Why not listen to some of the songs used during the event while you read this blog post:
- Hanino – Ach Dani Douar Zine
- Dounia Batma – Al Maghreb Maghrebna
- Dj Aliloo – Ambiance Mariage Chaabi Marocain (Mix)
After the success of their First Edition of the AGU Intercultural Series – which focused on the Kenyan culture – our students, International Student Club and International Office couldn’t wait to renew the experience and to put our Moroccan students and their country in the spotlight!
Again, the support of the AGU Press Relations Office, Student Dean’s Office, Health, Culture and Sports Office, General Secretary and Kalbim Restaurant made this edition of the Series possible.
Our Moroccan students Anass, Hamza, Sara and Manal, as well as the AGU International Association (AIA) student club were very invested into bringing AGU students and staff a taste of their home country’s culture, history, traditions, music and food during this 2-hour session.
First steps…
This second Intercultural Series session was held in the afternoon of April 27th, just over one month after the first event, where AGU members discovered the Kenyan culture, music and food.
In the morning of that day, our Moroccan students rose early in order to prepare two of the most symbolic items of their country’s culinary culture – mint tea and couscous – to be served to the event participants at the end of their presentation. For that, the students had the opportunity to use the professional kitchen of the Kayserian Kalbim Restaurant.
They also worked on a presentation on the key elements and ideas about Morocco they wanted to transmit to their audience during the event.
Once again, we could also count on International Association member Dexter to create a dance choreography from scratch, this time integrating oriental elements to fit the rhythm of the upbeat Moroccan Reggata music selected by the Moroccans.
On D-Day
For this new Edition of this intercultural event, the organizers were happy to once again welcome a varied audience including students from AGU and other Kayseri universities, as well as administrative, Language School and Faculty staff members.
The kick-off of the session came with a short introduction by Head of the AGU International Office, Emeric Abrignani, who welcomed the participants and reiterated the context and objectives of the creation of the AGU Intercultural Series (fostering intercultural exchange, embracing differences as an advantage to improve our Global Society and being curious about each other’s cultures and traditions). He also underlined the fact that AGU is becoming a very popular university in Morocco, considered as a top quality university in Turkey; and that we should expect our Moroccan student body to grow year after year. Following his speech, Moroccan students Hamza and Sara welcomed the audience both in Turkish and English.
For the occasion, our Moroccan presenters had dressed in their traditional clothes and even enlisted some of their Turkish and International friends of other nationalities to come to the event dressed in various traditional Moroccan clothes. AGU also had the pleasure of welcoming Moroccan students from a Kayserian high school who had come to the event to support their fellow citizens.
Following the playing of the Moroccan National Anthem, which was displayed in Arabic, phonetic transliteration and in English, the four students each presented a section of the presentation, which informed the audience on their country’s history, geography, languages, people, important cities, regional cultures, fashion, food and sports.
While the students presented in English, the slides of their presentation were prepared in Turkish, so that both English and Turkish speakers could enjoy the content.
The students also made sure to integrate personal anecdotes and make parallels with their own lives in order to make the presentation more relatable and fun to follow.
They also added some interactive elements to their presentation in the form of a video showing the geographical diversity of their country, a fashion show to illustrate the various styles of traditional garbs, as well, of course, as the now almost traditional dance show created and directed by our Zambian student Dexter.
During the dance, student Club members Ilaida, Enes, McDonald, Manal, Aslı and Dexter showed their skills and performed steps along the rhythm of a very upbeat Moroccan style of music. Once their routine was complete, they also invited audience members and the rest of the Moroccan student group to join them on stage and finish the song together; the perfect opportunity to build up an appetite for the next and final part of the event!
Once the presentation and dance were finished, it was time for our participants to taste the food and drink prepared by our students: Tables were set up outside of the Conference Hall where the event took place and all participants were able to enjoy freshly brewed Moroccan mint tea and couscous (a traditional Moroccan dish combining tender meat and vegetables in sauce with semolina) while listening to a selection of Moroccan songs.
At the end of the event, our organizers were happy with the results and received many compliments on the food, dance and presentation. It even made our Kenyan students want to organize another Intercultural Series session featuring their country!
Once again, these Intercultural Series were the opportunity to foster intercultural exchange and acceptance, to bring together different bodies of the University and even to create connections between AGU members and students and staff from other institutions in the city; within the frame of a fun, informative and entertaining event.
The event also attracted participants from outside and even featured in the local news:
The second semester at AGU is almost over, but many of our international students and Turkish International Student Association members can’t wait to create the next event, which will also be the opportunity to include our newly accepted international students, who will be joining AGU this Fall and double the size of our current international student body.
Now only one question remains: Which country will feature in the Third Edition?
