Being an international student here in the United States ( I am from Albania) is a unique experience, not only for me but for each one of us who gets the chance to experience it. Leaving our small countries and coming here to pursue our education, is a tough decision that we take. We leave behind our previous lives, our families, and our friends, for a better education. I have been an international student here in the United States for the last 4 years, and I have been introduced to a lot of different cultures, which I find all so interesting. I feel so happy and lucky that I get to have friends from all over the world and get to share the same experiences as them. There are so many different cultures here at Minnesota State University, and there are so many different cultural nights we can participate in and learn about other cultures, traditions, and most importantly, food!

 

One of these many events that happened on campus lately, was the Ethiopian and Eritrean Night. Even though I might be from a small country in Europe, I have most of my friends from Ethiopia, and of course, I wouldn’t miss this amazing event with great excitement. The event was organized at the CSU Ballroom on the second floor from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night. At first, they waited until everyone was there so the event would start without interruption. This was a really informative event for me because, for the first 20 min, they played a video showing their beautiful country, where they lay geographically, and also explained how much their religion means to all of them, either Muslims or Christians Orthodox. This presentation of their country’s geography made me understand that my country Albania is somehow similar to theirs too. Albania lies geographically between Italy and Greece and hearing the history of the Ethiopians and Italian war, made me realize that Ethiopians carry a lot of similarities with the Italians up to this day, which Albanians carry too, since we are neighboring countries, starting from food: pizza, pasta, and finishing with common words in both our countries. This made me realize how small the world is. After that, they served food, which I must say if there is any food I prefer and love after my own traditional food, it is Ethiopian food. I remember when I first tried Ethiopian food, and that was almost 4 years ago when I first came to the United States. They were serving different types of foods like Dor Wot, Tibs, and Injera. After enjoying the food they had prepared, it was time to enjoy their unique traditional dances and moves. The whole ballroom was dancing and enjoying it, and at that moment no one noticed the cultural differences being present in the room. At that moment we were all just friends.

 

The second intercultural event I attended was the Nepali Night. I booked tickets for this event two weeks in advance, because of the high demand that it had. Minnesota State University has a lot of international students from Nepal and it is an amazing thing that they can share their culture with everyone. The underground floor of CSU was organized so that everyone could try the different foods from Nepal, which were cooked by Nepali students at Minnesota State University. The food was amazing and spicy, and I noticed a similarity in the cooking with my own traditional Albanian food, especially with the meat. The dish was similar to a dish we have back home that is called Pace Koke. Tasting the food that day made me feel like I was home, and I got a little emotional. I called my parents, and I showed them how similar the food was and how I missed my mom’s home-cooked food. In the ballroom, I noticed that everyone was wearing their traditional clothes called Sari and everyone looked so amazing. They started playing their traditional songs and we were all waiting until the ballroom would be full of people so the event could start. Once that happened, they played a video of their country, showing the beautiful nature of Nepal, showing their lifestyle, with music in the background. That day while attending the event, I took a video of one of the student groups singing with their traditional instruments. It looked strangely so familiar. The instrument is also traditional in Albania and is protected by UNESCO. The instrument is called Fyell. This instrument is traditional only in Southern Albania where I am from, and specifically from my village. I was so surprised and happy because it made me realize how much I have missed home. At the event were a lot of people from outside of the university too, and I understood what big of a community this is. The event was amazing, and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

The third intercultural event I attended was African Night. Even though the ticket said the start time was 6 p.m., the event did not start until 6:40 p.m. I guess African time is a real thing. Food was the first thing that I wanted to try. I made my plate full of Okra soup, plantain, and fufu. These were the most delicious African foods that I had tried. Back in my country Albania, we have the same dish as Okra soup, and I remember I never used to eat it at home, because it wasn’t tasty. Now, I found myself all over the plate only because it reminded me of home. Right after the food serving, they introduced all African Student Association members, and they all shared from which country of Africa they were from. They had the 4 a.m. band perform right after that, which was followed by Sinzu Design, which is a brand created by one of the African students at Minnesota State University. That brand was created in 2021 and is a collection of summer designs, which are originally made in Nigeria. They had models wear the design and walk on stage for everyone to see. One interesting thing from the event was the moment “African mothers started praying over the food”. This was a show made by students, where they showed how religious they are and how their beliefs in God bring happiness to their lives. They also had dance performances from different countries like Nigeria, Congo, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Africa and many more. The students’ performance created a beautiful atmosphere in the ballroom, and everyone was standing and dancing with them. I noticed that there were a lot of people outside of school too. That is something amazing because people realize how big of a community African people are in our society.

 

Fast forward, I learned from this event that I am a really open person and love experiencing other cultures and cuisines. Being able to do these intercultural nights, gives me a better understanding of how similar my culture is with other cultures around the world, and how we all are connected. I love meeting new people from different cultures and learning new traditions. This thing will open a new path in my life as I will be able to be more sociable and more accepting toward other cultures as they would be towards me. I plan on going to more different events because I understand that will help me grow as a person and have a better understanding of the world surrounding me. By being able to attend intercultural events from different countries of the world, I can understand better my own culture too. I want to be able to tell people about Albanian culture too and show them how old my culture is and how we still continue to grow. I have noticed that through different conversations with friends from other cultures, and attending the same events as me, we all conclude that we were all raised with love and humanity. I believe all international students are unique because we are able to adapt to a culture we have not faced before, and we are able to build our lives from scratch at the age of 18 away from our loved ones. I will continue to expand my intercultural engagement with others by learning more about other cultures’ values within or outside of the US, and also being able to share mine. With my knowledge of speaking six different languages, I am able to break the language barrier and make greater connections with individuals from all over the world.