The vibrant rhythms of traditional music filled the room, students dressed in colorful attire, danced across the stage and the aroma of spices filled the Volstorff Ballroom Sunday night during the annual International Night celebration.
More than 250 people attended the event and performers from places such as Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh, South Sudan and India participated.
Brookings Mayor Oepke “Ope” Niemeyer visited International Night and opened the event: “I am happy for you to be in Brookings. You make our home quite diverse.”
The organizers of the International Night were leaders of the International Relations Council (IRC) – the main voice of international students on campus. The president of IRC, Heran Habte, said more people attended this year’s event than last year. The organization is creating more events to help international students adapt to life in Brookings and encourage them to participate in such celebrations.
“The main goal of the International Night event is bringing all of our community of international students together and representing their cultures and countries, as well as bringing awareness for more diversity,” Habte said.
IRC organizers are thankful to organizations such as the Chinese Student Association, Nepalese Student Association, Bangladesh Student Association, associations of other nationalities and volunteers for their help during the event.
Two members of IRC, Eldana Teklehaymanot and Maria Fernanda MartinezMendoza, described how the planning of the event started. “We did not have any criteria (for) performers. It is open to everyone: students, faculty members, everyone. Even if you are not related to SDSU and interested in representing your country and want to show something that you are proud of, just let us know.”
Organizing such a large event came with its challenges. Securing volunteers proved difficult. Additionally, IRC sought sponsorships and funding, receiving financial support from the Students’ Association and negotiating with Sodexo to lower catering costs. Despite these challenges, the team remained committed to providing an authentic cultural experience.
“We made sure to include vegan options and maintain traditional recipes so that each dish was served as it should be,” the organizers said.
Students from various countries shared their national dress, dances, poems, songs and cuisines. Even though most of them said that it was hard to prepare for the event because of academic responsibilities, their desire to introduce their culture and country helped them to arrange their time and get ready for the night. Members of the Chinese Student Association represented their culture through song.
“College life is busy, you never know what is coming right around the corner,” Cornelius Chung said. “It is hard to pick time out of the schedule to practice. That was the main obstacle. The other problem was picking a song which fully represents our culture, so we had a lot of discussions with our group.”
Performers also said that performing at SDSU and in their home country are not the same.
“American people are always happy and open to get to know something new and we are always delighted to introduce to them our culture,” Xue Sha said. “You feel [more free] here. You are mostly being in stage, and you enjoy every moment. But when you perform in your hometown, it is mostly about sheer perfection.”
Performers, as well, described what it means to them to represent their culture.
“It is about letting (people) know about my country, that we exist, break stereotypes,” Nguyen Trung said. “Not all people know about my country, culture, people. We wanted to empower. Cultures are coming together. People of different backgrounds could be so harmonizing together. Through this event, we show that we love and respect each other.”
Attendees enjoyed learning about the different cultures international students bring to Brookings.
“It is my second time attending International Night,” said attendee, Ariel Peterson. “The atmosphere was so fun, enjoyable, everybody is so kind whenever I am here. Everybody is willing to talk. There is always a good atmosphere at such events. All the performers and their actions on the stage inspired me. You do not see such unique things around here. When international students show us something that we have never seen, it is always interesting, and it kind of charges the atmosphere of the city.”
More than 800 international students attend SDSU, according to Office of International Affairs numbers. Members of that office visited International Night to support students and to get to know new cultures. Danielle Schulz, of OIA, said she was excited to be there and admired how everyone worked hard to present their country.
