Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon: A melting pot?

Trafton B.

October 26, 2009 - 12:50 PM

So, this is kind of a sporadic post right now, but I think it's really interesting. I'm sitting in the EMU Fishbowl right now as I usually do on Monday and Wednesdays for lunch between classes. I like the EMU because I'm guaranteed to either run into a few friends or at the bare minimum enjoy some solid people watching time. This afternoon, I was lucky enough to pick a seat next to one of the more interesting groups I've seen on campus.

There were four students sitting next to me who were - based on their lunchtime conversation - from Japan, Spain, Russia and Saudi Arabia. I admit, I kind of peeped on their conversation, but it was with the best intentions. I sat down just in to time hear them go around the table teaching each other how to count to ten in their respective languages. "Ichi, ni, san, shi....." "Raz, dva, tree, cheteeree......" (these are just the phonetic version of the Russian words). And surprisingly, they all had some informal knowledge of Spanish, so "Unos, dos, tres, cuatro...." was fairly simple for everyone.

The Saudia Arabian student admitted that he has never had sushi, and didn't really like fish, to which the Japanese student was flabbergasted. He almost felt betrayed by his friend, but then promised to take him to Sakura, the sushi restaurant on 13th Street, which he said was pretty authentic all things considered. I was pleasantly surprised by that because I consider myself someone of a connoisseur on fine sushi, and Sakura is by far my favorite fix in Eugene. Anyway, they headed off for their respective classes and I was irritated with myself that I hadn't arrived earlier. But it begs, the question. Is Eugene a hidden melting pot?

I don't want to get ahead of myself because it's fairly obvious that the Pacific Northwest is not one of the more diverse places in America. But that doesn't mean that international students aren't welcome here. Having worked as a campus tour guide and a multi-cultural recruiter for the university last year, I can tell you that students that self-identify as students of color represent about 15% of the student body and we have anywhere from 1,300 - 1,500 international students at the UO at any time during the year. That's pretty good if you ask me.

All-in-all, I bet that these types of interactions between international students happen pretty often. And I know that the American English Institute works with International Affairs in hiring Oregon students as English tutors for international students. That makes me proud to say I go to the U of O.

If there's one thing I've learned during my time here, it's that those students that don't pursue a foreign language or, at least, a general knowledge of culture and lifestyles abroad, is doing a disservice to themselves. We live in a globalizing world, so we need to start teaching future generations that America is not the center of the universe.