Large tables filled with sandwiches, vegetable plates and cookies lined the middle of the room. While circles of people chatted, fits of laughter could be heard from around the room.

Students, alumni, faculty and community members were mixed into the crowd. Although they had different first languages, ethnicities and backgrounds, they bonded as they discussed topics ranging from homework to politics. It was a typical Wednesday for the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS).

Like most Wednesdays, junior Siddhartha “Sid” Sinha was eating a free lunch of bread and Nutella while visiting with friends. Dressed in a long-sleeved navy blue shirt, jeans and running shoes, he looked like a typical American college student. With his perfect English, people had little reason to suspect otherwise.

Two silicone bracelets on his right wrist read “U-HELP” and “Love Carefully.” A gold ring wraps around his left index finger, which represents his current stage in life, “Scholarship.” When he gets married, he explained, he will replace that ring with one that represents a time of “house holding,” ascribed to his Hindu religion. The bioengineering student met the majority of his friends at these Wednesday lunches.

Some come and go because of time-rationed study abroad programs, but many of his friends are Americans who are involved with FIUTS simply for the love of culture and diversity. Sinha joined FIUTS directly after his orientation three years ago and has been involved ever since; he volunteers as a member of the student board. Besides being an active FIUTS member, Sinha is also a resident adviser for the international hall in Haggett, a member of the Hindu Students Council on campus and an avid hiker.

“The biggest misconception about the group is that FIUTS is an organization that services just to international students,” said India Fitting, the manager of student programs for FIUTS. “In reality, we are here to serve domestic students and the local community just as much.”

Every week for the past 60 years there has been a community gathering held on campus dedicated to fostering international friendship and global understanding.

On Wednesday afternoons between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., about 300 people filter through HUB 200 to hang out and eat free sandwiches. While other groups on campus have disappeared throughout the years, FIUTS has remained present and relevant to students.

A LONG-STANDING TRADITION

FIUTS was founded in 1948 after World War II to promote cultural understanding and peace through welcoming and building relations with international students. The founders were UW faculty, administrators and business leaders in the community.

In 1948 there were just 274 international students enrolled at the University. This fall, 2,720 international students were enrolled, according to the International Students and Scholars at the UW. FIUTS’s programs expanded with this growth; it offers several weekly activities, as well as a weekly luncheon that caters to about 300 people.

Don Swisher, a FIUTS board member, studied political science and international studies at the UW in 1952, and many of his friends were involved with the early beginnings of the group. He said his lifelong interest in international issues has kept him involved with FIUTS throughout his life.

Attending these meetings and spending time with youth has helped him stay “young,” he said.

The majority of international students hear about FIUTS through their orientation.

Fitting said that because international students usually don’t have family in the area, most of them see the group as a place to feel safe and comfortable while in a new environment.

Some students join FIUTS to be able to interact with students who speak the language they learned while studying abroad, Fitting said.

Stephanie Kim, a UW student from Mukilteo who describes herself as “being obsessed with different languages,” said she got hooked after her first Wednesday lunch. FIUTS gave her the opportunity to practice many languages, including French, Portuguese, Korean and Arabic.

BREAKING STEREOTYPES

The first time Sinha stepped on an airplane was when he took a 31-hour flight from Mumbai, India, to Seattle. He only knew two people in the United States: one is a relative living in Sammamish, and the other is his sister, who is studying at Cornell University.

He left his home in a small steel industry city just outside of Calcutta to further his education. He left the safety of his friends, traditions and the little things from home like afternoon cricket matches.

But he misses the social dynamics of his school in India the most.

“Everyone was connected, and a person’s support system was very extensive,” he said.

He came a long way his first few weeks in the United States.

“To welcome me into the States, my roommates initiated me with Van Wilder and Harold and Kumar [Go to White Castle],” he said.

He said although people have never been prejudicial, many have been inquisitive about his background and culture.

Some of the stereotypes people make about Indians, Sinha said, are that they are “super-intelligent, geeky types, [that] all Indians are geniuses at computers and tech stuff, and have really distinctive accents.”

Sometimes people believe that Bollywood is an accurate depiction of Indian societies, which is false, he said.

Coming to the United States, the biggest stereotype Sinha believed about Americans was that they were uninterested in the outside world. He said most of his stereotypes about Americans stemmed from the media.

Since coming here, he said, “that belief, I’m happy to say, has been disproved over and over.”

He hasn’t been able to return home since the summer of 2006. He e-mails his mom whenever he has a free second and relies on a pint of cookie dough ice cream and his friends to cure his homesickness.

“The friends I have met through FIUTS have really helped this transition away from my family and into a new environment go smoothly,” he said.

BRING A SMILE (AND FOOD)

On Thursday night at the UW Waterfront Activities Center, the room was filled with a plethora of people and traditional dishes for a FIUTS potluck. In the front round table on the right, Don Swisher sat with his wife and talked to a Japanese student about life at home.

A few tables back, Amir Rahmani, an Iranian student finishing his doctorate degree, joked about why he is still at the UW.

“Well, I have two options: go back and support the axis of evil, or stay here and support freedom,” he said as his friends erupted in fits of laughter.

Sinha said that humor, if used correctly, is the best way to break stereotypes.

Through becoming friends with people and understanding their comfort levels, jokes and sarcasm about stereotypes can confirm the belief that they are false.

“I am able to make fun of the stereotypes of my own country,” Sinha explained, but only because it’s his background.

Keeping an open mind is the most important advice he’s taken from FIUTS. Without accepting the unfamiliar, stereotypes will remain intact and cultural understanding stagnant.

This November FIUTS will be celebrating their 60th anniversary. The founders dream for the organization continues today: “That the seeds of peace continue to be sown among all people.”

[Reach reporter Chantal Anderson at features@thedaily.washington.edu.]