Students hailing from across the globe celebrated an early Thanksgiving last night.
Penn hosted a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for about 450 international students in Houston Hall. The holiday feast including turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.
"It's my first Thanksgiving, and I've never experienced anything like this before," said Wharton junior Rigan Wong, who is from Singapore.
The Office of International Programs created the idea for the dinner eight years ago. In recent years, as the dinner's popularity has grown, four other University offices have joined in sponsoring and organizing the event.
OIP Director Shalini Bhutani praised the event.
"The dinner is an opportunity for international students, who don't have their family to go back to" celebrate Thanksgiving, Bhutani said.
"Its nice to have an American holiday that's open to everyone," Bhutani added.
International students seemed generally receptive to the holiday.
"I think it's great to have this type of day where families get together,"said Kyuhwan Kim, a graduate student in education from South Korea.
Lingli Zhang, a graduate student in Neuroscience from China, also complimented the holiday's purpose.
"It's very nice for American people to remember their heritage," Zhang said.
The dinner aims at exposing a uniquely American tradition to international students.
"It was a good idea to arrange this just for international students," said Kiran Rafiq, a College and Engineering freshman from Pakistan.
"Thanksgiving is a totally new concept for us," Rafiq added.
Yet, some students still felt unfamiliar with the holiday after the event.
Michael Cairney, an exchange student from Scotland, said he was unsure of the holiday's purpose.
"Thanksgiving is a bit of a weird holiday. I'm not entirely sure what it's about, a time for family or something," Cairney said, adding, "Sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie -- it's a weird thing."
Even so, Jonas Mitzschke, a junior exchange student from Germany, said, "I don't know what [Thanksgiving] is and the history, but I think it's nice to have one holiday dedicated to family."
Along with the OIP, the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life, the Office of the Chaplain, the Greenfield Intercultural Center and the Graduate Student Center sponsored the dinner.
