The ISA holds bi-weekly coffee chats in the CMSA suite. GRACE CARDINAL / THE QUADRANGLE
Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
The International Student Association (ISA) has made bi-weekly coffee chats a practice this semester, holding one this past week focused on winter activities in NYC. These chats take place in the Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA) suite on campus, providing a space of comfort and conversation for international students.
Wednesday’s meeting saw students from Cambodia, Spain, the U.K. and even Long Island come together to discuss holiday traditions in the city, including the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center, ice skating at Bryant Park and New Years Eve in Times Square. The conversation soon diverged into students talking about holiday traditions from their own countries, and what they miss most when they’re in the states around these times of the year.
Senior and vice president of the ISA Cristina Pilon, a student from Barcelona, Spain, spoke to The Quadrangle about how last Wednesday’s theme was decided upon.
“There’s a bunch of things that happen in New York City [in] the season we’re in,” Pilon said. “We just see what things they [international students] can do in the city and [that] they might not know about, and try to do it. [Even] if we don’t have anything special to do, then we just try to do a Kahoot. This is just a funny way to get to know interesting facts about other places that we might not know, and it always creates more discussion after.”
Phol Neakarint “Rin” Keo, a sophomore finance and economics major from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as well as the club’s treasurer, appreciates that the bi-weekly coffee chats are an easy way to facilitate discussion and community for international students around campus.
“I found that people really enjoyed discussions with each other, casual talks, non-serious, colloquial talk,” Keo said. “The actual presentations [we do] are more for the functional purpose of the meeting, but people just enjoy talking about where they’re from, their different perspectives and just having fun, non-serious debates and discussions.”
Having only begun as a club in the spring semester, the ISA brought these coffee chats to campus for the first time in September, hoping to give international students a place to discuss their experiences with others going through the same thing.
“That was one of the things people bring up, is like, ‘Oh, I don’t know anybody that is like me,’ like international, so that’s why we implemented the coffee chats to, as I said before, create this community and space for people to get to know each other,” Pilon said.
However, the discussion space has evolved far beyond that.
Birdie Perry, a junior from Long Island, New York and the club’s secretary, joined the organization as an international studies major hoping to not only further her academia, but make her a better friend to the international students she regularly surrounds herself with.
“I’m usually the only American there, and it’s been really nice to learn so much about what it’s like to be an international student,” Perry told The Quadrangle. “And a lot of times we talk about how different things are to Americans and learning things that are considered “weird” in America that I never think about. It’s actually really fun. And my major is international studies, so it’s kind of immersive into my field of study. I just love learning [about it].”
With the short five-day Thanksgiving holiday coming up, many international students aren’t able to make the trip back home to visit family, leaving them on a quiet campus over break. At times like these, Pilon explained, it’s extra important to have a feeling of community.
“Thanksgiving for most international people doesn’t mean anything, because we don’t celebrate it,” Pilon said. “But it’s weird because all your friends are going home and getting to see their families, and normally, you don’t have a place to go, and you’re staying on campus….I’m a senior, I’ve seen a bunch of exchange students come and go. I recommend them to try and go on a trip. Like, you don’t have class for five days, try to go to Florida, because it’s gonna get cold in New York. You are really gonna enjoy going there. Or try to go somewhere around the country. And for international students that are here for the four years, I either say that, or I say maybe stay with a friend. [For] me personally, because I know finals are always around the corner, I just take this break for me, myself, and I. I go to the parade and enjoy it, and then I do my homework, do my essays, start studying for finals. So whatever you do is okay.”
Looking to the future, the ISA has no plans to stop hosting events.
“Next week, we’re doing a mindfulness Coffee Chat with the Counseling Center, so that will be the theme of that,” Perry said. “And our last event this semester will be a potluck with international alumni as well. That will be November 20, and so people are going to bring food from their cultures, and it’s gonna be a social gathering, interacting with alumni who were international students here too.”
An overwhelming message from the meeting is that everyone, no matter where they’re from, is welcome in the ISA.
“I feel like ISA is really important because being an international student, there’s a lot of struggles and a lot of paperwork and stuff you have to do that people who live here don’t even know about,” Perry said. “And I think that having the association to help each other out is a really good idea, especially when all the time visa statuses are changing. On top of that, I feel like the club is not just for international students. It’s also for domestic students to learn about international students, and make them feel at home and learn about other cultures, because it’s so great that we have this opportunity to interact with each other, even though we’re from all across the globe.”