Chat Cafe End-of-Semester Update

On Friday, at our Chat Cafe session, a member of my group, Jinyu, asked if we could take a picture before going our separate ways.

This request--one that might seem simple or insignificant to someone else--meant a lot to me.  Jinyu wasn't prompted or egged on by me to commemorate our group's last meeting--instead, the idea was entirely hers, one that indicated to me that Chat Cafe meant something to her this semester.

My hope, of course, is that it meant something as well to other members of our group.  We had a solid 5 throughout most of the semester, and thankfully there was a great deal of chemistry within our group.  Jinyu, Xiwen, and Yang were all from Beijing, and bonded over that shared experience; Adam and Jinyu both had transferred from other universities, and were able to share perspective on the best way to navigate through UM; Xiwen and Yang loved to talk about the places they hoped to travel one day.  Conversations flowed freely through most of our sessions, which would often continue beyond our allotted time (which was fine by me--the discussions were fascinating!).

I hesitate, some, in making comparisons between my two Chat Cafe groups; both were great, in their own ways, and I feel very lucky to have had groups that both remained pretty committed to coming to sessions.  But I would say that this group probably had a greater interest in getting to know one another, whereas the last group probably was more interested in getting my insights about UM and America.  I noticed that this semester, many more conversations took place between pairs in a group, rather than with me at the center of them.  Whether this was because I was a better facilitator this time around or because of a difference in what my group members hoped to gain from Chat Cafe, I don't know.

I do know, however, that I appreciate the way things went this semester.  One of the things I've heard most often while facilitating is how isolating and lonely being an international student at UM can be.  Students have told me about how they worry about talking to their American roommates because of a language barrier, how lectures require them to translate the material from English to Mandarin, and then comprehend its academic meaning, how much they miss their families and their homes and their pets.  Watching the people in my group become friends this semester--I know several of them are friends on Facebook, and that a couple have gone to dinner with one another outside of our group--makes me hope that Chat Cafe might have made the experience at UM a little less lonely.  Beyond giving students the opportunity to practice their conversational English, I think the real value in Chat Cafe is how it gives international students the chance to feel like they are part of a community.

I'm sad to know that my time as a Chat Cafe facilitator has come to an end.  I'm happy, however, to have seen firsthand the way this program can create a stronger network of international students, and hopefully make their experience at UM better.  I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to take part in Chat Cafe, and am sure the program will continue to do great things in the future.