UMaine International Students To Showcase Homeland Tradition at Culturefest 2006
Contact: Sarah Joughin, 581-3423; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — Travel the globe in a day without leaving campus Oct. 28, as the year’s biggest international event in the region pulls together hundreds of University of Maine international students for Culturefest 2006 — a showcase of talent, style and cuisine from cultures of the world.
From 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the Memorial Gym Field House, students from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas will leave the blue jeans and sweats at home for the day and turn out in traditional clothing and costumes representative of their homelands for a day of singing, dancing, cooking and exhibits.
Culturefest is free. Adults and children from surrounding communities are invited to learn first-hand about the cultural themes and customs of the homelands of students from many of the 76 countries represented on campus. Members of the UMaine International Student Association will offer an international food court, talent show, fashion show, information tables with maps and flags, and children’s activities throughout the day.
“This is the biggest international event on campus,” says co-organizer Sarah Joughin of the UMaine Office of International Programs and National Student Exchange. “As we become a more global society, the public is realizing more and more the need to learn about cultural differences,” she says. “This is a unique and rare opportunity to travel around the world in a single day.”
It also is a chance, adds Manaz Mohideen, an electrical and computer engineering junior from Sri Lanka and president of the International Student Association, to see beyond the headline news coverage of violence and disaster in other parts of the world.
Culturefest, he says, allows people to see “what’s unique about different parts of the world, what students bring from different places, their dances, clothing, styles.”
Mohideen personally is looking forward to performing in a Sri Lankan musical ensemble, a fusion of Asian drums with guitar and other instruments he and his friends hope to assemble for the talent show. He also is hoping Sri Lanka can outdo the cuisine prepared last year by students from India, who won the food contest.
“This year, we’re definitely going to beat them,” he says.
Mohideen expects he and his fellow students will prepare a milk rice and curried chicken offering, and promises to tone down the intensity of the spicy curry this year.
Anh Do, a third-year business major from Vietnam, says she looks forward to her third Culturefest because it’s a chance to share her culture with others, not just from the campus community, but from the entire region.
“I don’t talk about my country that much, unless people ask,” she says. “It’s a great opportunity to learn about other countries. It’s just really neat to have everything represented and you see stuff from all the other countries.”
Do expects to help prepare native spring rolls, Vietnamese noodles, sticky rice and a special dessert for the food court.
Typically, more than 1,000 people attend Culturefest, according to Joughin. The students request a nominal contribution for food items from the food court to cover expenses.
For more information about the 18th annual Culturefest, contact the UMaine Office of International Programs at (207) 581-2905 or visit www.umaine.edu/international.