About 218 international students, coming from 44 different nations, currently attend the Naval Postgraduate School. Counting the families of those students, that means a lot of folks new to this country. The NPS’s volunteer (and blandly named) nonprofit International Executive Committee aims to help them adapt to this new (and potentially confusing) country.
One way they do that is by throwing them a coming-out party. That is the stated purpose of the school’s International Day. And the positive interaction with the surrounding community is valuable too.
Students from 32 of those countries, including Germany, Japan, Mexico and Peru to Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Tanzania and Tunisia, plan to host the event noon-4pm this Saturday,
The lawn between Root Hall and Halligan and Bullard Halls hosts entertainment like bounce houses, facepainting, and traditional dancing from Argentina, Indonesia, Turkey, Japan and Greece.
That’s also where attendees can find the international array of food, a globe-hopping buffet, starring tastes that you won’t find here nearly any other time of the year.
That and the people – dressed in traditional ethnic clothing, commingling cultures like a reception at the United Nations – may be the most fulfilling part of this rare day in which the school is open to the public.