Elisabeth Bishop
Amber Hampton, a Eugene native, joined the International Student Association because she loves learning about other cultures and wants to become a global citizen. She hopes that International Week, a weeklong program of events sponsored by the ISA, will bring cultural awareness to the campus community.
“Our goal is to expose college students and the Eugene community to other cultures from around the world,” said Hampton, a University senior and the public relations officer for the ISA. “They may not know a lot about Cambodia or Venezuela or Burkina Faso … We know that there is diversity out in the world, but it’s hard to search for it on your own.”
International Week kicked off Monday with a parade through campus and continued with workshops and speakers in the Mills International Center and the EMU Amphitheater.
On Sunday, the ISA will host International Night, a celebration of cultures from around the world. Dinner will be served in the Fishbowl, featuring a variety of dishes from different countries. From 7 to 8:30 p.m., there will be a keynote speaker and cultural performances in the EMU Ballroom.
Performances will include tai chi from China and traditional dances from Vietnam, Africa and Mongolia. International Night tickets are $6 for University students and $8 for the general public and are available at the ticket office.
Hannah Yoon, a student who came to the U.S. from South Korea 10 years ago, said she hopes the event will give domestic students and international students the opportunity to interact.
“It seems like there are a lot of stereotypes about international students, or international students have stereotypes about the local students,” she said. “It’s fun engaging with all the different students from all over the world. I would just ask everybody to take an interest and meet a friend who’s international … You always find a common ground with a person. That’s one thing I would want everybody to experience at this University.”
Ha Truong, a junior from Vietnam, has been working on the International Night committee since the beginning of winter term. She says the purpose of International Week is “to be open minded about other cultures, because we all come from different backgrounds.”
“It would be a good idea for students to get more information about other countries and people from different backgrounds, and then we will build more understanding about each other,” Truong said.
Since coming to the United States as a freshman, Truong missed her family, but says she has enjoyed being involved in extracurricular activities and student groups such as the International Student Association.
“Coming to ISA events is the best way for you to meet students from all over the world,” Truong said. “I remember when I first came here, we (international students) were really shy. We just stuck with other international students. Even though we wanted to meet American students, we were just too shy. Sometimes we were waiting for American students to come and meet us.”
Truong said International Night is an opportunity for students to learn from one another.
“If Americans come (to International Night), we will shorten the distance between American students and international students as well as enrich our knowledge about each other’s cultures,” Truong said.
While International Week and Night presents information about different cultures, Yoon added the events are also about finding common ground.
“We want everybody in the school to start thinking about their dream. Everybody has a dream, regardless if you’re international or American. It doesn’t matter what your background is, where your interests are, everybody has a dream. We wanted everybody to think about that.”
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