At Winona State University, 1.9% of the student population consists of international students from around 42 different countries. Each year, events are held to both educate other students about their home country and their culture and customs, but to also help them learn about American culture. This year, the first of these events was a cultural café focusing on Japanese culture.
At the cultural café hosted at the Kryzsko Commons fire feature, students could learn how to write their names in Japanese, as well as enjoy Japanese snacks and drinks by the fire. There were opportunities for students to branch out and speak to people from a culture that is vastly different from what is usually associated with Winona State. However, there were still many similarities found across cultures.
Throughout the semester Internation Students have to participate in two projects: these being a learning project and a sharing project. This Cultural Café counts as a sharing project for international students because some students get the opportunity to share their culture with the rest of the student population. All of the international students who participated in this cultural café got credit for a sharing project.
Kotoko Yui, who ran the cultural café: a glimpse of Japan event, was excited by the amount of people who came to experience Japanese culture through the cultural café. Even though more people came to the even than expected, Kotoko thinks there’s always room to grow.
“I would like a lot more people to come, like especially people who live in Minnesota who never interacted with International Students. I think it’s an important step to have in our life to interact with people who’s from a different country or culture, because that’s life.” said Yui.
Learning projects are also a big part of the International Students experience at Winona State. These learning projects are about experiencing American culture, and in order to give that full experience they also host events inviting students to help share their culture.
“In October we have pumpkin carving for the learning event, because it is American culture, and I would like a lot of Domestic Students to come help International Students out. It’s important for International Students to interact with a student who lives here, who can actually speak English and who live within the American culture.” said Yui.
The Cultural Café: A Glimpse of Japan left many smiling faces and produced many genuine conversations about cultural differences and similarities. The Cultural Café events are meant to be a learning experience for everyone involved and start a conversation about unity even among differences.
