Cosmo Connections, May 1997

Impressions of Cosmo Club

by Nicholas Bjone


Here in the middle of the cornfields of Illinois lies Champaign- Urbana, home of the University of Illinois, home to some 36,000 students. Most people know this. However, would you have guessed these cornfields are also home to over 3,000 international students reporting from 115 countries from around the world? I certainly didn't know this when I first entered the university.

But then I was introduced to the very active international community and all of its various organizations, among them the Cosmopolitan Club. My first experience with the club was about a year ago when I was looking for a place to stay for a week because of some help I was providing for the international student check-in. Luckily, my supervisor found me the place I needed in the Cosmo house.

For some reason, I remember that week very well. I remember there were always people willing to have a conversation. I remember I was always offered food. I remember dozing off many nights on one of the living room couches with a book in my hand. And maybe most of all, I remember encountering several faces thinking I would probably never see them again. I was wrong.

For the next year I was to actually know these faces, as I was fortunate enough to help with the club's international dinners and coffee hours. The coffee hour always offered a great escape from the week as the dinners provided me with a satisfied mind and stomach. I remember one Sunday dinner in particular. It was the French dinner. I had been enjoying the meal as always, when the desserts were brought out, including the infamous truffle. I bit into it and ate it like anyone else. Then one of the hosts informed me I was eating it wrong. Apparently, one has to suck on it because it melts in your mouth. Wow, if heaven were in the form of a food, then this truffle would be it.

What is great about this experience is that it is one of many. There has not been one coffee hour, one dinner, where I have not met another interesting individual. There has not been one time where I have left unsatisfied. The Cosmo house is a great place with great people. There's not much more one can say, except to stop by yourself and enjoy what I have.


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