These students have spent hours waiting in line. They have endured stress and frustration.
And they haven't even started class yet.
Terror threats targeting planes from London's Heathrow Airport earlier this month have put air travel on high alert and prompted changes in security procedures at U.S. airports.
For Penn students traveling to Philadelphia from around the globe, this means getting back to school is proving to be quite a challenge.
Xiao Jie - who traveled to Penn from her hometown of Suzhou, China, this month - said returning for her sophomore year was a frustrating experience.
Jie's 18-hour flight to Penn was only made longer by lengthy wait periods at new security checkpoints.
"It took me two hours to get past security," said Jie, who is in the College, of her transfer stop in San Francisco.
Because the threat at Heathrow involved an alleged plot to make bombs from liquids, passengers cannot bring liquids - ranging from hand lotion to toothpaste -on board. Consequently, the Transportation Security Administration has placed screening checkpoints at departure gates to ensure that such rules are followed.
Mandatory X-ray inspections for all footwear have also been put in place.
Some international students say the new rules make routine air travel especially unpleasant.
"They've been too strict," said Jie, who suggests that passengers should be able to bring non-prescription necessities, such as eye drops, aboard.
But TSA officials maintain that these restrictions are necessary to protect their passengers.
"These measures enhance security by focusing specifically on the threat posed by terrorists who were arrested earlier this month," TSA spokesman Darren Kayser said in a statement.
While Kayser admitted that the new security measures did cause "significant delays" in travel time right after they were enacted, he added that "the aviation system has since returned to historically normal wait times."
Long lines and carry-on inspections are not the only effects of recent terror threats, which have also struck fear in the hearts of some travelers.
"Each time something like this happens," said second year School of Social Policy & Practice graduate student Monica Barney, "I'm reminded of how unprepared we are as a nation in regards to facing terrorism."
Barney, who is no stranger to air travel, spent three weeks visiting St. Vincent and the Grenadines this summer to oversee a music school she started there three years ago.
But Barney says she has no plans to avoid air travel.
"I feel like if I stop traveling because of recent threats, it's as if I'm letting the enemy or whoever it is win," she said.
Other students, like Wharton and Engineering graduate student Pablo Schklowsky, said that they did not feel threatened by the recent developments in London. While Schklowsky understands that "there is no such thing as 100-percent safe," he said he is eager to keep traveling.
Both Barney and Schklowsky agree that the energy and effort being put into new travel restrictions could be put to better use.
The new security measures are "a little bit ridiculous," said Barney, "because no matter what we do, those who wish to will find a way to get around" it.
