By Zoe Hu/The Gazelle
NYUAD celebrates first USA and Canada Night
The Downtown Campus was transformed on Nov. 15 to celebrate the university's first United States of America & Canada Night. Regional booths ...
Nov 16, 2013
The Downtown Campus was transformed on Nov. 15 to celebrate the university's first United States of America & Canada Night. Regional booths dripping in cheerful fairylights were scattered across the lawn, allowing faculty and students to wander around in a condensed geographical tour of the two nations. The United States was split into Midwest, South and Southwest, Northeast and West booths, with a separate table delegated to Hawaii and the biggest booth reserved for Canada.
Instead of presenting U.S. and Canadian culture as one concentrated lump, the night aimed to provide guests with a more multi-faceted view that went beyond spangled outfits and Californian beaches, in which guests could come to understand how each region was unique. Those milling around the lawn were able to sample regional cuisine, encompassing everything from applesauce to beef jerky to brownies, and learn about the differences between Canada and all the separate regions of the United States.
The night also featured a patriotic talent show of students performing different theatre and musical acts related to their home country. Sophomores Allen Magnusson and Dean Shaff put on a popular skit modeled after “Rip Van Winkle,” a U.S.-American short story revolving around the American Revolutionary War. The play included on-stage costume changes and two characters who spoke exclusively in rhyme.
“I found the night very engaging, perhaps more than most cultural events, with things such as the pie contest and line dancing,” said sophomore Rasha Shraim. “The performances were pretty entertaining. However, I thought Canada was somewhat underrepresented.”
Senior Carmen Germaine participated in representing Canada and organizing its booth, where festivities included fake snow, free bandaids and a framed portrait of the Queen.
“We didn't have many visitors [because] we were kind of off to the side,” said Germaine. “But it was pretty fun … I think it'd be nice if it became a tradition. It was such a big event to plan that it felt like a one-off, but I'm sure it wasn't any more planning than say Diwali or National Day, which are traditions now.”
After several song and dance performances, a table laden with fifteen different pies was brought onto the stage. Four lucky Global Academic Fellows were in charge of tasting each dish and choosing three winners for the night’s Official Pie Baking Contest. Senior Symone Gamble took home first place and 300 AED for her much-extolled key lime.
Organizers of the event collaborated with the NYUAD dining hall as well as outside restaurants in order to craft an additional buffet that offered U.S.-American and Canadian food, along with separate stands for hot dogs and root beer floats.
“For people from the [United States] and Canada, it was a nice excuse to connect to home in different ways, like eating food that we don't get often here or doing things like setting up a fake campfire,” Germaine said.
Despite any possible food coma-induced nostalgia, however, the event strove not to shy away from criticism or self-reflection. A popular performance was a spoken-word poem by Nafisatou Mounkaila, who wrote of her experience of living in the United States and what she considered to be ‘my America.’ While she incorporated happy memories of her neighborhood back home, she also spoke about the many prejudices that minorities in the country face today.
“As an American, I had my reservations about the potential success of the [United States of America & Canada] Night event,” said sophomore Samia Ahmed. “While I knew that certain aspects of … American culture would be showcased more than adequately, I wondered if the event would encompass other less-savory realities of the [United States], such as the immigrant experience.”
“However, the organizers of the event did a fantastic job striking a balance between the demonstration of American culture and the demonstration of American stereotypes by integrating playful self-ridicule into acts,” Ahmed continued. “Overall, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed [the United States of America & Canada] Night."
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