Far from home for the holidays
Students everywhere will leave campuses this week to visit the homes of family and friends for Thanksgiving, however, some won’t have the opportunity to go home for the holidays.
Christian Orr, president of the International Student Council, said there are three basic options for international students not going home for Thanksgiving.
He said students staying in Cache Valley can either use the days off from school to travel somewhere close, go to community-organized events — such as eating Thanksgiving dinner with a host family or a community dinner in town — or they can choose to not celebrate at all.
“It’s more about being alone,” Orr said, “because when you’re Hindu or Buddhist or any of those things, it’s just that you’re bored.”
Orr said most international students don’t do anything for Thanksgiving or Christmas, especially the ones that have never been to the U.S., or aren’t Christian. International students get homesick during the holidays but not because they’re missing out on the holiday spirit. They’re in class and their friends are gone, he said.
“If you go to The Marketplace on Dec. 20, I think it would be about a quarter full, and 10 percent would be American,” Orr said.
But not everyone stays on campus for the holidays, and for some international students this Thanksgiving, that means going to Las Vegas.
Chaeyoung Son, a freshman studying English education, and Hyunjoo Huh, a junior studying computer science, are both South Koreans going to Las Vegas for the break.
“It’s the first time I’ve been to the U.S., so it’s a good opportunity to travel,” Huh said.
Since she is an exchange student, Huh said she does not have any family to spend the holidays with. While in the U.S. for the holiday season, Huh said she will have the opportunity to see New York City.
Son said she plans to visit New York City as well over the holiday break, because this is her only year in the U.S.
“Thanksgiving is a Christian holiday. There aren’t very many Christian Asian countries,” said Cheih-Hsin Lin, a junior studying computer science, when asked if he thought international students would feel comfortable attending holiday activities.
Lin said he’s a member of the Christian minority in Taiwan. His church celebrated Thanksgiving on a weekend, with tables full of Taiwanese food.
When he transferred to the U.S., Lin said he lived with a host family that celebrated every year with the traditional American fare of turkey and mashed potatoes. Now that Lin lives on his own, he said he celebrates with friends.
Derek Ward, employee at the Office of International Students and Scholars, said lots of American families want to host international students during Thanksgiving. Since the office can’t give out student’s contact information, it’s up to the office to get international students excited about Thanksgiving and have the students contact participating families.
“American families just want to give them the American experience with football and turkey,” Ward said.
Students can also go to the Loaves and Fishes community meal at the Presbyterian Church. Loaves and Fishes, a non-denominational gathering, happens every third Saturday and is hosted by non-profit organizations, said Lisa Hancock, program administrator for New Student Orientation.
For November, she said the A-Team cooked a Thanksgiving meal for the community and international students, to kick off International Education Week.
“Part of International Education Week is to get the Logan community exposure to what cultures the international students bring, but we also want them to get exposed to a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner,” Hancock said.
Hancock said the A-Team aimed to have 25-40 international students at the dinner.
“We’ve got apple pie, turkey, mashed potatoes and squash. We’re trying to make it the whole nine yards,” Hancock said.
– marissa.shields@aggiemail.usu.edu