By Brianna Bassett | Reporter
Baylor’s Center for Global Engagement took 39 international Baylor students as well as two ambassadors and staff to the Texas State Fair on Saturday.
Melanie Smith, international student relations coordinator, helps put on these events and said the trip to the fair was one to remember.
“It is a Texas tradition, so it represents the American culture they came to learn about in the states,” Smith said. “The main thing they had heard about that they wanted to see was ‘Big Tex.’”
The Center for Global Engagement takes international students on various trips throughout the semester to get them immersed in American culture. Some locations they have visited in the past include the NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the city of San Antonio, Homestead Heritage in Waco and Northpark Mall in Dallas.
Boosan, South Korea junior Joy Jeong said this was her first experience at the Texas State Fair.
Jeong said that it was nothing like she expected, but she had an amazing time with all the people and strange food.
“There was so much to see,” Jeong said. “I was able to take a lot of pictures and show them to my family who have never been to a fair either.”
One of Jeong’s favorite experiences was seeing the animals at the petting zoo.
“Back home, you don’t get to see a bunch of farm animals, but seeing them right in front of me was so surreal, and it was really amazing,” Jeong said.
McAllen senior Bethany Sanchez, student ambassador for the Center for Global Engagement, attended the event as well.
“We all rode the bus to the fair together,” Sanchez said. “When we got there, Melanie explained what it looked like and explained the culture behind it.”
Sanchez said her favorite part was getting to see all the international students experience the fair for the first time.
“There were so many different foods that they had never tried or even heard of. It was a lot of fun just getting to watch them experience all that the fair had to offer them for the first time,” Sanchez said.
