MU holds first International Day

MU students experience a range of different cultures during MU's first International Day.

By Emily Roman

Published Sept. 25, 2008

The sun shone down on the flags from the 42 countries represented to declare MU's first International Day on Tuesday morning Francis Quadrangle.

Wearing "Mizzou's 1st Interntional Day" pins, students, faculty and other members of the community from a multitude of nationalities watched as Chancellor Brady Deaton signed a proclamation designating the fourth Tuesday of September each year as MU International Day.

"International programs on this campus are vital to everything we do," Deaton said. "We are all part of a global community."

The idea for an international day first arose about a year and a half ago when the Missouri International Student Council proposed the idea. Its members formulated a proposal that was passed by the Missouri Students Association.

MISC President Sam Devaram said his group wanted Deaton to sign the proclamation in front of the community rather than in his office so the day would be even more significant.

MISC planned to pair the day with the annual International Bazaar so the two events could accompany each other and complement each other, Devaram said.

Graduate student Zhenyu He is a first-year international student from China who plans to remain in the United States and obtain a Ph.D. at MU. He said the day was a great way to meet new people from different cultures and is a way for American students to make friends while learning about culture from international students.

Students then marched with the flags to Lowry Mall, placed them around Tiger Spot and proceeded with the International Bazaar.

Even though flags from only 42 countries were represented, there are international students from 107 countries at MU. The Office of the Vice Provost for International Programs aims to acquire flags from all the countries by purchasing about 20 flags a semester, Devaram said.

"The best part of the bazaar were the flags on Tiger Spot," Devaram said. "It was the queen's crown."

This year marked the 33rd anniversary of the International Bazaar where around 10 to 12 international student organizations share food, games and artifacts with all those interested in being exposed to a new culture.

Volunteers passed out plates, utensils, bookmarks and pins in Lowry Mall, as a sea of MU students waited in line to try a taste of international cuisine and join in the day's events.

Devaram said the bazaar is held each year during lunch to attract hungry students.

"Food serves as a catalyst," Devaram said. "You meet people there and exchange information."

The Japanese Students Association served miso soup and sushi while students waited at a booth to have a piece of origami made for them or have their names written in calligraphy, known as shuji in Japan.

The Taiwanese Students Association served rice and dumplings while acquainting people with a game called mahjong. The game is played when one player picks up a square with a design on the bottom, and players have to guess what design it is by feeling the outlines. When players guessed correctly, they received a tassel with a pendant on it representing their Chinese zodiac symbol.

"I've never tried this many international foods," sophomore Angela Doerr said. "I thought it would be interesting to see different cultures."

Junior Victoria Vendt also enjoyed the festivities.

"It's like studying abroad without having to leave Columbia," she said.

The next event was an international and study abroad program seminar followed by an open forum about MU's Olympics experience in Beijing.

The panel at the forum was composed of six people. Two panelists were Bu Fan and Chuning Feng, Chinese MU students. Two others were Carolina Escalera and Lindsay Toler, journalism students who went to Beijing to report on the Olympics. Director of Student Life Mark Lucas came to share his knowledge about the Olympics after having attended four Olympic games, and the last panelist was 1500-meter freestyle gold medalist Oussama Mellouli.

Mellouli spoke about his experience at the Olympics and what it felt like to win the second gold medal for his country, Tunisia, but its first gold medal in swimming. He was glad to share his experience with the MU community, Mellouli said.

Devaram said MISC wanted to have a forum about the Beijing Olympics because it was an important and recent international event.

Toler and Escalera, two of 59 journalism students who worked with the Beijing news service for two months, explained their positive and negative experiences in the foreign country.

Toler said she had a preconceived notion of China, and she was surprised at how modern Beijing is.

"China is mysterious to the outside world," Bu Fan said. "It is a big difference from America."

To go along with the theme of the day, the campus dining halls prepared international cuisine. The dishes included hot & sour soup, smorrebrod, grilled flank steak, weiner schnitzel and larb gai. The menu was completely different from the usual dining hall fare, but the goal was to encourage students to become familiar with international cuisine.

The day closed with a Peace Corps session and a showing of "The Kite Runner," which is based on the book by Khalid Hosseini.

With the help of nearly 120 volunteers, most from member organizations, Devaram said he was extremely pleased with how smoothly and organized the day progressed.

Next year, MISC hopes to get more people to come to the seminars by spreading the word around campus and having professors encourage their students to participate in the festivities, Devaram said.

One of MISC's aims, Devaram said, was to surprise the student body with the enormity of the day's events by acquainting them with different flags, costumes and events.