International Coffee Hour with UGA’s Arab Cultural Association
At International Coffee Hour, it’s more than just learning about culture. It’s about immersing yourself in someone’s environment.
“When it comes to coffee hour, really it’s to showcase all the different elements,” said Dylan Schell, one of the Arab Cultural Association’s Event Coordinators. “What I really like about events like this, is that you kind of get a little bit of a window into many different facets of a culture.”
The University of Georgia’s Arab Cultural Association hosted their coffee hour on Friday, Sept. 20. It was held in the Victor K. Wilson Ballroom in Memorial Hall. Between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., 268 students experienced vibrant parts of Arab culture.
“This is really one of my favorite events at UGA, because International Coffee Hour is probably one of the biggest events,” said Maggie Zou, the Senior Programming Coordinator for International Student Life at UGA. “We can get all the international students all together, and we can also attract all the domestic students as well.”
This event featured different aspects of Arab culture, including homemade food, a guessing game to place different Arab countries on a map, calligraphy, and scented items.
Dylan Schell helped create a vision for this event and followed through with the planned details.
Not only is geography important to understanding Arab culture, but so is food.
Soukaina Chaouki, a UGA grad student and ACA volunteer, explained the importance of connecting with the culture through this calligraphy, an important art form for Arab culture.
Having these items allows students to permanently have a reminder of learning about Arab culture.
She also explained the importance of scents and perfumes in Arab culture and history. Strong fragrances are used for rituals and welcoming guests into someone’s home.
With all of these ways to celebrate culture, students enjoyed their time engaging with a new experience.
UGA has been hosting International Coffee Hour for 52 years, and the most important part of these events has been bringing students together to immerse themselves in a new culture to create a strong community.
Skills I Used
I chose to highlight this story because I love featuring different aspects of International Student Life. International Coffee Hour is something that they host every Friday, and I always enjoy being able to go and participate. I think being able to write about such a unique organization and show different aspects of a culture is so interesting, and it has also helped me grow as a journalist. It was great to be able to take the photography skills I learned and be able to put it to use in this setting as well.