The International Student Services (ISS) has been running a monthly event called Global Café, in which they hope to better unite the SNHU community.
LeAnn Bowden, The International Student Success Coordinator for ISS, came up with the idea.
“It’s an opportunity for international and domestic students, staff [and] faculty to all come together and chat informally about each other,” she said.
The café usually includes an assortment of tea and coffee, as well as sweets. This February’s café featured an assortment of Lunar New Year snacks and candies.
The café has a different theme each month, so that students and faculty never have the same experience twice. February’s theme had to do with the Olympics. The students and faculty attending were tested on their Olympic knowledge and were given conversation questions focused on the globally renowned sporting event.
The café offers a chance for discussions about different aspects of life between domestic and international students.
“We talk about everything from your favorite foods to cook, to places in the world you’ve visited [to] things you like to do on campus. Students just make the connections with each other and that’s the best part,” said Dawn Sedutto, the Director of ISS.
One student, Shukira Shinwari (’18), said, “It’s a great way to interact with people, make friends, meet new people and talk to the international student service team, and in the meantime you can just hang out and talk about whatever.”
For some students, it’s also a great way to talk about our different cultures, especially when it comes to food.
“It’s a good opportunity to learn some local culture, like global coffee and local desert,” said Guan Jiong-Hong, another student attending the event.
The ISS office is located in the Green Center in room 108. The office offers all sorts of resources and events for both domestic and international students.
The event is open to everyone on campus including domestic and international students, faculty and staff.
“I would just encourage all students who are interested in meeting other people to come, and you know, hang out and enjoy some coffee and goodies with us and meet somebody different,” said Sedutto.
The next two dates for the Global Café are March 15 and April 12 from 3-4 p.m. in the ISS office.
