The City that never sleeps hosted more than 4,000 students, including nine from BGSU, to celebrate their South Asian heritage over the last five nights.

The South Asian Students’ Alliance provided parties, culture shows, cultural discussions, a bone marrow drive, a tour of New York City and a job fair for Asian students from universities around the country.

SASA hosts this annual event – this year being the first time in New York City – to help South Asian students explore education, history and entertainment throughout their culture by interacting with students with similar customs from all over the U.S.

Naitik Vyas, senior, moved to the United States from India at age 12, and has since adjusted to life in America, but said it has created obstacles when it comes to celebrating his culture.

‘There are not many of us [Asians] at BG, so it’s nice to go to something like SASA to be with other students who are sharing the same transitional experiences as me,’ he said.

The culture experience might be one reason to attended the event, but Birender Singh Anand, president of BGSU’s SASA chapter, said he enjoyed the speakers the best.

‘The speakers taught me that it is important to be yourself while trying to fit in,’ he said, ‘and that is the real key to success.’

Success is exactly what Madhavi Pilli, freshman, was looking for in his trip to the SASA conference in New York City, and that’s exactly what he got out of his five nights there.

‘I heard they were having a job fair for internships over the summer, so that convinced me to go,’ Pilli said, ‘and it turned out to be a very helpful job fair and conference.’