As many Ball State students pack their bags in preparation to spend the holiday break with their families, Jae Won Kim and his friends are packing their bags in preparation for a trip to New York City.
As an international student from Korea, Kim has no family to go home to and no American friends to celebrate with because they are going home for Thanksgiving. He and his friends figure a trip to the city will help cure them of feeling isolated, he said.
"Everywhere is closing, and we don't have family in here so it feel lonely, so [we're] going to a big city," Kim said. But Kim is familiar with the idea of Thanksgiving.
Many international students at Ball State use Thanksgiving break to travel and see America, Debra Goens, foreign student adviser, said. Some see the holiday as just another break from school so they can catch up on some homework, just as many Americans do, she said. Other students celebrate the holidays with "friendship families" or have friends over because their families are in the home country.
"We have the same as Thanksgiving in Korea," Kim said. "We are all together and have a big dinner and pray."
This holiday is Chusok and similar to Thanksgiving, they eat special dishes. Many of these dishes are made with rice so the idea of eating turkey is new to him and his friends, Kim said.
Jakub Petersson will experience his fifth Thanksgiving this year. Petersson is an international student from Sweden, where they do not have any holidays similar to Thanksgiving. His first Thanksgiving was weird because there was so much food, but he has grown accustom to the holiday, he said.
"I get really excited for the food because you know how the students eat during the semester," Petersson said. "I'll probably gain a couple pounds." Petersson said he was not familiar with most of the Thanksgiving food, such as pumpkin pie, because they don't have them in Sweden.
His favorite dish is sweet creamed corn and rolls, foods he first tasted when he studied in Georgia, he said.
Like Kim, Petersson has no family in the United States, so the holiday would be a lonely one if his friends' families didn't invite him to be a part of their Thanksgiving celebration, he said.
"It's nice that American families just invite me and say, 'hey, come here with us,'" Petersson said. "Even though they're my friends, it's still nice."
Perhaps more importantly, Petersson gets a chance to learn about American culture first-hand, which is something he feels all international students should get the opportunity to experience.
"It really teaches you a lot about the culture; that's why it's important not to just study the language, but be there because you learn more," he said.
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