Amidst flashing multicolored lights and bumping hip-hop music, nearly 300 students gathered for the eighth annual Seoul Train dance on Saturday night at the Kellogg Center.
General management sophomore Ryuck Park, an international student from South Korea, said this is the biggest Asian student group party known to him.
Park said the event offers a nice diversion from the daily grind of classwork.
"This is a time that we dress up and have fun," he said.
The semiformal dance party, named for the South Korean capital city of Seoul, is sponsored by Korean Students United.
Group organizers say the event tries to bring Korean students together and help them meet others on campus.
No-preference freshman Vicky Won, the group's freshman executive board representative, said she didn't know that there were so many Asian students at MSU. She was surprised at how many people showed up at Seoul Train.
The event was co-sponsored by the Residence Halls Association, the Office of Racial Ethnic Student Affairs, the Asian Pacific American Student Organization and restaurant Tokyo 1, 547 E. Grand River Ave.
"We hope to have the entertainment quality at a whole new level," said international relations senior Thomas Cho, president of Korean Students United. "We have a mix of Korean and American types of music being played, but it's pretty much the same deal as previous years."
This year, the student group took the initiative to invite more Korean international students to the event, because they comprise one of the largest international student groups at the university. But Seoul Train is an all-inclusive event, Cho said.
Park noticed that the number of people in attendance had decreased from last year, but that the event itself has improved.
He said he had hoped to hear more Korean music and had only heard one Korean song halfway through the event. The majority of music featured was from the hip-hop genre.
But despite lower attendance, Cho said the event had a great turnout and added that a lot of effort had been put into the decorations this year.
"Seoul Train is an annual program that is respected by many people," he said. "Hopefully we kept up with people's expectations this semester."
Education junior Jane Jun has attended Seoul Train since her she was a student in high school. The event was enjoyable, she said.
"It's an occasion where you can see everyone that you know," she said. "It's just a fun night out."
