International Dinner serves 500 people
Students from over 40 countries entertained faculty, staff, students and the Milledgeville community at the 18th annual International Dinner Saturday night.
Dinner was served at 7 p.m. in the Centennial Center. This is the first time the dinner has been held in the Centennial Center. The International Club moved it so they could accommodate more people.
Over 500 people tasted cuisines from all over the world. The appetizers represented the cuisines of Spain, Bulgaria, India, Turkey, Russia and Bangladesh. The countries of Slovakia and Japan along with the continent of North America presented typical soups. Main entrees featured dishes from Slovakia, France, Kenya, Thailand, India, Belize, Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal, China, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, Spain, Sweden, China and Bulgaria. The dessert menu included desserts from Japan, the Philippines, the Republic of Georgia, Argentina, Sweden, China, the United States and St. Kitts & Nevis.
Rima Chaudhri, president of the International Club, began the entertainment promptly at 8 p.m. with a video on the making of the International Dinner. Dwight Call, director of the International Center, introduced the speaker for the night. Murali Thirumal, former president of the International Club and the current president of the alumni association spoke on the progress of the Global Scholars Fund. The proceeds of last year’s celebration went to this fund. International club will decide this week on the amount to give to the fund from this year’s proceeds. This endowment fund was created to benefit international students with demonstrated academic achievement and financial need. Next, Sanjay Paul spoke on the importance of this fund from a student’s perspective.
Chaudhri introduced the masters of ceremony, Mai Yang of the United States and Danny Nahimana from Burundi. The Bobcat Brass ensemble began the entertainment portion of the night.
“The brass band added class and culture to the performance,” Chaudhri said.
Students presented a fashion show of clothing from almost every continent. A Guitar Performance from Bulgaria by Tiho followed. Afterwards, Ghali Kettani from Morocco provided comic relief by describing his life experiences as a foreigner. Songs, poems and dances followed. Chaudhri performed a classical Indian dance. According to her, the dance was about “a young beautiful girl who is nature’s child. It describes her beauty in comparison to natural beauty.”
The entertainment ended with a modern dance performed by nine international students.
“It’s a really modern dance. We always try to show different angles of Africa. This is our way of expressing the diversity of Africa,” Wendy Nkari, vice president of International Club, said. “It means a lot to us now because that is the new generation. Last year’s dance was traditional. We appreciate the old and the new.”
The event ended with the entire club singing “From a Distance” by Bette Midler. Next year’s International Dinner will take place spring semester and promises to be just as successful as this year’s.
“The entertainment was wonderful,” Nkari said. “The whole team spirit came together.”
The International Club thanks everyone that had a hand in the dinner. For more information, please contact the International Club at 445-4789 or visit their web site.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Mar 21 2003. Filed under Other.
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