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& Thursday, April 2, 19S1
MSC goes international
Above, Rubina Jahan, a sophomore business major from
Bangladesh, puts last minute touches on a display of clo
thing from her native country. Below, Nabil Hussein, left,
a freshman electrical engineering major, and John Rad, a
junior civil engineering major, both from Palestine, check
out some of the items in their booth.
Members of the International
Students Association filled
the halls of the MSC with crafts,
clothing and food of their native lands
By Kate McElroy
Battalion Staff
The Memorial Student Center
looks like a bustling marketplace
in an Arabian fairytale.
The noises — dischords of
horns, sitars and drums—seem
authenic, as if a band of musi
cians from the East are parading
through the lobby. Actually, the
sounds come from those large
portable cassette tape recorders
inner-city children are infamous
for wearing as earrings.
The signposts at the major
comers/intersections in the
MSC pointed to Latin America
in the direction of the hotel main
desk, and to Europe around the
hamburger side of the main
cafeteria.
People dressed in uniforms
with polished shoes and Texas
accents conversed with others
dressed in long elegant robes,
with turbans on their heads and
heavy accents.
But all have something in
common — Texas A&M Univer
sity.
Friday is the last day of Inter
national Student Week. Spon
sored by the International Stu
dent Association, the week was
designed to allow foreign stu
dents — initiated in Aggie cul
ture enough to drink longnecks
and wear Izods and cowboy
boots—to present their national
culture at Texas A&M.
Many of the countries, repre
sented at booths lining the MSC,
suffer from a culture gap. Amer
icans often have a distorted im
age of international students,
but the booths serve as public
relations campaigns by present
ing the good points of other
countries.
"Most ideas about Vietnam
are war and destruction," says
Vy Trinh, who was born and
reared in Vietnam. "We show
them (the students) diffe
rently."
He picks up a book of beauti
ful stamps which are like minia
ture Oriental paintings. "Some
of these stamps are more than a
hundred years old," he points
out.
Vy, who is a senior in mecha
nical engineering, says he is
now a naturalized U.S. citizen,
having come here five years ago.
But he looks at the booth and
says, "I'm very proud to be an
American, and I'm very proud
to be Vietnamese."
The El Salvador booth fea
tures "zemita," which Rose
Marie Boillat said is a typical
bread from her country. The
booth is decorated with fancy
clothing, art and instruments of
that country, which recently re
ceived American military advi
sors to help solve its severe in
ternal problems.
"Most people think it (El Sal
vador) isn't developed," she
says. "When they see this
booth, they see the many hand
crafts, arts." Her slides show a
Above, ierre Faras, a sophomore accounting major from
Lebanon, plays a game of backgammon with Rick Ranzau,
a senior marketing major from San Jose, Calif. Above right,
Nimit Stapol, a freshman chemical engineering major,
talks about Thailand, his home country. Below right, gra
duate economics student Ruby Pandey of India answers a
question asked by Jane Khouw, a freshman general stu
dies major from Dallas. Below left, a group of students
from India share artwork along with some information
about their country's population.
peaceful El Salvador, where the
sun sets over wooded moun
tains, where people hold street
festivals. There are no signs of
strife.
By the El Salvador booth is
one of the loveliest displays. The
Honduras booth has no MSC
chairs or tables in it. Instead, it is
draped in fishnets. Pine needles
carpet the tile, intricately carved
wooden chairs hold artifacts and
pottery, while gentle guitar
music accompanies the travel
slides.
On the other hand, the Ira
nian booth is stark. It features
some native clothing, but is
mostly decorated with politial
pamphlets. It will take more
than pretty slides and peppy
music to change Iran's tainted
image.
Along with maintaining
booths, the I.S.A. is selling t-
shirts to celebrate the week
($7.50 in U.S. money, please),
and tonight it will host a Food
Fair, featuring food from the 85
countries represented in the
organization. After the fair,
which is in the MSC, the I.S.A.
will sponsor a fashion and talent
show in Rudder Auditorium.
All photos by Janet Golub