International Student Center Open House Celebrates Asian Culture

The International Student Center hosted the Asian Open House Wednesday, April 25, to celebrate the Asian culture from which many Liberty University students hail.

The open house featured authentic Asian food and drink as well as Asian-themed trivia, providing Asian students the opportunity to share their cultures with other students.

“To me (the ISC) is a place where international students really have a platform. International students can come and represent their country, their culture, their people group, their food, their music, everything that they identify with,” Jamshid Azimov, a student worker at the ISC, said.

Azimov, who is from Uzbekistan, appreciated this open house because it celebrated his culture and upbringing.

“The continent (of) Asia … is one of the most populated continents and definitely one of the most diverse,” Azimov said. “We all have similar food, and our cultures are more similar than compared to Europe or Africa because we are in similar regions.”

The open house featured food native to China, Vietnam, Thailand, Lebanon, Jordan and India with dishes like stir fry rice, dumplings, red lentil curry with rice, tabbouleh, Vietnamese wontons and hummus with flat bread.

Tunya Pannell, the operations coordinator and office manager of the Office of International Student Services, said that China, Korea and Vietnam are in the top five countries that make up Liberty’s international students.

Jessica Rao, a Chinese-American student, said that she enjoys the various open houses the ISC puts on.

“I feel like we definitely need diversity and culture here to show what other cultures have,” Rao said.

Throughout the school year, the ISC features various countries and regions with eight themed open houses. The themes are based on Liberty student demographics.

As an ISC student worker, Azimov explained that because Asia encompasses so many countries, the ISC tried to represent all the countries that Liberty University has students from through food, trivia and presentation slides.

Nguyen Huong, a Vietnamese student, explained that she loves to come to the ISC for the warm atmosphere and for the food.

“I partially like the food because the distance between China and Vietnam is pretty close, and our food is very closely related, so a lot of their food tastes like ours,” Huong said. “It gives me a little taste of home.”

 

“(The ISC) gives them a platform to … come and interact with other international students … It’s a great place for students to come and relate with one another, and to me, that’s the meaning of the ISC,” Azimov said. “My favorite part (of the open houses) is when I see both international and local students come and … learn about each other’s cultures — similarities and differences. I think that really brings out not only the diversity, but the richness of this school and God’s kingdom as a whole.”