International Festival ~EVENT~

  International Festival is held every year in front of the administration building until this year. This year they moved it to the new city plaza. It was still a great day of learning, music, food and culture. The only unfortunate thing is that it is getting more commercial every year, but at least the international students are getting a chance to show off who they are and why they are proud of their cultures. 

      The students provided food, costumes and music from their country. Some were also bringing political information so that they could explain their side of the news to the Americans who were willing to listen. This is a very important day for some students. They should be the focus of the day, and some of the other people like the vendors and musicians take away from the focus on international festival. At the same time, it should be remembered that Americans are part of the international community as well.

      I think that this event is the most important event of the year for me because it is the one day of the year that the international students are not invisible to the Americans in the society. We need a chance to let people know that we appreciate America and Americans. Media portrayals of immigrants are very negative as if all we want to do is come and take everything we can get. At international festival we can tell the Americans that we love America but we want to go home because we love our country as well. International festival gives us this opportunity and we get good ethnic foods as well. It is always a beautiful day, good weather and good people, lots to look at and a chance to see friends outside of class in a relaxed atmosphere. It is especially nice to see retired teachers there and students who have graduated and come back to visit.