The residents of the International House hosted about 50 guests Friday night at a celebration in their new location in the recently renovated Brewster Hall.
Brewster is located behind the Hood Museum of Art and was the former home of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority. It has 26 single rooms and an apartment on the third floor, International Office Director Judith Mackenzie said.
For the last 20 years, the International House was located on Park Street in a much smaller location and housed only five people, Mackenzie said.
Friday night's celebration included speeches by College President James Freedman and Dean of the College Lee Pelton, as well as food and entertainment. Japanese dishes, including meat and vegetable spring rolls, sushi and samosa were served.
Yasko Kanai '97, who is from Japan, played the Japanese national anthem and another of the country's traditional songs on a stringed instrument called a Koto, which Kanai's grandfather gave her.
Ping Ann Addo '96, who is from Trinidad, said she is pleased with about the space at Brewster. "I have nothing but wonderful things to say" about the new house, she said.
The house's residents, who hail from nine foreign nations and the United States, have lived in the new location since it opened Fall term, Mackenzie said. The house was renovated during Summer term.
Mackenzie said finding a house with enough space to host programming events and in-house social events was a primary goal of the residents for several years.
Freedman said Friday that he is delighted with the increased space for the International House. He said the students invite him to brunch every year and always ask why they did not have a larger physical plant.
"It finally occurred to me after seven years that it was easier to give them a house than to take the complaints," Freedman joked, but then turned serious again. "It is a wonderful occasion to be in this room and to see the facilities that we now have for international students."
The renovations included improving the condition of the common room, adding food lockers in the kitchen and making the basement bathroom handicapped-accessible, she said.
Mackenzie said the cost of the renovations "was a very modest amount" that was funded through ORL's budget.
The house hosts social events, including Friday night movies and Friday afternoon open houses. It also sponsors special events like Thanksgiving dinner and receptions for the writers reading in this term's series "Women Writing Across Cultures."
Freedman and Pelton both spoke on Friday about the need for the atmosphere the International House creates.
"We believe education goes beyond the four walls of the classroom to where you spend 85 percent of your time," Pelton said. "Where you live is not a refuge. It is not an escape from the classroom.
American students make up 40 percent of the house's residents. Mackenzie said the house is open to any undergraduate resident.
