Among the coffee pots, brownies, and cookies were magazines promoting Academic Programs International abroad programs. There were a variety of destinations from Italy and England to Ireland. The program, based in Austin Texas, has been running strong for 12 years helping students to satisfy their travel bugs.
Lauren Bergeron has traveled to experience South American culture. With a desire to expand on the culture, she held the first ever coffee tasting of various coffees from South America. As a study abroad student, she wanted to share the Spanish culture with Plymouth, while promoting studying abroad. Since it was Spanish heritage month (September 15-October 15), an appreciation of all the hard work and culture Spanish people have experienced.
Lauren went through study aboard underneath API, traveling to coffee farms in South America. There she saw how passionate the Spanish were at making coffee, using all natural ways of producing their coffee beans. Making up the five coffee choices, each one from a different region all lined up in the Fireplace Lounge.
Coming from the perspective of someone who has never tasted or liked coffee, each choice had its own natural flavor. The Guatemala Sebastian snaps your senses to attention with its quick jolt of bitterness. Colombian had a strong taste, however using additives to make it more tolerable. Peru was the sweetest tasting coffee of the bunch, while Don Bosco Panama was the most bitter requiring the assistance of cream and sugar. Costa Rican coffee was the strongest, almost too strong. Students who noticed the event enjoyed free samples of coffee and magazines.
“Nice that she’s bringing the countries to us,” said Mike Farkas commenting on Bergeron’s efforts. Mike is a Spanish major in his sophomore year at Plymouth State University. “It’s a small aspect of the culture,” commented Mike’s friend.
More future events to promote studying abroad will be taking place during International Week. Not only did Wednesday’s tasting promote students options, it also made students more aware of the labor force behind the South American coffee bean as opposed to the American product.
Green Mountain Coffee in the HUB didn’t lose many of their customers as some early risers were going in and out of the coffee stop for their morning routine. Managed by Marge Spead, who has never had coffee from outside the US, her shop has ten flavorful varieties taken from our neighbor state, Vermont. Although not all organic, she gets a variety of flavors for students to try out. “Outside the country is too strong.” Spead claimed.
Back over at the event, Ted, another curious student sipping on the imported brew, liked the idea. His friend had been involved in the Nicaraguan trip, and in his opinion, the promotion of students traveling was a great idea. “New England is less of a diverse area,” said Bergeron. Her short but sweet event did it’s job in promoting the Spanish heritage and coffee; each cup more unique than the next.
Coffee has been referred to as being the fuel of America, making it even more crucial for student awareness of where their so-called ‘fuel’ comes from. From the fresh picked branches to our mugs, the coffee from outside the country was definitely worth a sip of appreciation.