Colourful Arctic Cultural Evening with a dozen nationalities

There were more than 140 students who participated at the event. The students represented at least 12 different nationalities.

This year the event took place in the Lappia Hall in Tornio at 11 December. Teresa Chen, Senior Lecturer/International Coordinator at Lapland University of Applied Sciences in Tornio, gave her best to organize this multicultural and entertaining evening. Students of Tornio as well as from Kemi and Rovaniemi were warmly invited and welcomed to join. For students from Rovaniemi smooth transportation was provided. They took a bus particularly chartered for the occasion.

The evening started at 17:30 as the director Leena Alalääkkölä welcomed and opened the evening formally.

Students from all campuses could meet before heading to the room where the meal was held. We then came to the restaurant to enjoy a delicious Christmas dinner. The course of the dinner was very well organized; the three different dishes were presented as a buffet. We discovered a variety of products traditionally eaten at Christmas, such as caviar pie, exotic baked sweet potatoes, or the chocolate-cherry pastry. The meal was very good, the service was professional and the decoration of the room created a joyful Christmas atmosphere.

After dinner we had some free time, during which we could take pictures at the photo booth space. A photographer was there to capture all the good moments of the evening.

At 19:00 there were some greetings and opening speeches. After that it was show time! All students had the opportunity to show their talents while presenting an aspect of their culture. The whole show was presented by three students, much like an American show. It was very well organized. We enjoyed presentations and performances of many different nationalities. Students from China, Russia, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the USA entertained us with songs, sketches, audio-visual presentations and dances.

Alongside the show people were invited to test their general knowledge of culture by filling in a cultural quiz with questions related to the performances. Each row was considered one team. At the end of the show, quizzes were collected and a winner was acclaimed.

Seats were assigned randomly according to a colour code. At the entrance of the room each person got a coloured paper that matched the row in which he must find a place. This enabled us to meet new people from other locations of Lapland UAS as well as diverse origins. Thus, it promoted contact between students who do not yet know each other.

A favourable side effect of the evening for the performers was to practice to give performances in front of an audience or on a stage. Promoting cultural diversity and making the audience discover different countries definitely was the main purpose of the event.

All in all we experienced a very nice evening full of entertainment and new discoveries in a multicultural environment.

Editors: Vindic Héléna, Calvez Bleuenn, Reto Anne-Laurene, Hespe Johanna
Photographer: Shybinskyi Oleksandr