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The arrival of October brings joy in the form of two words: fall break.
While many students make their way home for the long weekend to rest, relax and have a homecooked meal, the international students of the Hall do not have this luxury.
Seton Hall dedicates the month of October to celebrating diversity by declaring it International Month with a myriad of cultural events to attend all month long.
Bryan Yeoh Quan Jin, a freshman diplomacy and international relations major said Seton Hall was the right choice for him. Jin’s home country of Malaysia is over 9,000 miles away, and he said living in such a different environment has proved a challenge.
“I would say that the strength of the diplomacy program and the conducive size of classes sealed the deal,” Jin said.
“The climate here is very different than the tropical and equatorial climate of Malaysia. But, ironically, the climate and the weather are among my favorite aspects of being here because although it is hot and cold, it isn’t humid here,” Jim said.
He plans to attend many events during the festivities. “I love food so definitely the Food Truckin around the World event. Besides that, I am also a classically trained musician and I have a particular love of Russian classical music so I will definitely attend the ‘Live Classical Slavic Music,’” Jin said.
Jin added that while he thinks the Chinese Calligraphy workshop would be his favorite because it would allow him to practice his calligraphy for the first time in a while, he is eager to attend a lot of the scheduled events this month.
“Unfortunately, there are no activities centered on Malaysian or South-East Asian culture. If I were to introduce an event that celebrates Malaysia, I would definitely recommend a Malaysian food event,” Jin said.
“The three major ethnic groups of Malaysia have a good variety of food, some which are unique to the major groups and some which are a synthesis of the characteristics of the three ethnic groups.”
Jin’s first month has been successful at SHU and he said it helps him feel more at home knowing that the university celebrates the diversity of its students. He is excited to experience what Seton Hall has to offer, and more importantly, witness his first snowfall.
Kelly Zarnowski can be reached at kelly.zarnowski@student.shu. edu.
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