International Culture Fest

Since our Gardenroute Trip a lot of time has passed again, time that I spent in Port Elizabeth. The week after was the International Culture Fest, as part of the Diversity Week, which is organized by the university every year. During the week, there were already many activities on campus, focusing on different countries and cultures. For example, there were Mandarin Lunch Lessons taught by one of the internationals, Oreo from China. For the Diversity Week, representatives from partner universities were also invited, and since JGU has a partnership with NMU, two guests from Mainz were also there. The head of the International Department and Frau Werner, who accompanied us throughout the application and preparation process. On their first day in PE, they met us for dinner to hear how we had already settled in. Frau Werner is a super lovely woman who embraced us all right away. Even though we don't know her well, it was still nice for all of us to have visitors from home. On Saturday, there was the International Culture Fest, the reason why we didn't go away for the weekend. And we didn't regret it because it was a super nice atmosphere. We internationals were encouraged to represent our country with a food stand. With a budget from the university, you should cook typical food from your country. The food was then served in small portions for free. I didn't cook myself, but since we have so many Germans, a group quickly formed. They prepared potato salad and meatballs, which were very popular. There were also stands from Czech Republic, France, and Belgium, and many of the other internationals from Norway, the USA, Switzerland, or the Netherlands were unfortunately not motivated enough. In addition to the European stands, there were stands from many African countries such as Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The food was mostly really delicious, but sometimes really unusual... For example, I ate a roasted maggot. But it wasn't as bad as I expected. The event was rounded off with many performances, mainly dance and singing. Truly a great experience :)