Intercultural

As Charity mentioned in an earlier post, one of the three founding concepts of ISU is Intercultural. Every day we get a chance to interact with fellow students from around the world. In addition, at the end of the last day of each week (Friday or Saturday night) we have Culture Night.

During each culture night, the students from 3 or 4 nations have 15 minutes to give a presentation on what their culture is all about to the rest of the students. This presentation can take any format they wish, and it is encouraged to make it fun and interactive instead of just a boring PowerPoint slidefest.

As an example, here are some of the things that we have learned so far:

• The Belgians do applause with just one single clap of the hands instead of many claps lasting several seconds. This really saves time when trying to thank people yet still get them off the stage.
• The Austrians like to set their chocolate on fire before eating it and are very proud of both "The Sound of Music" and speed metal.
  
• If you ask the Italians for a 15-minute presentation on their culture, they will start 20 minutes late, it will last for over an hour, and will consist of 2 operettas, 8 videos, roses for all the ladies, and lovely little puff pastries with creamy middles.
• Costa Rica is not Puerto Rico and it is not an island.
• Waitresses at Oktoberfest in Germany carry an average of 20 kg (45 lbs) per load of drinks and serve drinks for 10 hours a day for 60 days. They also make 10,000 euros (about $13,000).
  
• The Canadians can build a canoe from cardboard and duct tape in a single night.
• The Norwegians like to celebrate their fertility festival with dancing around a maypole, moonshine, and pickled herring.

For the American culture night produced a video and demonstrated some American dance moves (swing, breakdancing, and YMCA). Here is the video that we showed: