The International Celebration Week is one of the oldest events on campus and has been held since the early years of FGCU. This year, the International Club will partner with 18 different organizations and plans to expand it into a large scale event. It will take place from Monday, March 21 to Friday, March 25.
Each day of the week will be themed. The week will start with Asia on Monday, then continue with Europe on Tuesday, Africa on Wednesday, Latin America on Thursday and, finally, the entire world on Friday. Each day will consist of six to eight themed events about that continent.
“I think the most important thing is to get that dialogue going between the native students and the international students,” said Randi Levey, the president of the International Club.
The week will model a journey around the world, and students will be able to fill in a passport to travel through events for prizes. Students will be able to get the passport at any event and then fill it out with stickers by signing in at every event. If a student successfully attends at least one event every day, he or she can drop off the passport in the Office of International Services in Reed Hall 122 to win a free t-shirt, as well as enter a raffle for additional prices.
Different events will be going on in different places on campus every day. Some of the events will be consistent and just adapted for each day’s theme — for instance food tastings, movie showings, photo booths and quizzing.
A niqab showcase will take place on Monday, which will allow students try on the niqab and learn more about it. A release of Chinese lanterns will also take place Monday night. Among the European-themed events on Tuesday, there will be a performance of Irish drums and a fencing showcase. An African-themed “about chocolate” event is one of the Wednesday events. During “about chocolate,” a movie about how chocolate is created will be played, and a chocolate fondue will be available for students to eat from. A dance teaching class is one of the Thursday events for Latin America. The week will end with a gala on Friday — a unity ball.
“We’ll try to play music from every country (at the ball),” said Sophie Halb, who doubles as the student assistant in the Office of International Service and the vice president of the International Club. Halb is an international student from France.
Other events include a bonfire, in which students will be able to socialize and hear music from the Music Club, and a “discovering plants” event, in which the Food Forest will display exotic fruits. During discovering plants, students will be able to try the fruits and get the plants for free. A flag parade, which is traditionally part of the week, will also take place on campus, and anyone can participate in it.
Levey said the International club encourages all students to attend — not just international students — since the main goal of the week is to join both groups.
“A lot of the time the international students build such a great bond with each other, which is great, but in the end, the point is they’re in America to learn about the American culture,” Levey said. “A lot of the times, they don’t have time to socialize with American students.”