TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Wednesday, the John Robert Lewis Quad was bustling with students getting a look into music, games, and foods, from all across the world.

Jiho Park is a South Korean student from Jeonnam Physical Education Highschool who has spent the last two weeks studying in Troy. She and 15 other South Korean students arrived last week to tour each of Troy’s academic colleges and experience International Education Week.  

“I got to know the real life of American students here and I think that was fun,” said Park. “It’s cool to know different thoughts and perspectives and it’s fun to teach them about Korean culture.” 

Part of the teaching Park mentioned was done during International Education Week’s Taste of the World. Games, customs, clubs, and even an international baking competition all aimed to immerse students in new cultures.  

“It’s more for them; they wanted a competition,” said Troy University’s ESL director, Dr. Lance Noe. “At first, we just weren’t going to do a bake-off, it was going to more of an educational experience, but the students were like ‘Teacher! Who is best!?’ and I was like, ‘Oh, well, we can ask’.” 

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Noe says international students’ excitement for sharing their culture was a driving force in the creation of the event. 

“They really want to show their culture, you know, they miss home like you would if you were- And so it’s a chance to kind of show off and celebrate their culture,” Noe said.

Troy University’s Study Abroad director, Sarah McKenzie, says events like Taste of the World benefit domestic students by giving them the passion and connections to study abroad. 

“They get to meet our international students and so if they meet a student from Korea and they decide they want to go to Korea, they already know someone there,” McKenzie said. “We always say it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. So, you can go over there, even if it’s just to visit and you might have a free place to stay.” 

McKenzie also encourages students to ask themselves how different these cultures really are.

“I have found that people are people everywhere. We have the same problems; we have the same lives, just in different areas of the world, with different food, and different languages.” 

International Education Week ended with the ISCO festival Thursday night, at which the winners of the baking competition were announced.