Those on the first floor could interact with nearly 30 student organizations at their exhibits. Exhibits included tables with various items that students used to showcase their culture. Either through food, clothing or items of cultural significance, attendees could learn from these students.

Performances featured not just students, but the greater Michigan community at large. With music or dance, audiences could be exposed to a diverse set of cultures with this entertainment.

A global gift shop was put together on the third floor, where attendees could purchase all kinds of items that reflected the array of cultures present at the festival. The shop, organized by the Community Volunteers for International Programs, will use all of its proceeds to fund the education of international student spouses.

Jessica Keaton, OISS adviser and engagement coordinator who was also the co-lead for the festival, said the hope of this event is to bring together both the MSU and greater Lansing community to showcase the diverse cultures international students have on campus.

“For us, it's showcasing, yes, how big the world is, but also how small the world is,” Keaton said. “International students make up a large population of the MSU student body.”

She said every year they try to make the festival larger than the year before and she was very happy with this year's turnout. 

Any international student organization or individual student could sign up for an exhibit, Keaton said.

The United Arab Emirates Student Organization displayed national dresses, jewelry, images of their capital, Dubai’s skyline and other items of cultural significance.

UAE Student Organization President Sultan Almarzooqi said while many know about the UAE for Dubai having the tallest skyscraper, most are not aware of the nation’s culture. 

Their table also showed off a cage full of oyster shells. Almarzooqi explained that while their economy is now based around oil, pearl catching used to be an essential driving force.

He said the UAE is beautiful because of its mix of tradition and modernity.

“You could see very tall skylines, and we're very big on AI, on technology,” he said. “At the same time, we preserve our culture. We wear our national dress, eat our national food.”

Student organization MSUwe54 used its exhibit to showcase a popular Chinese dish, the hot pot. 

Zha Yue, MSUwe54 president, explained that he wanted to show people how this dish evolved throughout Chinese history. For him, food is deeply intertwined with Chinese culture and he hopes that an interest in Chinese food can make people more interested in his culture as a whole.

For Michigan especially, where the weather gets cold in winter, the hot pot is an essential dish, Yue said. 

“Hot pot makes people feel warm,” Yue said. “If you have a cold you could go to a restaurant, have a hot pot. It will help you recover.”

Other floors acted as an open house for offices to explain what they do.

The Japan Center for Michigan Universities, located on the Garden Level, offered a few opportunities for attendees to learn about Japanese culture.

Peer adviser Ashe Burr said people can learn how to write their name in Katakana, a Japanese alphabet. Attendees also participated in origami folding, learning how to make a frog, crane or throwing star. 

Another activity involved a traditional Buddhist good luck charm.

“Daruma is a Buddhist good luck charm in Japan, where the different colors and words written on them convey different meanings around the wish the person has,” peer adviser Michael Wentworth said. “And so they'll paint in the right eye of the Daruma and then say their wish, and then once that wish is finally fulfilled, they paint in the other eye.”

The festival also gave the advisers an opportunity to share the history of JCMU and Michigan’s strong sister-state relationship with Shiga prefecture in Japan. Shiga prefecture, much like Michigan, is located around a lake. This lake, Lake Biwa, is the largest one in Japan.

This connection led to a government recognized relationship between Michigan and Shiga. 

“And it led to the creation of the Japan center for Michigan universities, in which students at American universities can study Japanese in Shiga Prefecture, and residents of Shiga Prefecture can come to the center and learn English,” Burr said.