Global Cafe, a program in The University of Alabama’s Center for Community Based Partnerships (CCBP), hosted its spring semester welcome event on Tuesday. 

The program aims to connect international students and faculty to the UA community through seminars with community leaders, language learning events and other resources. 

UA international student enrollment dropped 19% between the fall 2019 and fall 2020 semesters due in large part to COVID-19. Nationwide, international student enrollment decreased 16% in fall 2020. COVID-19 restrictions subjected students to travel bans and quarantine mandates from both the U.S. and their home countries.  

In recent years, Global Cafe hosted between 50 and 150 people at each of its in-person events. Now the program meets virtually. 

Global Cafe’s Language Partners program was designed for international students speaking foreign languages to learn English from native speakers, and vice versa. 

Faham Al Farsi, an international student from Oman majoring in interior design and Japanese, participated in the program to learn from Japanese students. This year, he said, even if he were able to attend in person, there would be fewer Japanese students for him to speak with. 

In fall 2019, there were 22 students from Japan; last semester, there were three.

“I like to talk face-to-face,” Al Farsi said. “I can’t find those people that I used to meet with at Global Cafe. The many years that I lived here in Tuscaloosa, I had many friends. I used to invite them to my apartment and we would cook their native food together, but I can’t find that experience anymore because of COVID.”

Samuel Watson, a junior majoring in computer science, is a CCBP work-study student from Huntsville, Alabama who has worked with Global Cafe for several semesters. 

“I truly miss the in-person interactions from the events,” he said. “Even the small things, like finding myself seated beside a complete stranger and then leaving the event with a new friend, are just not as common with the virtual format.”

Find the spring schedule of Global Cafe meetings here.