| International Bazaar showcases AU’s multiculturalism 
Photo by Jeff Watts
Students from the Child Development Center got to dance to the beat of their own drum during an international bazaar on the quad last Tuesday. Part of the campus’s annual International Week, the bazaar allowed students from Japan, Ecuador, India, and dozens of other countries to share aspects of their culture with the AU community. “That was a great moment,” said Fanta Aw, director of International Student and Scholar Services, which organized the festivities with the International Student Leadership Team. “It wasn’t even planned. The kids were just coming out for Campus Beautification Day, they saw the crowd, and immediately went to the drums.” In addition to the bazaar, International Week offered a variety of activities that allowed the campus to dance to the beat of a wide range of cultural drums. Bon Appetit offered Terrace Dining Room patrons cuisine from Africa, the Pacific Rim, and the Middle East. An international film festival cosponsored by SOC’s Center for Social Media featured Congolese and Carribean cinema. A rotating “international games” showcase on the quad even offered instruction in the Brazilian martial arts dance, capoeira, and the international baseball alternative, cricket. Termed International Week (Squared), the festivities continue this week with events ranging from music professor Will Smith’s analysis of the Yoruban roots of hip-hop to a Career Center forum on internships for international students. The two-week event will conclude Friday night in the Tavern with International Vibe II, which features food and entertainment from around the world. “The students wanted to celebrate the global dimension of AU . . . and one week just wasn’t enough,” said Aw on the event’s growth to two weeks this year. “We were basically trying to showcase the whole world, and we’d probably need a month to do it all.” —MG 
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