East Tennessean

Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Rachel Dodd/East Tennessean Students of any nationality are welcome to join International student organization members each Friday night for fine cuisine, fellowship, and fun.

Upon arrival at the Presbyterian Student Center on Friday nights one will quickly find their way by following the scent of international cuisine. Every Friday at 7p.m., members of the International Student Fellowship gather to enjoy a traditional meal of the chef's choice. The meal is followed by activities, usually conjured up by director Jim Kirkpatrick.
The group consists of about 20 students from Kenya, Chile, Ghana, Cameroon, Indiana, and Tennessee. Half of the students are undergraduates. Half are graduate students.
Department of Education student George Naholi left Yorkshire, England to study at East Tennessee State University.
"The research is better, broader here than anywhere else in the world," Naholi said. He plans to finish his dissertation and graduate in December, then returning to his family in Kenya.
This evening's cook, William Ghann, and his helpers are chemistry majors from Ghana. They all plan to go into the pharmaceutical field.
As students gather, words of various languages jump around the table, Spanish, English, French, Pidgin, and Moshi-Dagomba. A line is formed at the buffet table and everyone eats as they digress about birthdays, weddings, and the World Cup.
Chrysanthus Gwellem, of Cameroon, is studying mathematics and statistics as a graduate student at ETSU.
"I came here because I wanted to challenge my intellectual ability," Gwellem said. He plans to graduate in May, then enter a Ph.D. program to study probability and statistics.
Studies are different here compared to Cameroon. "It is far more relaxed [at ETSU]. Here you can relax, you can party," Gwellem said. "In Cameroon, you either make it or you quit."
When international students arrive, they are introduced to another student from their country and the ISO, so they may more easily adjust to life at ETSU. The ISO is a place where students from anywhere in the world can come and interact with American students and feel comfortable.
After dinner, the students follow Kirkpatrick downstairs. They form a circle and hold hands as Kirkpatrick gives them step-by-step instructions to folk dances from around the world. One of which is a Serbian dance called "Deserka Dojorka."
Another is an American dance created by slaves from low-country Georgia before emancipation, the "Mazutio". The group stands in two lines while couples sachet up and down the aisle, dodging other couples as they twirl along the rows.
Essentially, the ISO acts as an open community in which students who are miles or oceans away from home can gather to see familiar faces and feel a little more relaxed.
Everyone is welcome to the group and Friday night dinners. It is a great way to meet new and interesting people, as well as, taste traditional dishes that one may never otherwise have a chance to try. New recipes and new stories are always welcome.
For information about the ISO, e-mail Kirkpatrick at jkirkpatrick@juno.com or visit the Presbyterian Student Center.

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