The University of Alabama’s International Student Association will be combining food and fashion in their “International Food and Flair” event Friday in the hopes of bringing together international and domestic students together over common interests.
The advertisement for the international fashion show and food tasting reads “International Food & Flair,” but the event itself offers much more for international and domestic students alike.
Andrew Word, ISA PR officer and a junior majoring in Spanish and English, said the event serves as a way for international students trying to assimilate onto campus to give back.
“It gives domestic students a chance to learn about various cultures through their clothing and at the same time gives international students a chance to get involved in the community by showcasing the clothing they brought from their home country,” Word said. “It’s an opportunity for them to teach and feel like they’re the ones actually doing something on campus for the domestic students and not the other way around.”
ISA’s International Fashion Show will be held Friday from 6-9 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Ballroom. Tickets are $4 and can be bought at the door or at an ISA booth in the Ferguson Student Center this week. The event will include a fashion show with traditional clothing from Southeast Asia as well as from Japan, India, Korea and parts of Europe like Germany.
Mugiho Hatsusaka, a senior majoring in music performance, is the event coordinator for the ISA and said the group is a crucial outlet for international students looking to get engaged on campus and get the “American college experience.”
“We’re trying to integrate domestic students and international students and try and get them to get used to campus and to enjoy campus life,” she said. “We want them to have [an experience] they can take back to their university and hopefully they’ll explain their experience on campus to the students of their university.”
Hatsusaka said domestic students attending any ISA event will gain understanding for the struggles that foreign students face, whether those be found in language proficiency, issues with transportation or sheer culture shock.
Word said domestic students who don’t have the money to travel abroad or want to practice their language skills could easily make a connection with foreign students through the ISA. The goal of the ISA is not to absorb foreigners on campus into American culture but instead to provide them with a meaningful look into life in America.
“Supposedly ,when you travel to another country, you want to live like they do and take in some of the same forms of entertainment, eat the same food,” Word said. “You want to meet the people, and we want to give that opportunity to international students by reaching out to some who may not be as ready to try and find that place themselves.”
The ISA also hosts movie nights, catering to both domestics and foreigners.
“What better way to give Chinese students a chance to look into American entertainment than by having them watch [‘Mean Girls’]?” Word said.
ISA president and computer and electrical engineering major Shashank Wattal, an international student from India, said the ISA directly aides international students by providing social events, but transcends mere social integration by addressing any issues foreign students have through talking to the faculty and administrators here at the University.
“We are the International Student Association, but you don’t have to be an international student to be part of it,” Wattal said. “The idea I guess to most American students [is that] international seems like non-American, but from the point of view of most international students, we just want it to be a group that represents the whole globe — and America is a part of that.”
Wattal said students interested in other cultures should attend the fashion show this Friday.
“I feel this is something that hasn’t been done at the University in the recent past at least, and so it’s a wonderful kind of event. [It’s a] very informal and laid-back opportunity to learn about other cultures and to also meet a lot of people from all around the world,” Wattal said.
