Santa Monica Students Snack Their Way Around The World
(L-R) Andrea Giraldo and Brian Mualim, the Vice-President of the Santa Monica College International Student Forum (ISF) check out the piñata and table filled with different snacks brought by ISF members for Snacks Appreciation Day on Oct. 5, 2022. Santa Monica, Calif. (Ee Lin Tsen | The Corsair)
Snacks– some like them sweet, some like them savory, but whatever shape, size, texture, or colored packaging they come in, snacks will always be a fragrant and delicious reminder of home.
On Oct. 5th, 2022, a misty fall Wednesday afternoon, over 60 international Santa Monica College (SMC) students gathered on top of the Cayton Center Balcony and filled its picnic benches with snacks from all around the world as they socialized, played games, and enjoyed snacks from each other’s hometowns during Snacks Appreciation Day, a social event organized by the International Student Forum (ISF) of SMC.
The ISF is one of the most popular clubs at SMC and officially kick started their in-person Fall meetings through Snacks Appreciation Day. The club encouraged their members and students to bring snacks from their home countries to share with other students. For an hour, the chatter and aroma of traditional snacks from Mexico, Indonesia, Taiwan, Iran, Malaysia and many other nations across the globe poured out from the Cayton Center Balcony as students introduced their childhood snacks to each other and made new friends.
“We do these types of events for people to socialize and get to know each other. Last semester we had great outcomes with our tie-dye and ‘the protect the egg’ event, and now with this snack swapping,” said Abril Olivares Nolasco, the ISF President.
ISF Advisors, Denise Kinsella and Carlos Jauregui were also present at the snack exchange and were impressed by the ISF’s creativity for coming up with the event.
“I'm just really impressed that they came up with such a creative idea to have people bring their snacks from their home country and share with each other,” Kinsella said.
“This is the first event for the club this semester, so they really want to give people the opportunity to meet new friends and to form good relationships,” Kinsella said, adding that she hopes that the students will come back for more club activities to see each other again.
Olivares hopes to make the ISF a communal place for all and welcomes both international and domestic students to join in on future club activities that will be posted on their Instagram and Discord.
“We are planning on doing pumpkin carving by the end of the month, so everyone is welcome,” Olivares said.
