patriotic about my country. Like, I'm not that sort of a person who would be like 'Cover yourself' and all that. The city that I came from, Lahore, over there it's like totally different from what you guys hear about the Middle East and Pakistan.

"I thought America would be like big buildings, like you see New York or somewhere, Chicago. Like, when I came here, I went to Chicago first time, and then I ended up in Springfield, Ill., which is like cornfields. And I was so confused. I was like, 'Oh my God, is this like the U.S.? Isn't the U.S. supposed to be like tall buildings instead of cornfields?'

"The media actually gives a very wrong view about the U.S. Seriously, when I was back home and I used to watch TV, I had a totally different view about you guys. Like, I thought you guys were some bunch of mad people. I was like, 'Oh my God, like these people need psychiatrists, the whole nation.'

"When I came here, people are so loving and amazing. They express their love and they're like beautiful people. They just have a very good nature. It's just sad that people from other countries fail to recognize Americans as good people.

"I'm trying to be American now, like do the stuff that Americas do: eat a pizza instead of eating a light meal, watch the Cubs game, work hard, go run with your friends, play pool and ping-pong -- that makes me forget about home. I am like 25 percent American now, and I think by the end of the year I'll be like 50 percent. So by next year I'll be 100 percent, like you.

"I've learned one thing -- Americans don't keep grudges. To respect other cultures, to respect other religions -- that's what I've learned from this country.

"I miss my country a lot. What I miss most is my family and my friends," she said.

"Right now I have no idea what's going on in my country. People come up to me and they're like, 'Hey, yesterday on CNN we saw your country and this just happened,' and I'm like, 'Oh, wow.' Then I go back to my room and I write to my dad, and I'm like, 'Did this and this happen in my country?' And he's like, 'Yeah.' So that is how I stay in touch.

"I came to America for peace, to be away from all that silly stuff going on in my country. So I don't want to read about politics and make myself angry and worry about it.

"Right now I'm doing pre-med. I want to be a dentist. I would like to work here, but go back home and probably like open some sort of clinic or something because, like, the medical facilities are not that good in my country."

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Lizzy Bentley, 16.

REPORTERS: Jessica Berryman, 11; Clare Welch, 10.