When the first week of July in this decade-long year came with two global trends – Hamilton and the stories about international students – I could not help but notice the sad yet fascinating irony of the situation. That is because Hamilton, the Broadway musical, is actually a quintessential international student experience.
I was introduced to Lin Manuel Miranda’s genius work in January 2017. In June that year, I left India for the first time to pursue a master’s degree a hemisphere away – not knowing how much of an impact Hamilton was about to have on this journey.
The multiple Tony Award-winning musical primarily revolves around the life of an American founding father and the first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Not only is Hamilton a brilliantly crafted piece of art that reinvents the genre while also delivering a history lesson in the form of smart, intricately crafted rhymes – but it also visits character traits and themes that people can relate to even outside the US. I find that Hamilton actually exemplifies the international student experience for me – through its eponymous protagonist, characters and recurring motifs.
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The musical starts by establishing Alexander Hamilton as a smart and hard-working immigrant, so much so that people in his hometown took up a collection just to send him to the mainland to get an education. Many international students that I’ve met have remarkably similar journeys, characterised by having to put in considerably more effort just to overcome inherent disadvantages of being an outsider to a language, academic system and a country.
Alexander Hamilton’s first instinctive response on getting a chance to prove himself was something that resonated with me on my first day on campus: There were a million things I was confused about, but I was not going to throw away my shot. Hamilton and I were both like our own home countries: young, scrappy, and hungry – and neither of us was going to throw away our shot.
By the end of the first semester, I had met like-minded students who, just like me, had come from different parts of the world. International students’ stories were not unlike those of Hamilton’s friends – whether they were here so that they can ultimately help their home-countries like Marquis de Lafayette, socially advance and be able to live a better life like Hercules Mulligan, or whether they were here to better help people from disadvantaged groups like John Laurens.

Photo: Reuters
The musical also introduces the character of Angelica Schuyler, who highlights the importance of being open to new ideas, especially when times are changing. This change was ultimately good, and I, like most international students, was ultimately here to learn. Learn, not just from my lecturers or the books comprising the coursework, but also from a diverse group of people with different perspectives than mine. Just like Angelica Schuyler, it was important to look around and understand how lucky I was to be in this moment, and in the middle of an institution that is at the forefront of research, innovation, and introducing new ideas.
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By the second semester, I felt very strongly about taking responsibility and being proactive in supporting my peers. While George Washington exemplified leadership and decision-making, it was Hamilton’s resilience and fight that really inspired me. Hamilton stepped up to every opportunity he got, and his hunger and ambition would never be satisfied irrespective of what he had achieved.
However, in contrast to Hamilton’s unrestrained passion (Just You Wait), the musical also presents a balance in the form of Aaron Burr, who establishes the idea of patiently waiting, and making well-thought-out decisions at the right time (Wait For It). Both were equally instrumental in helping me make the most of the opportunities I was presented with. That semester, I got involved in volunteering, student representation, and stayed back during the break in order to work on a summer research project. My primary motivation was knowing that just like Hamilton, people back home were hoping that I would blow them all away with my work and/or success.
While life as an international student is not as grand or as dramatic as founding a new nation, Hamilton constantly emphasises on ‘history having its eyes on you’, and the potential of every single one of us to impact the course of history.
The musical also presents Alexander Hamilton and Marquis de Lafayette as immigrants working and fighting for a country that was not theirs. It introduces the motif of Immigrants (We get the job done) – something that the international student community is a constant testament to. International students are studying, working and integrating into a new society; contributing to the community; demonstrating that they are more than what people bargained for – while video-calling their families so that they can recreate that one dish they really miss from back home.

Hamilton poster. Photo: Twitter/@HamiltonWestEnd
Hamilton was non-stop. International students are non-stop.
I wanted to be non-stop.
In my third semester, I applied to be a part of the university’s governing body so that I could help influence change on an even larger scale. I wanted to be a committed voice for students around me, and just like Aaron Burr, I wanted to be in the room where it happens. I stood in elections and campaigned, focusing on international students, who bring a significantly higher amount of revenue and are yet comically underrepresented. Ultimately, just like Alexander Hamilton, I was essentially trying to build something that would hopefully outlive me.
Time and again, Alexander Hamilton is shown to transcend his struggles purely on the basis of his writing, and how he wrote his way out of most of his disadvantages. In my fourth and last semester, I transitioned from being actively involved in student advocacy to documenting stories of inspiring international students in the form of a video podcast.
I find it admirable that international students not only tackle the same challenges as domestic students but do that while being in a setting foreign to them. I tried to strike a balance between extra-curricular and my courses with some difficulty. Assignments, reports and examinations for a lot of the courses were definitely a challenge – a challenge that Hamilton inspired me to literally write my way out of.
When graduation came around, families from all around the world gathered in that hall. My fellow international students had successfully written their way out of every single obstacle to get here.
Hamilton: An American Musical with all of its genius writing, characters, themes, and motifs directly inspires me on a daily basis to become better, and to do more. Itt unintentionally but definitely exemplifies, epitomises, encapsulates and symbolises the international student experience. International students, not unlike Alexander Hamilton himself, help build a nation.
I am grateful for this artistic masterpiece, I’m grateful for Lin Manuel Miranda, I’m grateful for these opportunities, and I’m grateful for everyone who makes it possible for me to get a shot at them.
“There are a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait…”
Mehershad Wadia is a recent postgraduate in Molecular Biology from The University of Queensland and is passionate about research, writing, film-making and documenting stories of inspiring international students through his podcast, TBH: Beyond Borders”
Featured image credit: Reuters