- In Archive
- 2014-11-16 20:12:31
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The eighth Language and Culture Week at AUBG once again emphasized the diversity of the student body at the University. The events organized by the Department of Arts, Languages and Literature took place on Nov.11 - Nov.12 in the ABF Student Center.
During the first evening, exchange students at AUBG talked about myths, legends and stories from the cultures of their countries. Benjamin Richter, an exchange student from Germany, started the event with a surprise: he presented Bulgaria, sharing a Greek myth about Орфей и Евридика (Orpheus and Eurydice). The myth takes place on a Thracian land, which modern Bulgaria used to be a part of. Fiona Rappin, from France, talked about Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera), all the mysteries surrounding the legend, and modern interpretations of it. Lukas Bieber, from Germany, told the story of Das Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), an epic poem from around the 13th century.
The students told their stories in English, accompanied by presentations in the language of the culture they presented. Exchange students from Spain, however, made their presentation completely in Spanish due to the lack of time to translate it, as they said. "Part of Spanish culture is to improvise," joked Instructor of Spanish at AUBG Yavor Gueorguiev. The Spanish community's legend was about El Camino de Santiago (Road to Santiago), a pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Jaime López Miguelez, also an exchange student at AUBG, shared his own experience walking el Camino de Santiago.
Roberto Herranz Martin, an exchange student from Spain, shared his feelings about the presentation, "I enjoyed so much the event because I miss so much my country and I wanted to tell people about it. I've never ever defined me as a patriotic person, but you can only realize about that when you spend a lot of time far from your home. ... I love AUBG people because they are always showing interest for other countries."
During the first evening, exchange students at AUBG talked about myths, legends and stories from the cultures of their countries. Benjamin Richter, an exchange student from Germany, started the event with a surprise: he presented Bulgaria, sharing a Greek myth about Орфей и Евридика (Orpheus and Eurydice). The myth takes place on a Thracian land, which modern Bulgaria used to be a part of. Fiona Rappin, from France, talked about Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera), all the mysteries surrounding the legend, and modern interpretations of it. Lukas Bieber, from Germany, told the story of Das Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), an epic poem from around the 13th century.
The students told their stories in English, accompanied by presentations in the language of the culture they presented. Exchange students from Spain, however, made their presentation completely in Spanish due to the lack of time to translate it, as they said. "Part of Spanish culture is to improvise," joked Instructor of Spanish at AUBG Yavor Gueorguiev. The Spanish community's legend was about El Camino de Santiago (Road to Santiago), a pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Jaime López Miguelez, also an exchange student at AUBG, shared his own experience walking el Camino de Santiago.
Roberto Herranz Martin, an exchange student from Spain, shared his feelings about the presentation, "I enjoyed so much the event because I miss so much my country and I wanted to tell people about it. I've never ever defined me as a patriotic person, but you can only realize about that when you spend a lot of time far from your home. ... I love AUBG people because they are always showing interest for other countries."
After the presentations, students were divided into four teams - Bulgarian, German, French and Spanish - and were invited to participate in a game: construct the tower of Babel using plastic cups, straws and sheets of paper. The most important rule for the participants was to speak the language of the team they chose to be a part of. The winner of the game was the team with the tallest tower of Babel and the best skills in "mantener la calma y hablar español," Maria Marin Perez, Sumana Deza Saez and Aliaksandra Shatsila. Those not participating in the building of a tower also could compete for the prizes; their task was to draw the tower.
In the second evening, the audience moved to the ABF Theater to enjoy the concert of Adjunct Professor Hristo Krotev's applied music (voice) class and learn Bulgarian folk dances. "This event brought all AUBG community members together to learn and share experiences about different cultures," Anna Yakovleva, third-year student at AUBG and one of the performers, said. "It was exciting for me to see so many people interested. And I enjoyed to be part of this event."
This year the Department decided not to devote a separate evening for each language and culture taught at AUBG, but combine them all together to make the event devoted to diversity - simpler and more united, as Yavor Gueorguiev said, "The idea is that everything is connected."