As the United States (and maybe some other countries as well) is currently celebrating the International Education Week throughout the nations from November 16th to 20th, I would like to show you what it is all about and how Americans organize several events during the International Education Week. That is unfortunate that most of the 2020 IEW events going online yet this is the best time to post this article so you can also feel the vibes of the celebration by reading my thoughts and experiences about it.

For some of you who are not familiar enough with International Education Week, this is one of the most important festivities that are held annually in the United States. Based on the U.S. Department of State’s website, the International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. This joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education is part of our efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences. This year International Education Week brings a theme of Engaged, Resilient, and Global.

During my study at Valencia College, while joining the Community College Initiative Program in 2019, I had lots of exciting experiences. One of them was the A World Full of Color, an event organized by the Valencia Intercultural Student Association or known as VISA Club. However, there were also several events held every day throughout the week. For instance, the first day of the International Education Week 2019 was the Chalk Art competition by the IEP (Intensive English Program) of Valencia College. Three of the CCI students who studied in the IEP during their Fall semester got a chance to join the competition. They were Sangela, a participant from Brazil; Fathi, a participant from Egypt; and Uly, a participant from Indonesia.

Furthermore, on November 17th to 18th, there was a talent search contest from the VISA Club for all its members. The selected talents would have a ticket to perform on the Valencia College stage during the last day celebration of the International Education Week. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to join either the Chalk Art competition or the talent search contest. I had some classes to attend and some works from my internship supervisor at the same time as both events.

On the other hand, I registered as an Indonesia representative for the A World Full of Color event on November 22nd. I had to decorate a table with some stuff that I brought from Indonesia, such as Batik clothes, Indonesia’ puppet figures, souvenirs, and snacks. Although this required some efforts to make while I had a responsibility to study in my classes and work at the internship office, this was a great way to promote Indonesia to students around the campus. I can tell you that there are only a few people who really do know about Indonesia. So, it is quite important to show them what Indonesia really is. 

Accordingly, to prepare all those stuff for our booth next November 22nd, I went to an Asian store in Downtown Orlando after I finished my duties at my internship workshop to look for some Indonesian snacks that were currently available. Besides, I also prepared some printed material and stickers for decorating on a tri-fold display board. It is important to have good management time and teamwork with your country partner because this preparation took some time to finish.

The day of the A World Full of Color arrived. It was exciting yet nerve-racking. I saw a lot of people were looking around and visiting every table of every country that was presenting at the patio close to the SSB Building. There were students, Valencia staff, parents, professors, and even outsiders who live around the MetroWest area. The event itself was started at noon and lasted two hours until 2 pm. Everyone who came to the spot had to sign up at the registration booth to receive a card contained two questions. They had to find the answers from the country tables. They could exchange the card for free foods and beverages if they could answer the questions correctly. It was spectacular!

I was so grateful that there were so many participants in the event who came by our table. They weren’t only asking the questions they got from the card but also excited to know more about Indonesia. They were so curious and appreciated my existence in their college to educate them about some information that they haven’t heard of before. Also, sometimes they even asked me to take pictures with them because I was wearing traditional attire from Sundanese.

Other countries who presented in the A World Full of Color were, of course, the United States, Colombia, South Africa, Ghana, Jamaica, Brazil, Haiti, and Japan (or maybe there were some more, but I can’t remember them hahaha!). There were some performances on the stage as well, such as singing, rapping, and disk-jockeying, during the event. Moreover, some CCI students also introduced their countries at the patio. Katekani, Randy, and Sbahle were presenting South Africa while Jennifer and Seraphim were there for Ghana. Paula, Sangela, and Betul also attended the event, but they didn’t represent their countries because they had some afternoon classes. Also, Tanvir and Alfred were helping VISA Club as volunteers to receive two to three volunteer hours and capture some best shoots around the campus. Whereas Neeraj and Fathi couldn’t make it to join the activity due to some personal businesses.

When the event came to its end, I started to look around and have conversations with some other country representatives. I asked them some questions about their countries as well as their personal information, such as what classes they were taking, what interests they had, and so on. We took pictures, ate some food, drank some drinks, and laughed together. I didn’t forget to take some souvenirs from every country to have them as my collections and keep them as my memories. Such a wonderful thing happened ever in my life!

That’s all I can share with you my story about the International Education Week at Valencia College in 2019. Honestly, there are so many more I can tell you about this, but I worry that this article will be too long for you to read. So, I prefer to keep it as simple as possible yet still informative. After all, as a bonus for you for reading my writing patiently, I will be showing you some marvelous pictures I have about the International Education Week and A World Full of Color. Thank you for visiting! ❤️❤️❤️