Autumnal jazz poured down the stairs of the Gator Wesley Foundation Thursday night as guests arrived with crockpots and take-out trays in tow.
Hosted annually by UF's English Language Institute, the Thanksgiving potluck welcomed about 85 international students for a night of community and cultural foods.
The institute is a hub for English language and culture learning, providing programs that engage international students with UF staff and students.
"This has been happening for years and years, well before I ever came here,” said Tate Quiñones, the institute’s cultural immersion coordinator and chief organizer of the potluck.
Quiñones said the annual event was a great way to teach students about the American holiday while making them feel welcome.
“It adds to the holiday vibes with this familial help and care for each other,” Quiñones said.
The institute’s staff brought a turkey to the potluck, while students were encouraged to bring a traditional dish from their culture. A smorgasbord of cuisines — including kabsah, empanadas, sweet potato casserole, tea eggs and croissants — lined the long tables decorated with paper leaves.
Students paused their conversations and pulled out their phones to capture the Thanksgiving tradition of breaking the turkey wishbone. Quiñones and institute director Megan Forbes conjured their wishes and cracked the bone.
Marcelo Campos, a 38-year-old UF master’s student from Brazil, said he appreciates events like the potluck because they give him a chance to meet people from different countries and to try new kinds of food.
Although Campos’ family is over 3,000 miles away in Brazil, the event made him feel more at home in Gainesville and reminded him of his family's own Thanksgiving festivities, although the holiday isn't as widely celebrated in his home country.
“Americans really like this holiday,” he said. “Everything is closed in Brazil.”
Another language institute student, Colomba Martinez, said she loved the connection that food creates, having brought empanadas to the potluck that were quickly devoured. The 18-year-old came to Gainesville from Chile four months ago to learn English, and she said she has made a lot of friends in that short time thanks to the program.
“The most important thing ELI told us when we enter here was to go to the events because you will learn more English,” Martinez said.
By going to events like the potluck, Martinez has even picked up a little bit of Arabic, which she never believed she would learn before coming to UF.
Cassie Garcia, a 22-year-old UF communication sciences and disorders senior, said her experience volunteering as a conversation partner at the language institute was surprisingly rewarding. She was matched to a student from Taiwan, whom she meets with weekly to practice having conversations both in English and in the student's native language.
“My favorite part has been getting to know her and see the differences of our cultures compared to each other but also seeing that we’re not that different,” Garcia said of her conversation partner. “I feel like she's really my friend.”
Attending the potluck gave Garcia a chance to meet her conversation partner’s family and friends, laughing among them like she was already a part of a second family.
Marin Chester is a contributing writer for The Alligator. Contact her at marin.chester@ufl.edu.
