The Asian Culture Center had an international student open house Tuesday for any student looking to interact with fellow incoming international students.
Wang, along with other students new to IU, got a tour of the house, a variety of free food and beverages and an opportunity to learn more about the services the center offers to international students.
“The goal of this event is to introduce new international students to the center and the resources we have to offer, but in a more informal way,” said Kayleigh Burgess, graduate assistant at the Asian Culture Center.
The annual open house allows students the opportunity to be exposed to all the services for students at IU. Last week, the center hosted another open house that was directed toward both students and their families.
Parents at the event were informed on how their children would be accommodated while adjusting to a foreign school and talked with other parents experiencing the same thing.
One particular couple from Indonesia came to the open house with their son who was an incoming freshman.
They told the story of how they met as freshmen at IU living on two different floors of Forest Quad. Their son requested to live in Forest this year in hopes of the same result as his parents.
The center holds a variety of weekly programs.
These weekly programs include English language workshops, peer support and English conversational skills workshops, as well as cultural events, graduate student dinners, freshmen outreach lunches, crafts such as calligraphy and henna, and Asian language seminars that are on a semester rotation.
The center also holds discussion series and guest speakers relating to Asia and America.
“This atmosphere is great to make friends,” Wang said. Though English is her second language, Wang made it her goal to get more involved on campus and not let the language barrier hold her back.
The center works with several different offices and other cultural centers throughout the year to increase student involvement. The main focus of the open house is to allow new students to meet in a comfortable and convenient manner.
The Asian Culture Center is open to students from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day.
The open house had about 30 students throughout the day passing through to learn about the center. Multiple students said the center seemed to be a great place stay during free time.
“We like this to feel like a place that people can come by whenever they want,” Burgess said.
