International Day held on May 4

International Day was held on May 4 around Jahayeon Pond at Seoul National University. The event, hosted by SNU Buddy, consisted of 16 booths each organized by a team of several foreign exchange students per country. This year, the booths represented various countries from all over the world: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, the USA and Korea. The event was financially supported by SNU Office of International Affairs, while some booths received additional support from their respective embassies in Korea.

Because SNU Buddy is a volunteer group that assists foreign exchange and visiting students at SNU become accustomed to Korean culture, International Day is a special event in that it serves as an opportunity for foreign students to introduce their own cultures to Korea. Foreign students can freely decide on the specific themes they will use to present and exhibit their cultures, such as food, traditional clothing and games.

Due to favorable weather conditions, the expo area around Jahayeon was filled with SNU Buddy volunteers and other SNU students, as well as many middle school and high school students who happened to be visiting SNU that day. The venue was colorfully decorated with flags, pictures and posters that portrayed unique and characteristic features of the countries that each booth represented. Many booth organizers also posted display boards showing fun facts and main attraction sites of their homeland. Singapore had a sign explaining that"lah" was a slang word Singaporeans frequently say at the end of a sentence, while students from China and Finland hung up posters that taught foreigners how to say a few words in Chinese and Finnish, respectively. To add even more cultural diversity to the event, some students wore traditional costumes as they promoted their culture to those who visited their booth. For instance, a Swedish student had on a blue dress and yellow apron as she stood in front of her country's booth and chatted with visitors who had come to taste Swedish meatballs and waffles. In addition to presenting their traditional dishes and folk costumes, booth organizers from Sweden displayed a statuette of a Dala horse, which is a red, carved wooden horse originating in Dalarna, Sweden. Although tasting traditional dishes made by the booth organizers was by far the most popular activity of the event, visitors were also able to learn interesting aspects about the hosting countries by participating in games or chatting with international students.

Students shared food wearing their traditional clothes

LEE Jae Kyung (Department of English Language and Literature, 3rd year), an SNU Buddy volunteer, explained that International Day is one of the best opportunities for exchange students to introduce their countries and culture to fellow students."If not for events such as International Day, many exchange students would find it challenging to present and promote their culture due to financial or spatial limitations. SNU Buddy, with support from the Office of International Affairs, offers a solution to such difficulties by providing a large space and a certain amount of funding to successfully prepare for the event. This semester, we had more than 16 participating countries sharing their food, music, dance and movies with the world."

Written by YOON Jiwon, SNU English Editor, jiwonyoon@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Eli Park Sorensen, SNU Professor of Liberal Studies, eps7257@snu.ac.kr
Proofread by Melora Brett Briana Johnson, SNU English Editor, morningcalm2@gmail.com