Take a bite of foods from Taiwan to El Salvador and more, all in one room. APSU’s International Night hosted this opportunity and more.
APSU hosted International Night at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14 in the Red Barn, gathering different cultural themed booths together to serve diverse foods and drinks.
“America is a melting pot, and International Night gives us the opportunity to see the cultures that make up that pot. If I am Irish then I do not really know what a German might like but I could check their booth out and see, so this night helps teach people those diverse parts of culture,” Hopskinsville High School junior working the El Salvador booth Casie Rohwer said.
During International Night, guests saw many booths and watched dance performances themed around different cultures. The event consisted of not only international booths but a photo booth as well. Each nation presented pieces for different reasons.
“Our booth is showing off bubble tea because it originated from Taiwan. Not everyone knows where it came from, and International Night brings all the cultures together to show items like bubble tea,” junior accounting major Yi-Fan Huang said.
Other booths told guests not only about the food but the countries themselves. The food mixed with new knowledge created an educational atmosphere.
“El Salvador is a very tropical place and full of volcanoes but it uniquely does not have a coastline, unlike other Spanish countries. It is one of the few that does not,” Rohwer said.
The melting pot of America opens up all kinds of opportunities to learn about different nations as well as languages or cuisines. Guests and vendors both experienced this throughout International Night.
“I like International Night because there are so many different cultures and it is a really rich experience. Bringing everyone together creates the atmosphere, especially the different languages,” junior history major from the France booth Lane Tankersley said.
“Just tonight, I even got to speak with someone from the Haiti booth in French, and that is so amazing to me,” Tankersley said.
Miss Austin Peay and the Study Abroad Department made appearances that night as well, and Study Abroad took votes on the best booth.
International Night merged all cultures together like a melting pot into one Red Barn.
