Some of the international students from last year enjoying the winter retreat.
ISS Courtesy
The International Center’s International
Students and Scholars Office is hosting its yearly Christmas Retreat Dec. 15 to 17 at Lake Arrowhead for international students,
especially those who are unable to return home for the holidays.
“The local people, maybe they would not feel it, but for us we really feel alone especially for … Christmas and for Thanksgiving,” said Cindy Liu, a graduate student from Shanghai, China who is in her second year of APU’s Master of Business Administration program. “We don’t have anywhere to go, so they think of that.”
The retreat costs $50, which includes transportation and food. According to Assistant Director of ISS Vijay Jacob, the retreat typically includes 24 to 27 students.
ISS will be giving priority sign-up to first-year international students. Jacob said this is because many first-time international students need an opportunity to rest and relax after their first semester at APU. For them it may also be their first time celebrating Christmas with snow.
This was the case for Liu, who celebrated her first Christmas at last year’s retreat. Liu said she had seen Christmas movies but had never celebrated the holiday and was unfamiliar with American traditions.
Liu said one of her favorite parts was the deep conversations that she was able to have with her friends during the late nights in the cabin. She also enjoyed when she and the other students wrote encouraging notes to one another and placed them in Christmas stockings they had decorated.
ISS has held the retreat at Lake Arrowhead for the past three years. According to Jacob, this retreat is the first time that some students ever see snow and it’s a highlight of the trip for many.
Freshman music major Hector Eduardo Vega Samur from Ensenada, Mexico said one of the reasons he wanted to go on this retreat last year was because it has been a long time since he has seen snow.
The retreat is held in a cabin that is decorated for Christmas. Students sing Christmas carols, play in the snow, share meals, participate in cooking teams, watch holiday movies, read the Christmas story and go ice skating.
“It’s an opportunity for an international student to relax but also learn about Christmas traditions both from an American culture standpoint, but then also from a Christian standpoint,” Jacob said.
Jacob said officials are still in the planning process for this year’s retreat so it is unclear what exactly it will consist of, but one thing currently in the works is a plan to go Christmas caroling at a nursing home.
Aside from the food and activities, this retreat also gives international students a chance to develop closer friendships with one another.
“[We] internationals are really close to each other,” Samur said. “We are like a family.”
While there are several planned activities, Jacob said they really want it to be a time for students to relax and bond with one another.
“Picture a family reunion, like if you go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and you’re having all your relatives over,” Jacob said. “That’s kind of the atmosphere we try and create.”