International Thanksgiving Dinner and the International On-Campus Community

One of the most popular holidays in the United States is right ahead of us and so the international student community was kindly invited by Chancellor van Galen and his wife to an international dinner on that occasion.

To be honest I actually expected a small group of internationals to show up to have a nice evening, but my expectations were exceled. It was a huge dinner party with a lot of important people from politics and on-campus operations as hosts and huge amounts of delicious food. It felt like almost every international student made it to the dinner and so there were quite a couple of people coming together this evening. Every single table had at least one host and really interesting and friendly conversations developed along the evening. The hosts were really interested in different cultures and lifestyles as well as the student`s backgrounds and studies. As the Americans are the unofficial world champions of small talk it never gets boring during such an evening and you will find interesting topics to talk about for sure! The atmosphere of this evening was very special as everybody dressed up, delicious traditional food was served, and it almost felt like having a big family party at home. The turkey, its filling, the mashed potatoes with gravy, the mashed sweet potatoes as well as the traditional pumpkin spice pie as a desert were great and a lot of people never had such a dinner before. Thanks for the invitation again!

At this point I think it is time for me to point out the great variety of the international student community on and off campus. People from all around the world gather in the small town River Falls. Just to name some of the countries that students on campus are from: China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, India, Saudi Arabia, Kenia, Somalia, Finland, Estonia and of course Germany ? Being able to communicate and exchange with such a variety gives me a great sense of being part of something good happening and I really appreciate the international atmosphere on campus!

An interesting fact about Thanksgiving is that it doesn´t have any religious background and so it is all about being grateful for what you have and having a good time with your friends and family. American students go back home and two days before the traditional Thanksgiving Thursday the whole campus seemed to be a ghost campus as everybody left for the five-day holiday. Americans see their families, eat a lot of food and just enjoy the time off. Some families even prepare for Christmas and take their family pictures for the Christmas cards as they all come together these days.

It seems like all campus operations are shut down during this break and so a lot of international students decide to go on trips throughout the country and even to Canada as well. Some go and spend some time with host families nearby others go and see all kind of different places in the U.S. and I think everybody will have a good time.

To be continued!