My thinking about going global has been sidetracked by great global experiences I've had on the local scene. I don't know what the international student population is at SNU, but there are quite a few international students on campus. Last semester I became acquainted with Jorie Zhao, a student from China. She was studying in SNU's Center for Applied Studies in English (ASEC). She finished up there, took advantage of Christmas break to go home and marry Gavin Zhao and then returned to SNU with Gavin so she could start her MBA studies. I've started meeting with Gavin once a week for coffee and conversation. Due to visa restrictions, he cannot enroll in ASEC. He already speaks a great deal of English, so he and I are able to communicate quite well and I'm able to give him some pointers. Yesterday, Jorie and Gavin joined Laurena and me for worship at First Baptist Church, OKC, and then went home with us for lunch. We usually don't make our dinner guests work, but in their case we gave them aprons and knives and set them to cutting up chickens, peeling and slicing potatoes and generally helping put the meal on the table. They said that they wanted to learn how to cook American food, so we (i.e., Laurena) taught them how to cook fried chicken and make mashed potatoes. As we sat around the table and ate, stuffed ourselves really, we were able to get better acquainted and find out a little bit about life in China. We're already looking forward to warmer weather so that we can fire up the grill and have a cookout with them.
One of the reasons that SNU is such a great place to go global is that it offers many opportunities to make friends with people from around the world. I'm sure that these opportunities on campus are going to grow because ASEC will attract more and more international students to campus. I'm looking forward to more fried chicken and getting acquainted with someone else from half-way around the globe.
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