Bowling Green offers WKU’s international students a quiet place to study away from their homes, but only if they have a comfortable place to live. 

Not all apartment experiences are the same.

Before she moved into her current apartment, Shravani Reddy used to live in the Hillcrest Apartments.

“It was in the center of the university,” Reddy said. “Everything was so nearby.”

Reddy is a graduate student from southern India studying healthcare administration. She doesn’t own a car, so proximity to campus is important to her.

Phuong Ho, a graduate student from Vietnam pursuing a master’s degree in business administration, feels the same way about the Hillcrest Apartments.

“I really enjoyed living there because it was really close to Grise Hall,” Ho said. 

Recently, Reddy had to move to a new apartment after the Hillcrest Apartments were slated for demolition to make room for WKU’s Honors College and International Center. She’s adjusting to the new apartments, and said hers needs a lot of work.

“I don’t like the apartment,” Reddy said. “But it’s pretty cheap.”

The apartments were recently taken over by Chandler’s Property Management, and Reddy said they’re doing a better job of maintaining the property.

Reddy came to WKU last fall after her cousin, a WKU alumnus, told her about it.

“Bowling Green is a small place, and when you don’t want to get distracted much this should be a good place,” she said. “And it has a lot of international students.”

Taiwanese junior Vincent Liu came to WKU in 2011 for a similar reason. He lived in The Registry for two years before moving into his current house.  He told his agent he wanted a place in the countryside where he could focus on his work and wouldn’t be tempted to party so often.

“If I live in a big city there are too many distractions,” Liu said.

Reddy enjoys participating in organizations like the Indian Student Association and the Kentucky Public  Health Association.

“Recently, there were a lot of activities from the KPHA like the 10K classic run, food drive,” she said. “I like volunteering for such things.”

In last year’s Bowling Green International festival, Reddy volunteered to do Henna, a temporary tattoo and Indian tradition, on attendees.

“It’s made of a leaf. You make a paste of it and you put it on your hand, and after one hour or so you just shred it and a red color tattoo appears,” Reddy said.

However, for Phuong Ho it’s harder to get involved with campus activities because of the distance. She lives in the Crestmoor Park Apartments.

“When I come home after work and school, it’s hard for me to get out to try some activities on campus because of the distance,” Ho said. “It takes me 20 minutes to walk to campus.”

Reddy’s proximity to WKU allows her to be more involved with campus life, especially since she has to rely on shuttle services.

“If you’re living somewhere off campus far away from the university you wouldn’t be able to attend all these events,” she said. “You wouldn’t know much what’s going on in the university.”