Cross Culture Week – Celebrate Multiculturalism at the University of Canberra
By Ruby Thomas
The University of Canberra (UC) hosts people of many different cultures.
We have a population of international students from all over the world and many different student associations representing a variety of countries. UC also sends students to a host of destinations for study, and we embrace global cultures in academia too.
To celebrate all of this in one week, UCX is organising ‘Cross-Culture Week,’ scheduled for week 5 of semester two (next week!).
I met with UCLifeX Student Events Officer Ella Friend for an overview of what students can expect.
Ella says the week is designed to embrace cultural diversity.
“I’m honestly hoping that students can not just have some fun, but be able to have an insight into the many different cultures and how they interact with the world. We want to represent all of the cultures from within the university and all of Australia. We want to make sure everyone feels represented and that everyone can have a taste of the diversity that is prevalent in Australia,” Ella said.
Events are split between activities and UCX’s signature supply of free food, this time inspired by a range of global cuisines.
The week will kick off with origami, a henna workshop and musical bingo with Portuguese tarts on offer too.
Activities and free food continue during the week, with bonsai and Turkish lamp workshops, free poutine, and a forró dance session.
Hot chips are a crowd favourite, so it’s no surprise that different countries have their favourite way of serving the delectable fried potato dish. ‘Poutine’ is made with French fries, cheese curds and a topping of gravy. It comes from Quebec, Canada.
On Wednesday night, students are invited to enjoy some forró dance with UCLifeX and UC’s Latin American Students’ Association.
Forró is a style of partnered dance originating from Brazil’s northeastern states. UC’s Latin American Students Association have hosted forró sessions already, so the event promises to make for an energetic and lively evening!
The week will be full of novel experiences for students.
The henna workshops, trivia, Turkish lamps and the Moonlit Markets are all being brought back due to popularity, but all other events are new to UC.
For any students feeling time poor, Ella says the Moonlit Markets are most worth attending.
The markets will have a range of performances, foods, and other stalls.
Ella says students can expect lots of traditional singing and dancing, with new performances scheduled this year.
“We do have one person, a Nepalese girl who came in contact with us and asked if she could sing something very cultural and we thought that was very beautiful. We also have a lot of bands that will hopefully get the crowd dancing,” Ella said.
The markets will feature 15 to 20 stalls. Plenty of different cuisines will be available, but Ella says various embassies will also attend to tell students about their country’s culture.
UCLifeX hope the Moonlit Markets will bring the week’s events to a great close – students participating in origami on Monday will hopefully have their creations displayed at the markets!
The markets promise to be the headliner event of the week, after about 2000 students attended last year.
And last but not least, Curieux will be running a stall on both days to talk to students and offer up plenty of ideas for our next edition, ‘Cross Culture’!
The Moonlit Markets will run on Thursday 29 August and Friday 30 August from 5pm to 9pm.
