A study examined how international students from North and West Africa fit in, cope, manage, and respond to their experiences in American Universities that are in many cases set up in the context of Americans who constitute the majority. Assuming that the lives of international students outside their home countries and cultures are communication-based experiences, this research attempts to understand the various relationships between culture and communication and the difficulties members of different cultures encounter when they interact or attempt to interact. Data for the phenomenological study was generated from in-depth interviews with seven male African graduate students at Ohio University. In spite of the multiplicity of responses, the intersubjective experience revealed the existence of a number of obstacles and barriers that make interaction and understanding difficult among different cultures. These include intense feelings of isolation, loneliness, and frustration; dealing with classroom generalizations made on the basis of what the American professors considered to be mainstream (white Anglo-Saxon) America; and dealing with professors who consider it a waste of time trying to help international students who are not proficient in spoken English. Coping strategies developed by the African graduate students include drawing closer to other international students, attempting to minimize the tension of what is culturally unfamiliar and/or alienating, and considering the dominant culture to be stupid and responsible for their plight and therefore isolating themselves from interacting with the dominant culture. Contains 15 references. (NH)