Editor's Note: Staff writer Larry Guthridge also contributed to this article.
International Night was held in the Frank G. Pogue 'Student Center's seminar room on Saturday, Nov. 7 and was sponsored by the International Student Association (ISA.)
The event featured live entertainment and cuisine that showcased the multitude of nations that represent Edinboro University's international student body. Karim Hossain, physics professor and international student advisor, said that International Night is one of the ways Edinboro University allows its domestic students to experience many different cultures.
"We cannot be outside the world, so we wanted to bring the world to them," he said.
The evening began with opening remarks from Edinboro President Jeremy Brown and other organizers
"We are doing our best to promote our international population at Edinboro University," said Brown.
"Edinboro has an international heritage and what makes this place so diverse is the people from different countries and cultures who come here to share with us their cultures , ideas and experiences."
There was a wide range of performances during International Night that kept the audience interested and entertained. The evening began with belly dancing by North Coast Dance with another group of dancers performing the classical South Indian dance style of Bharatanatyam. After the West African dance group Zuma Zuma performed, the audience took an intermission and sampled cuisine from countries such as India and Mexico.
In previous years, ISA members had to make all of the food, but this year, ISA had the food donated by Chartwells.
Felix Eshesimua, a member of ISA and one of the main organizers of the event, said planning International Night was time consuming because ISA collaborated with members of the community to help make International Night a success.
"We tried to reach out to the community to find dancers and to get other elements together," he said. With the food aspect, we asked individuals to submit recipes for the food and give it to Chartwells."
Once the food was served, more performers graced the stage. Many students chose to rap about their countries, while others recited poetry.
Robert Omoha, a business administration and management information systems major, chose to perform a rap on stage with some friends. Known on-stage as Fly MC, Omoha said that, after he graduates from Edinboro, he'd like to get involved with the music industry back home in Nigeria.
"In Nigeria right now, the music industry is quite large, so with my music, I have some American influences that I use my native language," said Omoha.
In addition to many musical performances, ISA closed International Night with a fashion show that showcased many fashions from various countries.
"This is the only time where I can wear my African clothes, so it's just a really fun time for me," said Nobuhle Dube, a student from Zimbabwe who participated in the fashion show.
Eshesimua hopes that this event will encourage people to learn more about the international community. "People should try and learn more about international affairs," he explained. "A lot of my friends ask me a lot of questions about Africa that I don't really know the answers to."
Linda Kightlinger, the director of International Student Services, was pleased to see how proud the international students were of their countries and was grateful that so many domestic students had a chance to experience the international community.
"I hope that they were able to see a part of the world that they have never thought they would have seen," she said. "We bring students to campus to enrich our domestic students' lives."Students from all corners of the earth joined together at Edinboro to share everything from dance and fashion to food and information on travel. And while there might be differences in culture and language, the goal was to educate people on the many diverse cultures around the world and found in our very own cities. Guo "Joy" Wei Juan of China hoped that this night would "challenge ourselves about becoming open and embracing different cultures. To learn from each other."
There are many reasons that Edinboro University is an institution that one may choose to come to and one of the reasons could be its many exchange programs.
"Our school has an exchange program that works with our home school and it is a lovely city." said Julia Nikiel of Poland, who attends Marie Curie Skoldowska in Lublin, her native country. President Brown has said numerous times that he wants to "take Edinboro University to the world and we'll bring the world to Edinboro University."
Whatever the reasons be that students choose to come to Edinboro, it is easy to see why they enjoy it.
Some enjoy the people. "It is safe and the people are very respectful," said Sana Haji from Bahrain. Others appreciate the faculty, as Ewa Myszkowska of Poland states, "the professors are open and helpful."
Despite their separate and unique reasons people come to Edinboro for, their experience will leave a lasting impression, whether it is the difference in classes and approachability of the professors and students or the simple natural beauty.
Leaving, even to go home, can still be hard. "I like it here and wish I could stay longer," said Myszkowska.
Regardless of where or when, if ever, paths of old friends will cross each other's again, International Night succeeded in what all of those involved had hoped to achieve. "I hope we can get more students interested in different cultural experiences," expressed Wei Juan.
Even if there are drawbacks, such as the amount of tests, "You have so many tests here and I really find midterms are very difficult. In Poland we only have one test at the end of the term," said Nikiel.
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