International week features
foreign culture and cuisine
By Jay Blinderman
Stajf Writer
The Memorial Student
Center will be occupied by ar
mies of international students
next week but the takeover will
be temporary and friendly.
March 3 through 7 will mark
a short but busy International
Week at Texas A&M, a pro
gram sponsored by the Interna
tional Student Association. It
will include cultural displays, a
food fair, a fashion show and a
talent show.
ISA assistant advisor Jim
Lane says on Mar. 3-4, cultural
exhibits will be displayed
throughout the MSC.
“That’s when we (ISA) take
over the MSC for two days,”
Lane says.
After the cultural exhibits,
there will be a one-day break
before the evening presenta
tions of fashion and talent.
Thirty ISA clubs will participate
in the cultural exhibit segment
of international week, Lane
says, doing their best to show
the community a part of their
culture, displayed within a 3
foot by 6 foot space in the halls
of the MSC.
A show featuring talents
and fashions from differ
ent lands caps off the ac
tivities of International
Week. The show begins at
8 p.m. in Rudder Audito
rium on Friday, March 7.
«rri
1 hey (the clubs) have to be
pretty 7 imaginative to come up
with something in that small
an area, Lane says. "If your
country 7 doesn't have anything
extravagant, you'll have travel
posters as the main part of your
display.”
The cultural displays have
been limited in size so they can
fit in the smallest hallway in
the MSC. The type of construc
tion is also limited and has to
be approved by the ISA accord
ing to University limitations.
In a past International Week,
one country 7 built small huts
and populated their area with
mock street vendors, Lane says.
The display was good, but ex
hibits that extravagant take up
too much room and make it
hard to fit all the exhibits in the
MSC.
In addition to the cultural ex
hibits, students can buy tickets
to literally get a taste of other
countries.
The food fair, the most popu
lar event during International
Week, will start Wednesday,
March 5 at 6 p.m. This year the
entire second floor of the MSC
wall be used to serve food from
more than 20 countries. Only
1,200 tickets are available this
year as the result of overcrowd
ing at last year’s gourmet affair.
"Last year we sold as many
tickets as we could,” Lane says.
“But there were too many peo
ple to comfortablv mingle
about the different tables.'’
Admission will be $6 and en
titles the curious to sample 10
international dishes.
“After vou get 10 different
countries on your plate, that
will be all you can handle,"
Lane says.
The only problem at the food
fair will be with people who
mix too manv different kinds of
foods.
“Don’t mix too many sweets
with too many sours,” Lane
says.
International Week concludes
with a fashion show and a tal
ent show. Although both events
occur on the same evening in
Rudder Auditorium, they have
separate coordinators and dif
ferent participants, says fashion
show chairman Sana Hamade.
Hamade, who is a graduate stu
dent in biological engineering,
has participated in Interna
tional Week for three years.
Although the theme for the
weeks’ events is “It’s a Small
World After All,” the theme for
the fashion show is set for
“Masquerade Ball” in honor of
the United Nations 40th anni
versary.
Fashions from twenty-five
countries worn by more than
100 international students and
their children, will be shown,
Hamade says. Two student em
cees wall tell the audience about
the clothes being worn.
The idea of the show, like
that of the entire week, is to ex
pose people to the history,
continued on p.ll
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