Most students celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends, but some chose to try something a little less traditional.
In only its second year, Penn Diplomats organized Thanksgiving homestays to pair exchange and international students with host families. The group received about 60 requests from students and was able to match around 35 with hosts, according to Penn Diplomats International Students Outreach Chairman and College freshman Elie Peltz. This is up from last year, when about 10 were matched.
College sophomore Gemma Lenowitz and her family, who live near Rittenhouse Square, hosted French exchange student Guillaume Schaeffer for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday.
“I’m happy we had the opportunity to show a foreign student the customs of a traditional American holiday,” she wrote in an e-mail.
She added that they had “a lot to talk about” because they had lived in Europe and traveled as a family to Paris, Schaeffer’s home city. They discussed differences between life in the United States and Europe, his adjustment to Penn and Philadelphia, what he was studying and the things he missed most about his home.
They shared Californian wine and a traditional home-cooked Thanksgiving meal and explained to Schaeffer “the intricacies of American football.”
After eating, the Lenowitzes and Schaeffer took a walk around Rittenhouse Square and pointed out the acclaimed French restaurant Parc. They then gathered around their fireplace and enjoyed chocolates Schaeffer brought for them as a gift.
“It was fun to have him, and I’m glad our family decided to host,” wrote Lenowitz, adding that the evening was filled with “lots of laughter.”
Chinese international student Kun Li, earning her master’s degree in the Graduate School of Education, was hosted by Peltz, who lives in a Philadelphia suburb.
Li wrote in an e-mail that she applied for the program because she wanted to experience an American family celebrating “a significant holiday.” She was satisfied with her homestay, elaborating that she learned about both Jewish and American culture.
Peltz wrote in an e-mail that he was “able to learn a lot” from Li, particularly about life as an international student at Penn and about Chinese culture.
“We sometimes fail to recognize how much diversity we have on campus,” he wrote, “and this homestay was a great opportunity for members of Penn’s community who come from different backgrounds to interact in a very strong cultural setting.”
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