International Student Affairs celebrated the different cultures of the student body with International Education Week. Both local and international students were involved in events such as a tea tasting and an international student showcase.
“I went to the tea tasting event last semester and there was a lot more turnout this year. There were a lot of people that happened to stop by, but I think there was a good mix of international and American students. It was really fun to try new things with friends,” junior linguistics major Becky Raison said.

Raison was one of the volunteers this week and part of the Global Mentor program. She volunteered at the tea tasting that took place last Monday as well as “Home is Where Your Heart Is” on Tuesday. The latter consisted of students stopping by the Student Center Atrium and writing where they consider their hometown to be in a heart. The final result was three posters showing the different backgrounds Hofstra students come from including everything from Long Island, California, Japan and Brazil, among others.

“I think events like the ones that took place this week help other students understand new cultures and encourage them to go abroad. I think that it is a way to meet people that come from all around the world and you see that they are nice people and it encourages them to visit these places,” said Hugo Levaique, an international student from France.

He attended the tea tasting with Clément d’Espagnac, also a student from France, who agreed with Hugo. “I think it was a great idea, and the cookies were really good,” d’Espagnac said.

Thursday’s event was in collaboration with the study abroad programs office. Students wrote the name of a country they wanted to visit and gather information for the different programs the university offers.

“It is a connection that international students and local students make. This is probably the last time that they get to meet people from all these different places. A lot of people wrote that they wanted to visit Japan and that made me feel proud, to be able to say that that’s where I’m from,” said Malina Phu, a Global Mentor studying health science.

Brandon Jurewicz, a sophomore majoring in speech-language and hearing sciences and Spanish, was a judge for the showcase that marked the end of the week.

“Every single day of the International Education Week was a different way to showcase culture and the event on Friday was a culmination of everything, it was a way of saying ‘now it’s your turn, show us what makes you proud of your culture,’” Jurewicz said.

International Education Week was intended to raise awareness of the diversity that embodies the student community. The different events that took place all over campus involved students showcasing their culture from countries such as China, Mexico, Germany and Taiwan.