13th post - A full weekend

This post will not just be about one experience, but will cover my entire weekend.

Interculturality Day took place in Saint André on Saturday. I only knew about this because one of my roommate's lecturers was the main speaker there and invited his class there - and then she invited me. So the four of us took the bus to Saint André and were greeted by many Creole houses. After a 30-minute walk we arrived at the Parc de Colosse , the event location. After we had helped ourselves to something at the buffet, we sat down excitedly in the lecture hall. The lectures lasted a total of around 1.5 hours and sometimes consisted of music, theater and dance performances that were surprisingly professional.

Roughly speaking, it was about the coexistence of the many cultures and ethnic groups on La Réunion, the history of the island and the passing on of cultural knowledge. After the lectures there was a buffet with home-cooked dishes from different countries. There I ate a Malagasy and an Indian dish, the Indian dish in particular was really incredibly tasty, I had never eaten anything like it! The meal was followed by many dance and singing performances from clubs that represented the different cultures, the atmosphere was super relaxed and everyone had fun.

At the end everyone danced Maloya together, the traditional Reunionese dance.

Unfortunately we had to leave, but that's when the real celebration really began. Shortly before we left we each received a jasmine flower pin from a club. Not only did it smell really good, but it also meant that we were approached and greeted several times on the street and out of the car by women who knew the symbol and were happy that we were wearing the symbol. That actually made me pretty happy.

Later in the evening there was a party near the university with a barbecue and fireworks. It was also very cool and the people were nice. There was also a cat there that I could pet sometimes *-*

At around 2 a.m. I fell into my bed, dead tired.

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On Sunday there was a short hike organized by ISRUN (a student organization for exchange students). At 12:30 p.m. we started in Saint Denis, basically where I live.

We walked in really beautiful places and crossed a river a few times until we reached the town of Bas de La Rivière after about 1.5 hours.

It was a really beautiful basin with two small waterfalls and a gigantic view of the mountains. Since it was incredibly hot, we all immediately jumped into the cool water and had a good time.

After a while everyone left except for me and three others. The four of us explored the wilderness a bit more and explored the rest of the place, which wasn't so easily accessible. Afterwards, Ben, one of the boys who was there, kindly drove us home in the car.

The hike was the first hike here that wasn't a near-death experience for me - almost boring :D

But after the tiring day yesterday, exactly what I needed... and tomorrow I have the day off, which means I'm going to rest first!