I have been involved with the UNC International Friendship Program since the mid-1990s. It's a great program that has enabled me to host (meaning visit with periodically and help make comfortable living in this area) and become friends with students from Japan, Korea, India, Hungary, Australia, Thailand, and other countries.


Sangeeta and I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather on Saturday, November 12, 2005, to spend with So-yeon, a student from South Korea who came for dinner the night before, and Xiaofang and Zheng, a Chinese couple whom we were just meeting, all three of whom had just been assigned to us, as our good fortune turned out. Zheng is a graduate student in Chemistry, studying polymerization, and So-yeon is studying for a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology. So-yeon brought her friend Alex, another Psychology graduate student, brought up in Greece and New York. We attended the twice-a-year Durham Art Walk, described to be the biggest walking artist tour in the state. We enjoyed the many galleries we saw, purchasing some art and a batik cotton tie, and ended up back at my home for dinner. It was a fun day that ended well after midnight!