To alleviate homesickness for POC students during Thanksgiving, the Asian Culture Club and Black and African Student Union collaborated to create a friendsgiving potluck on Nov. 22.
The idea for the potluck came specifically from two students, Lydia Olin-Hitt from Asian Culture Club and Sena Segbefia from BASU, who are roommates. They were inspired by their own friendsgiving meals at their house and pitched the idea separately to their respective clubs.
When Oliin-Hitt attended the BASU meeting, she realized that both clubs had planned a Thanksgiving restaurant outing for the same night. They decided to merge their idea and create a friendsgiving potluck, catering to the student body of SLU-Madrid.
At the potluck table, one could find chicken dumplings, Ghanaian stew, cheese biscuits, Mexican conchas, and more! Students sipped on some elderflower lemonade, filling their plates with food. As they sat down, they conversed about Thanksgiving back in their hometowns, sharing their unique holiday traditions.
Segbefia, a senior at SLU-Madrid and BASU President spoke about how she celebrated Thanksgiving with her family in Ghana.
“Thanksgiving for me always meant spending time with my family, gratitude, and of course, lots of food,” said Segbefia. “We usually make a mix of both American meals and Ghanaian meals, which is why this event was so special to me. It meant I didn’t have to miss out on homecooked meals from my culture.”
Many minority students present at the event expressed this sentiment. To them, a Thanksgiving meal didn’t just consist of your average American foods but also included meals significant to their own cultures.
Asian Culture Club Marketing Director Denise Soriano spoke about the importance of minority students having their safe space in “a predominantly white institution”.
“I usually celebrate this American tradition with my Asian-American immigrant family in America,” Soriano said. “But with this event, I was able to spend it with other Asian-Americans in Spain, which was really cool and inclusive.”
Soriano also spoke about how if it wasn’t for this event, she wouldn’t have celebrated Thanksgiving at all. A few American students present at the event had the same idea as Soriano, as homesickness was hitting hard.
For many freshmen, this was their first Thanksgiving away from their families, as SLU-Madrid does not offer Thanksgiving holidays due to following the Spanish calendar. Alex Mulder, a computer science major who attended the event, was one of many students in this predicament.
“It’s definitely hard being away from my family during the holidays,” Mulder said. “Even just the food, I mean where is all the pumpkin pie in Madrid?”
