A “Non-resident Alien” is an individual who is not a U.S. citizen and has not passed the green card test or the substantial presence test. “Alien” can mean someone from a foreign country, but it can also mean extraterrestrial life. My experience of coming to the U.S. as a foreigner sometimes makes me feel like I am from another planet–like I am an actual “alien”. So, in my thesis project, I use the metaphor of an alien from Pluto going on a mission to Earth to describe my own experience of coming to the US as an international student. 

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The main character, the Alien, is a commissioner for Project Gaea, a project that brings Pluto people to Earth. During her mission, she faced many challenges, including being suffered from an antenna injury, being kidnapped by humans, and being unable to return home to be with her grandmother when she died. 

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The main character is a representation of myself or a spokesperson for me. All the stories in those comics and zines were based on real events that happened to me. She speaks about all the controversial ideas that I do not want to tell. She lets people look at her story so I do not need to show people mine. 

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As an international student in the US, I’m grateful to have the privilege of being able to study abroad, and especially studying art in the US with a lot of kind people in this school. 

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I came here because my family has planned to send me here for higher education since I was a child. So, from the age of seven, my parents sent me to a bilingual school to learn English and prepare me to come to the US one day. After I passed the English language test and got accepted into MCAD, I made the sacrifice of leaving my family, friends, my country, my culture, and the environment to use my mother language, to come here and learn what I’m passionate about. And, to be honest, it's all been worth it.

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However, being a foreigner is weird. Immigration people would ask us a lot of weird questions, as if we are criminals, to make sure we don’t stay in the US for too long. A few not so kind people here hate on us and wish us to go back to our country. 

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Experiencing homesickness is also a big part of the reason I made this project. Being an international student means we can not go back home during the semester because our home is a 20+ hours flight away. Even if I really miss our family and friends, even if my grandma passed away, I can only talk to them through video calls. Realizing they are on the other side of the world can make me feel isolated.

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I wanted to document my feelings of isolation and loneliness as an international student, and hope people who come to the U.S. from other countries, to resonate with this work, to, maybe, find it comforting reading it, and know that they are not alone.