One thing that will never change for international student Maria “Gabby” Mora is her favorite food, pizza.
“It doesn’t matter where I am,” she said. “My favorite food will always be pizza.
Mora was born in Venezuela where she lived until she came to the United States for college. For her undergraduate degree, Mora attended Tusculum College in Greenville. She graduated with a degree in mass media and business.
While at Tusculum, Mora was on the tennis team.
“That is why I came to this area,” Mora said. “They recruited me to play tennis at Tusculum.”
She had to quit playing tennis during her senior year at Tusculum. “I had a lot of little injuries everywhere, so I had to quit,” she said.
Mora is pursuing her master’s in professional communication here at East Tennessee State University.
“I wanted to go here because of the master’s program,” she said. “ETSU is different from Tusculum. There it’s small and everybody knows everybody. I know it sounds clich but it really like that.”
Mora is a graduate assistant in the Department of Housing and Residence Life and works with the international living and learning community at ETSU. She also coordinates the Thursday night activities in the dorms.
Aside from her family, Mora says she doesn’t really miss anything from Venezuela.
“I guess I have got used to being here after going to school here for four years,” she said.
Almost everything in this area is different from Venezuela. The first noticeable thing is the weather. Compared to the tropical climate of Venezuela, the weather in East Tennessee is cool.
“I love it,” Mora said. “I am usually so hot, so I love the cooler temperatures.”
She says school is different here also. Colleges in Venezuela don’t have dorms so students have to live at home or get their own apartments. The class loads are also larger.
“In the master’s program there, instead of 11 credit hours, it would be around nine to 11 classes,” Mora said.
Students in Venezuela also dress to go to classes.
“You would never see someone go to class in their pajamas,” she said. “People almost never wear shorts there either.”
When she graduates from the master’s program, Mora would like to work for an advertising agency in New York City.
“That’s my ideal super goal,” she said. “I don’t know what the reality will be. I don’t really want to think about that.

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