We Are a Family: International Festival of Cultures Was Held at Moscow Aviation Institute

On December 13, 2019, the International Festival of Cultures was held at Moscow Aviation Institute. The event was dedicated to the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the university. In the framework of the festival MAI international students represented their cultures to all MAI community. 

“Today, students from many countries of the world study at our university, this is a whole range of the brightest authentic cultures. Cultural festivals help us all learn about the traditions and customs of different nations, make friends and bring together students at Moscow Aviation Institute, who are so different and so alike. We are sure that such celebrations will become regular and large-scale at our university,” said Elena Baranova, Head of MAI International Students Educational Center.  

Representatives of 9 countries took part in the MAI festival: Cameroon, France, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. According to the conditions for attendance, every MAI student can represent his/her country, but it should be at least two people in a team. 

“I decided to participate at the festival to show what France looked like. I am not sure that everyone can come to France whenever they want so if I can bring them a little bit of our culture it can be great and interesting for them,” said Ambreline Auriel, exchange student of Spacecraft Engineering program from France. 

“To participate in such an event is a great honor. It is an opportunity to show our country and our customs to the world,” said Pamod Wickramanayaka, a student of Control Systems and Computer Science in Engineering program from Sri Lanka. 

At the first part of the festival the countries fair was held: students in national costumes entertained visitors with all kinds of traditional delicacies, talked about their countries, translated names into local languages, taught how to weave bracelets, play national instruments and sport game sepak takraw, made henna body painting, showed decorative and applied elements of their cultures, etc. 

In the second part of the festival students made performances dedicated to their cultures: told useful information about their countries and regions with video presentations, sang  national song, performed national dances, martial arts and sport games, played in historical quiz. The colorful festival ended with dances of all participants.

“To try the cuisine of other countries was very interesting. This is a good experience: you can even try to cook something at home. It seems to me that such events should be carried out more often: you learn something new about other cultures. It is useful for self-development, I am for friendship between the peoples. Such festivals are needed,” said Alexander Patin, a visitor of the festival and a Russian student of the Institute No. 7 “Robotic and Intelligent Systems”.

“At the International Festival of Cultures we could see a lot of varieties of cultures, but we are all one MAI family. It was just exciting that we did not need to visit all these countries, because we have visited all of them at once here. It was really good experience. I can feel the unity among the diversity here,” said Sandesh Patil, a student of Spacecraft Engineering program from India.