Those whose homes are too far away to visit during Thanksgiving break will still have the chance to spend Thanksgiving dinner with family--their Auburn family.
The fourth annual Thanksgiving dinner for international students will be Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the ballroom at the Auburn Hotel.
"Thanksgiving dinner will give them a little bit of special treatment since they could not go home for the holiday," said Patsy Carter, executive specialist in the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. "They were left alone, and that's the reason we started this dinner."
Tickets for the international student dinner are available on a first come, first served basis at the ODMA and the Office of International Programs. The dinner will be a joint event between the two offices and includes a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with vegetarian options.
There are 225 tickets available, and international students are allowed to bring family members.
"They enjoy bringing their wives and husbands and introducing them," Carter said. "I think they enjoy it because we recognize them and make it special for them."
Along with various entertainment, Overtoun Jenda, associate provost for diversity and multicultural affairs, and Andrew Gillespie, assistant provost for international programs, will each speak at the dinner.
"I'm trying to get students who represent different countries to give a short talk on why they came to Auburn, what they are studying and what they had to adjust to," Carter said.
"Just some questions like that to try and get diversity not just between international students and American students, but between the international students themselves. I want those from India to intermingle with those from China."
Carter said the first Thanksgiving dinner for international students three years ago drew a larger response than the 90 attendees she expected.
"I started getting emails and emails and emails," she said. "The number grew to about 188 people."
As a result, the first dinner has moved from the Alumni Center to the Ham Wilson Arena, and Carter said the event has been popular ever since.
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