Most University students don’t speak three languages, don’t know how to sing the Turkish national anthem and don’t live more than 1,000 miles from their homes.

To the international students at Bowling Green, these differences lead to missed opportunities for communication with fellow students on campus.

However, for members of the World Student Association (WSA), cultural barriers become opportunities to learn about other nations.

The WSA is an organization dedicated to bringing together students and community members who represent different nations — including the United States — to learn about and embrace the world’s various cultures.

“It’s important that people understand other people’s cultures,” said Stephen Mpembele, a graduate student from Zambia. “That way you’ll be able to respect people’s cultures. You’ll be able to appreciate why they do things in a particular way.”

WSA holds bi-weekly meetings Fridays at 5 p.m. in the Union. General meeting activities include ice-breakers that allow the members to get to know one another better, international games and Cup of Culture presentations.

Cup of Culture programs are informative presentations created by students from specific countries to let fellow WSA members understand others’ cultures and personalities.

Palestine was featured in a Cup of Culture presentation Friday. Other upcoming Cup of Culture presentations include China, India, Kazakhstan and Brazil.

“This is a program that we do to showcase someone else’s country,” said WSA President Adaeze Ononye.

WSA Vice President Audra Magermans created a Cup of Culture presentation on her home country of Guatemala in September. Magermans, a digital arts major, chose to present her country using a power point presentation. However, she said, students may use any medium for their Cup of Culture programs.

After Magermans’ presentation, Armenian undergraduate student Tamar Ghambaryan said, “I liked it. It was interesting. It was about the history, the country and about the person herself.”

Other upcoming WSA activities include bowling, soccer and the International Fair, which will be held Nov. 6 in the Union.

The International Fair will have informational and interactive booths, featuring international and multicultural organizations, as well as a booth for Ohio and Wood County, according to WSA Publicity Manager Erol Miskin. University Dining Services will be preparing various international dishes for the event, and international students will perform dances and other international customs, he said.

Attracting more American students to WSA is something the group continues to work on, Ononye said.

“The international students are already there, but the American students do not know about us,” she said.

Mpembele echoes Ononye’s views.

“My understanding is that it’s supposed to be an organization of students from all around, but what you find right now is that there are very few American students who are involved in (WSA),” he said. “So one would wish, or hope, that maybe more American students will be involved.”

Mpembele added that if WSA could be more efficient at publicizing at the beginning of the fall semester, students who attended the group’s meetings right away would be more likely to attend events later in the year.

American students, in addition to learning about other cultures, can also help international students make a smoother transition into the United States. Helping international students adapt to American life is a major focus of WSA.

“With WSA, (international students) feel this is a part of their home,” Ononye said. “This is where they’re probably going to find people from their country. This is also a way for them to ask questions.”

Ononye said that two years ago, a Cup of Culture presentation was created for America, because many international students were asking questions about the country.

“They wanted to know ‘What is Halloween? What is Thanksgiving,'” Ononye said. “If (international students) come to you and ask you questions, they may feel stupid, they might be shy to ask you but when they come to WSA they feel like they are at home. So, they can ask those kinds of questions without anybody feeling weird.”

But according to Katie Baxter, graduate advisor with the group, the need for awareness is still there for international students as well.

WSA has always had difficulty informing all international students about their events, she said, because it is up to students to sign up for the WSA listproc, at orientation.

But for those who’ve taken advantage of what the organization has to offer, their time at the University has been enhanced, they say.

For Ghambaryan, attending WSA has made her feel more connected to the University.

“I came here and I had nobody,” she said. “I wanted to meet someone from another country, so I came (to WSA). It’s a nice way to get people together, to get to know each other. People don’t know people from other countries, and it’s a nice way to recognize other people.”