ONEONTA _ While many people enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends, the experience was different for international students studying at area colleges.
With students and staff largely gone during the Thanksgiving break, students who could not go home or travel worked with college staff to make other arrangements. Students and staff talked about the situation, mostly before the holiday.
Hartwick College sophomore Annabelle Chu Yan Fui, 20, from the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, experienced her first Thanksgiving last year at the home of a staff member.
"I never ate so much in my life," she said.
She was planning on a similar experience at the home of Professor emeritus Nancy Chiang, who hosted a group of students this year.
"We don't have Thanksgiving in my country," Fui said. "It was nice eating the turkey and getting together," she said.
Such activities help during the long break, she said.
At Hartwick College, there are about 50 international students, said Jenifer Chambers, director for the Center of Experiential Learning. About 10 were scheduled to be on campus for the holiday weekend, she said. Her office makes sure that all students have a place to spend the holiday and what they need during the five-day break. The residence halls are open, but dining halls are closed.
Chiang said she regularly has students over for the holiday dinner.
She has been teaching at Hartwick for 38 years, she said. When she came to America 40 years ago as a student from Taiwan, people in the United States treated her very well.
"It's payback," she said. "It makes me feel good."
Another who was at Chiang's is Min Lin, a 19-year-old economics student from Sichuan province in China.
"There is no holiday like this in China," she said.
She is staying on campus and working during the break.
"It's a little difficult during holiday time," she said.
She misses home and family, but having friends on campus helps, she said.
Last year, Hartwick sophomore Prabhdeep Cheema, 19, of Amritsar, India, devoted his break to studying.
He said he was looking forward to his first Thanksgiving dinner, to be at a different staff member's home.
"It does kind of get lonely," he said, but "if you have stuff to do, it's not that bad."
With finals a week after the return, he has work to do during the break. He went to Wal-Mart earlier in the week to stock up on frozen food, he said.
Officials at the State University College at Oneonta could not be reached for comment.
At the State University College of Technology at Delhi, there was a Thanksgiving dinner planned for international students and family of staff and faculty who will be holding it.
There are 39 international students attending, and they are from counties such as Japan, Jamaica, Canada and China. About 20 were expected at the dinner.
Culinary arts program director Tom Recinella said that the event was arranged after it was noticed that although students were being invited to residents' homes, they did not want to be split up.
Izumi, Takahashi, 21, of Japan, said Thursday, "It was good I can have the experience."
This is her second year at the college.
She said she was enjoying relaxing on campus and studying while school's out.
At SUNY Cobleskill, about 10 international students were expected to stay on campus, said college spokeswoman Holly Cargill-Cramer. That number is out of 45 total from such places as South Africa, Egypt and China.
The college makes sure they are taken care of, she said, and each will be sharing the holiday with staff.
One of the students is Yibei Pu, a 20-year-old accounting major from Southwest University of Tourism and Economics in China.
"We know Americans celebrate this festival from books," she said.
Haitao Yu, 20, is from the same school and is studying financial services .
He was looking forward to the experience, he said. "It's good here."
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Mark Boshnack can be reached at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 218, or at mboshnack@thedailystar.com.
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