There’s always a mad dash to hit the road and travel home after the last class lets out for Thanksgiving Break, but some students don’t have that option.

Many international students are unable to leave campus because home is more than a day’s travel away. With this in mind, Syracuse University will host its 33rd International Thanksgiving Celebration at Hendricks Chapel on Thursday night.

International students comprise 19 percent of the SU student body, and the dinner is on track to serve more than 450 students with a staff of 57 table hosts, said Rev. Brian Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel. As a former international student in South Africa, Konkol finds the dinner gratifying.

“On a deep personal level, to be able to host international students in some ways for me feels like paying it forward in response to those in South Africa that were so hospitable to me,” he said.

The dinner will feature traditional holiday foods with respect to international appetites. Kosher and halal turkey will be available along with vegetarian stuffing and gravy, beans and rice and pumpkin pie.

Graduate student Mirjakhon Turdiev has lived in Syracuse with his wife and three children since 2014. Turdiev and his family are from Uzbekistan and never celebrated Thanksgiving until coming to the United States.

“There were differences and difficulties for my family, especially because none of them spoke English,” he said.

Turdiev’s first Thanksgiving was an authentic celebration at a family friend’s home in Syracuse. When his family saw the turkey, mashed potatoes and a fully set table, Turdiev said he considered it to be their first real experience in the U.S.

This year, Turdiev and his family and friends want to blend their cultures with the Thanksgiving meal. He said an international Thanksgiving table wouldn’t have turkey as the main dish, but rather a mix of cultural foods and tastes from all over the globe.

“As international students that come from my country, it’s a break time and some students will stay in Syracuse to keep studying and catch up with assignments, including myself, and we’re thinking to observe or celebrate in a mixed form,” Turdiev said.

Turdiev will attend the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Hendricks and said he looks forward to learning about and meeting different students and cultures.

For many international undergraduates, the campus will feel empty during the break. Home is 7,192 miles away for freshman Paritosh Jain, and this will be his first Thanksgiving celebration in the U.S. While he stays on campus over Thanksgiving break, his family in Delhi, India, is looking forward to his return in December.

“Honestly I just feel kind of sad that I’m here for a week alone and I don’t have a lot to do, so I’m going to plan something out,” he said.

Jain knows of one floormate also staying on campus, but a week of solitude hasn’t deterred him from taking advantage of the break.

“I would do a solo trip to Niagara Falls, maybe, I’m not sure,” he said. “Check out the city and check out different parts and explore it myself.”

Taking advantage of all that Syracuse has to offer is a common goal among international students staying on campus.

Kavita Dutta started at SU in January to earn her master’s degree in engineering management. For Dutta, traveling home to Pune, India, is an 18-hour journey — if she takes a direct flight. While spending the break at SU, Dutta plans to attend her first Thanksgiving dinner at Hendricks and explore the area with her husband.

Dutta is eager to attend a real Thanksgiving celebration, as her knowledge on the feast is limited to television and movies.

“I’m actually very excited. As soon as I came in January I missed out of Thanksgiving in the fall, and I really wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “Proper American culture is something that we as international students aren’t close to.”
The Hendricks Thanksgiving celebration will display traditional American culture and serve as an extension of the SU family. With his first Thanksgiving celebration at the university, Konkol wants to expand the meaning of family and be hospitable to those whose homes are thousands of miles away.

“This is a time of year when a significant number of people tend to spend time with family, and our international students remind us that the concept of family is by no means bound to biology and genetics,” Konkol said.

Published on November 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm

Contact Myelle: malansat@syr.edu