The purpose of this article is to share with people my experience of living at the Cosmopolitan Club as a resident since mid-March 2003. Before doing so, I would like to express my appreciation to Prof. Thomas Bassett (Department of Geography, U of I) who is doing his best for me since 2001 for my studies either in Cote d'Ivoire (where I'm from) or in Urbana-Champaign. Also thanks a lot to Andrea Shields (Executive Director of the Cosmopolitan Club), Diane Joy (Urbana Adult Education), Marline, and to all the Cosmo residents.
I attended for the first time Urbana-Champaign as exchange student assisting Prof. Bassett with his NSF-funded research project: Patrimony, Property, Development Territories in Northern Cote d'Ivoire (Diffusion of Geography News, May 2003). I immediately came in contact with the Cosmopolitan Club, where a room had been reserved for me by Tom Bassett.
Cosmo Club can be first presented as a rooming house at 307 E. John Street. The Cosmo Club is also involves the coffee hours every Thursday from 7: 30pm-9:30pm in the Cosmo house. This event assembles many people, especially international students. They share their experiences around a given topic or subject, learn to know each other, and create between them good friendly relationships.
The Cosmopolitan Club can also be presented through an activity by which it is well known: the International Dinners. These are dinners where the organizations representing a country cook a variety of the favorite foods of their homeland. This event allows them to present their culture through songs and dances, clothes and movies.
Beyond coffee hours and international dinners, there is real life going on at 307 E. John Street. In fact, there are fourteen students living at the Cosmopolitan Club coming from several countries: Anand Ranganathan (India), Antti Suhonen (Finland), Diana and Andrés Fernández (Venezuela), Felix Autenrieth (Germany), Sharyl Carrado (U.S.A.), Jun Yan (U.S.A./China), Ingomar Middlebos (Netherlands), Ben Heng (Singapore), Ana-Maria Popa (Romania), Sumiko Nakamura (Japan), Young Jae Lee (Korea), and Dimi Lazhov (Bulgaria). This diversity in countries implies diversity in culture and education.
Cosmopolitan club students are also from different study levels. There are undergraduate and graduate (masters, Ph.D.) students living together. The fields of study are also different. Students are studying mathematics, geography, history, journalism, chemistry, civil engineering, and computer science.
Beyond these differences in the culture and education, study levels and fields, all the residents share together their joys and difficulties in a mutual acceptance. In this sense, every student gives his best in order to satisfy his friends. It is frequent to see someone proposing and organizing a group event. For instance, we organized many parties such as camping at Kickapoo State Park, picking apples at Curtis Orchard, and many BBQs where we appreciated our talented driver and cook John. This is why Felix (Felix, May 2003) thinks that Cosmopolitan Club is a home for him.
If you want to listen to exciting jokes from Dimi, spend some time in the kitchen with him. The TV room is the most important place (Anand, 2003), where you discover how great people are, such as Ingomar and Antti. Do not come and go from Cosmopolitan Club without meeting Sharyl, the "housewife of Cosmo." All this life is going on under the affectionate and attentive care of Andrea Shields, Cosmopolitan Club Executive Director.
Cosmopolitan club life is very influential on me; first, in terms of meeting many people coming from around the world; and second, in terms of gaining knowledge about other cultures; and finally, in terms of helping me feel at home when I miss my country and family. Life at the Cosmopolitan Club reinforces my notion of community life and makes this house the house for international students at Urbana-Champaign.
Moussa listens to Dimi tell one of his jokes