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Jo Beaudreauy, a photography major, Clara Kuo, an English major, Jerome De Vasconcelos Mota, a graduate student in computer engineering, and Lowent De Clermont-Tonnerre, a gradute student in computer engineering, converse in the dining area of the Interna [Click to enlarge]

It may not come into the sight of many SJSU students, however, as it is two blocks off-campus. This year the establishment, more popularly known as the International House or I-House, completes 25 years of existence.

"This semester, there are approximately 70 residents from 35 countries around the world at the house," said Leann Cherkasky Makhni, director of the International House. "We want people who can be contributors to the I-House and bring diversity among other students."

Helle Gram, a graduate student in sociology, who is from Denmark, said she has been at the house since Spring 1999.

"Its awesome. I love it," she said. "I am a lot more knowledgeable about different cultures and customs and have a greater awareness about cross cultural differences and conflicts."

Gram said during her stay at the house she sometimes experienced culture shock.

"The fact that people eat with their hands would hit me," she said. "But in a way you adapt to this environment, because if you don't it's not going to be a fun place to live."

Makhni said she wants the residents to interact with one another so they can become culturally richer.

"We try to match roommates in a way that they can get along and know more about each other," she said.

Huy Nguyen, a senior majoring in business management and a resident at the house, said the organizers try to put students from two totally different parts of the world together in one room.

"For example, you will have one student from China living with another from Europe," said Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American who has been living in the house for four years.

Jérôme de Vasconcelos Mota, a graduate student in computer engineering from France, said he has a roommate from Peru.

"There are other French students in the house, but I talk to them as much as I talk to others," he said. "I am glad that my roommate is from another country."

David Lorenzo, from Spain, has been living at the International House since August 2000.

"I prefer a more diverse mix of people," he said. "People from where I come would feel more comfortable here than in the dorms."

Lorenzo, a graduate student in business management, said this experience would also help him in his career.

"In the future, when you have to meet people from different countries you already know what to expect from them," he said. "I know people who are afraid of contacting foreigners for their work."

The International House was founded in 1978 by SJSU alumni Alan and Phyllis Simpkins. Alan Simpkins died in 1997, and Phyllis Simpkins is still a board member of the house.

"The building used to be home to Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, of which I was a part during my university years," Simpkins said.

After the sorority dissolved, the building was turned into a halfway house for alcoholics, she said. After the halfway house went bankrupt, the owners decided to sell the house.

"While watching a football game on TV we saw a similar International House in Arkansas and really liked it," she said.

This prompted the Simpkins' to buy the house in June 1978, she said.

"When we bought it, it was a mess, as it was a halfway house," Simpkins said. "We used 250 gallons of paint to paint the house, bought new beds, changed doorknobs and opened it for students in August 1978."

Simpkins said she and her husband specially went to Arkansas to see how the house there functioned.

The Simpkins' ran the house independently for 19 years until they donated it to the SJSU Foundation in 1997.

"It was around the time my husband died," said Simpkins, who is now 78.

"Alan and Phyllis are also recipients of the Tower Award, which is awarded by the President of SJSU and the highest honor given by the university," Makhni said.

To celebrate its silver jubilee, the International House has planned a long weekend celebration in July 2003, said Pilar Dixon, office manager at the facility.

As part of the celebrations, there will be a party at the Student Union on July 5, where all the alumni from the past 25 years will be invited, she said. "People are calling from all over the world."

Huy Nguyen, a resident, said one of the most distinguished alumni of the house is Muriel Hermine, a professional dancer and swimmer from France, who studied English at SJSU for one semester.

"She is very popular in her home country France because she is one of the people who has worked on Cirque du Soleil," he said.

In an interview for the International House newsletter, Hermine described her experience living in the multicultural environment.

"The I-House had an influence on my career because this is where I experienced everything my career as an international athlete prevented me from experiencing. Moreover, being immersed among people who didn't know me allowed me to be myself, with my qualities and my failings, and not to be an image people see on TV anymore. That was life, real life...," she said.

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