The Thursday before the Thanksgiving holiday, students came to
INTO Center Night at INTO USF to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner of
turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and more with other
students and INTO USF staff (above). "We brought in a turkey
and other Thanksgiving food for students to try," said Romel
Pancho, Student Support Coordinator for Student Experience and
Engagement at INTO USF. "We had a CBS, or Culture Bound Series,
where we talked about the history of Thanksgiving and what it means
to American families today."
Students and Conversation Leaders filled the room, as did the
smell of holiday meats, warm macaroni and cheese, sweet potato
casseroles, and desserts, and students enjoyed the company of
classmates and friends as they celebrated Thanksgiving.
During last week's holiday, two INTO USF students had a special
experience of Thanksgving. Last year, Haksoo Sung and Jin-A Park
became friends with a domestic USF student and were invited to his
parents' house for Thanksgiving.
"We played Monopoly and met his family and they explained why
Americans eat turkey and what kind of foods, like cranberry sauce,
macaroni and cheese, ham, rice, and mashed potatoes, are eaten at
Thanksgiving," said Jin-A.
Haksoo and Jin-A learned how to make mashed potatoes and also
brought a dish of their own and left with more food than they
expected. "We brought Kalbi, which is a famous Korean barbecue beef
dish," Haksoo said. "They liked it! Before we left, they gave
us the leftover food and his mother said for us to eat it later.
They are so awesome."
Meanwhile, INTO OSU organised a trip for students over the long
weekend. Robert Hinderliter, the Student Services Trips and
Activities Assistant, took a group of ten adventurous students over
the mountains to the east to a beautiful snowy resort in central
Oregon. After some Black Friday shopping in Bend, the first evening
was spent enjoying resort's holiday festivities, including walking
through a dazzling array of Christmas lights and exploring a room
full of truly epic gingerbread houses.
On Saturday, the group went on a snowshoeing adventure with
guides from Oregon State University's Cascades Campus. They trudged
through a snowy evergreen forest to a cabin where snacks and apple
cider waited for them. It was a crystal clear blue day, and the
group had a perfect view of the Three Sisters mountains in the
distance. It didn't take long for a wild snowball fight to break
out. For some of the students from southern China, it was the first
time they had ever seen snow. The rest of the day was spent
exploring the resort or relaxing in hot tubs.
That night, the group went to an observatory to see the stars.
The students looked through over a dozen high-powered telescopes at
far-away planets, nebulas, and galaxies. Then they joined a
presentation where they got to hold meteorites and learn about the
mysteries of the universe.
On Sunday morning, they visited downtown Bend for breakfast,
shopping, and to feed ducks in the Deschutes River. Then it was
time to make the winding journey back through the mountains to
Corvallis. It was a relaxing, exciting, and wonderful weekend!
Check out the pictures from the trip here!