International students take a Spring Break in Las Vegas
Each spring, and sometimes in the fall, the International Student Council plans a trip, said Anne Ward, a member of the staff at the International Student Center. This year, the ISC decided on the bright lights and fast roller coasters of Las Vegas. The group of 23 students and advisers spent three days seeing the sights, shopping the stores and eating at the varied buffets of the Las Vegas area, Ward said.
“The gardens in front of the hotels were a luxurious and exotic sight,” said Kyoung Sook Cho, a Korean student who, with her two children, participated in the trip.
Cho and her children also attended a mock battle between pirate ships and rode the monorail. Her favorite place, however, was the balcony of the hotel, where she could look out at the lights of the huge city at night, Cho said.
“My favorite place was the New York, New York Hotel,” said Turkish student Zeynep Istanbulluoglu, who took the trip with her husband, Erkan. “It was entertaining – the shows and especially the design of the buildings. I was very impressed.”
Another spot they visited was the Hoover Dam, Ward said. Many of the students were interested in the dam because they’re studying engineering, he said.
Finally, on the way back to Logan, the students stopped at Kolob Canyon in Southern Utah, Ward said. The students took a lot of pictures of the big red cliffs of the canyon, Ward said.
Though they wish they’d had a little more time to sight-see and shop enormous Las Vegas, overall the trip was a lot of fun, Cho and Istanbulluoglu said.
“Everyone got along well and had fun,” Ward said. “Everyone found something that interested them.”
The students are also beginning to think about where they might go next.
“I want to go to Yellowstone,” Cho said.
“Maybe we could see Disneyland or Universal Studios,” Istanbulluoglu said.
“I like being with the International students and seeing things with them that a big share of them have never seen before,” Ward said. “Watching the interest of the students is fun.”