Greetings were traded in various languages and national flags blew in the breeze while foreign exchange students met and reflected on their time in southern Illinois Saturday.

The International Picnic is an annual event sponsored by the International Student Council. Students of different nationalities ate foreign cuisine, listened to Indian and Spanish music and joined in on the activities, such as canoeing on Campus Lake.

Reema’s Indian Cuisine catered a variety of dishes such as yellow jasmine rice, vegetable curry and chicken biryani.

More than 100 students attended this year. Sharonn Zheng, a junior from Dalian, China, studying English literature, experienced the International Picnic for the first time.

“I thought the food was very good and I also got to meet other people, too,” she said.

Dalian has a population of more than 3.2 million. Despite this, Zheng said she has enjoyed the change in atmosphere.

“I have adjusted quite well to here,” she said. “There are so many friendly people that go here as well, which makes the transition easier.”

Zheng said even though she comes from a larger city, she enjoys life in a small town.

“I think being in a smaller city is easier because there are not that many people and the air is much cleaner here too,” she said.

Like other college students, Zheng said she enjoys going to the Recreation Center and spending time with friends in her free time.

Zheng said she also managed to see many of her friends at the international picnic while meeting new people as well.

“I have other friends that are from my university back home which has also made things easier for me as they are very helpful,” she said.

The only difficulty Zheng said she faced when coming to America was the time difference.

“There is a 13-hour difference where I’m from, so having to adjust to that was a little hard but I managed to overcome it,” she said.

Zheng will return home after the Fall 2014 semester. As the spring semester comes to a close, Zheng said she has enjoyed her first experience at the university but is ready for summer.

“I plan on doing a lot of traveling in the United States so I am looking forward to that,” she said.