The Thanksgiving smorgasbord at Mary Graydon Center included all the staples: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, pumpkin pie, and much more.

For some, the spread offered a first chance to try food from a quintessential American holiday.

“Everybody knows about [Thanksgiving], but it’s not a thing in Germany,” said Luisa Latella, a political science student from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich who’s spending a semester abroad at AU. “I was excited to experience American Thanksgiving and taste all the food you always see in the movies.”

With an afternoon off from her internship at the American-German Institute, Latella tried—and enjoyed—mac and cheese and biscuits for the first time, which gave her a small window into the American feast celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

On November 16, AU’s International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) hosted about 150 international students for a holiday meal during International Education Week. The festivities included games, a fall photo booth, and a gratitude exercise where attendees wrote about what they’re thankful for on colorful leaves.

While an estimated 117 million Americans plan to travel for Thanksgiving, many of AU’s 1,218 international students—who hail from 114 countries—will have a different holiday experience that won’t include reuniting with friends and family. The ISSS event aimed to help ease homesickness for AU community members who are studying far from their native countries.

“We hold this to acknowledge their presence, and how much American University values their presence on campus,” said Senem Bakar, director of ISSS. “This is bittersweet. They are [sometimes] very sad that they cannot go home, and the best they can do is to Facetime to communicate with their family.”

The tradition is part of ISSS’s mission to provide guidance and holistic support for international students across their entire AU experience, from navigating the immigration process to moving back home or finding a job after graduation.

To cultivate academic success and personal development for international students and scholars, ISSS provides services and programs that educate, advocate for, and train the university community while complying with federal regulations governing international education exchange.

“We’ll give you a place to go whenever you need anything,” said Jeff DeLaitsch, ISSS advisor for immigration and programming, during opening remarks. “That’s why we’re here at ISSS, to support you. This holiday meal is set up for that purpose.”

For Modou Lamin Sonko, SPA/MPA ’25, who is from the Gambia, the meal offered a small reprieve during the first of two years in the United States. He doesn’t expect to return home until after graduation. As the end of his first semester approaches, he said it felt nice to gather in community with others navigating a similar experience.

“This is good because as international students, there’s a relationship we have,” he said. “We meet at places like this, and we get to know each other well.”

Sonko first heard about AU and decided to apply because it’s where the president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, SIS/MIS ’01, attended. When Sonko was admitted, he knew the time away from home would be worth the degree, but that the distance would be difficult.

For now, a sampling of Thanksgiving food mostly unfamiliar to him will do until he can get back to the comfort of domoda and Gambian jollof—two dishes he misses most that remind him of home.

“I’ve missed friends, family,” Sonko said, “and I’ve missed the food.”