Northwestern’s first Global Village let students eat Greek Spanakopita, listen to Russian R&B and watch a Scottish bagpipe performance – all in the same afternoon and the same time zone.
The event brought together groups representing 15 countries in Parkes Hall on Sunday afternoon. Flags from nations all over the world lined the walls as 11 student groups and four individuals set up booths with traditional cuisine and cultural music to represent their countries.
NU’s chapter of AIESEC, a worldwide organization for business and economics students, has been working on organizing an annual Global Village since 2004, but this is the first time the event has taken place at NU, said AISEC president and Weinberg junior Jason Wang. Global Village, an international event held by AIESEC chapters around the world, celebrates different cultures by bringing them together, he said.
“We want to promote cultural understanding and we believe the two best ways, and the most universally understood, would be through food and through music,” Wang said.
About 150 students in Parkes traveled from Argentina to China, making stops along the way to taste an authentic sweet potato dish in Korea, listen to Iranian singer Leila Forouhar playing from speakers in Iran and see a Greek bouzouki, a string instrument.
While most countries were represented by cultural student groups on campus, SESP junior Lory Cooper set up a booth with photos and Australian snacks, including Tim Tam biscuits, that she brought back from studying abroad in Melbourne.
At the Russian booth, Weinberg junior Natalia Chebikina served a homemade noodle dish and Russian potato salad. Tasting each country’s traditional food brought the different cultures together, she said.
“A girl from the Turkish table came up and said we have something similar,” Chebikina said about the two cultures’ food.
While the students ate, they watched dances by the NAYO Dance Ensemble and NU Bhangra, Communication freshman Elias Alexander on the bagpipes and Weinberg junior Natasha Mao belly dancing.
Weinberg junior Manjari Ranganathan came to Global Village to learn about some of the different cultures and try new food.
“I usually go to individual countries’ events, and it’s really nice to have them all together,” she said.
Wearing a traditional Polish highlander dress, Weinberg junior Izabel Gronski, the president of the Polish American Student Alliance, passed out kolaczki, pastries with jam and sausages with traditional Polish dipping sauces. Gronski said she thought Global Village was a good way to let cultural groups learn about each other.
“These cultural groups stand alone, but it’s stuff like this that brings everyone together and lets people learn about all kinds of cultures, not just one,” Gronski said.
