By Sandra Marquez
On Thursday, November 4th, students gathered on University Village (UV) South lawn for a little taste of the reality of this world.
Global Village, which is O building in UV, embraces different parts of the world. As part of Global Vision week, Global Village put on the event Global Norms. Global Norms was meant to show the diversity in our world and the different tastes our cultures have to offer.
As you arrived at Global Norms there were nine tables representing countries and each table included a drink that you would typically find in that country. Some countries included Central and South America, which offered non-alcoholic sangria and South Africa, which offered Roobic Tea. These and other exotic tastes seemed to have been popular as they went quickly. The tables were also accompanied by soundtracks of music from the countries represented at the table.
The best part of the night was the four different countries that Global Village made into virtual tours. Four apartments were transformed into an assigned country. Each country had pictures and information about important people in their country as well as the sad realities some have.
I walked into South Africa first and it was represented through wooden furniture and colorful jewelry. I also saw the reality that some people’s “pillows” are actually wooden stools that the African carry around to sleep and sit on.
Russia was the next country I visited. The country showed its contemporary type furniture and coats were hung at the entrance because of their infamous freezing weather. And they did not forget their pride for their delicious crepes and nutella.
The most interesting was South Korea and North Korea. As you walked towards the two apartments there was blue tape in between both of them that read with big black letters, “Do Not Cross,” showing the hostility of each country towards the other.
North Korea was my favorite tour. One side of the apartment showed how North Koreans wished the world would think of them with clean nice furniture, and delectable food. The other side showed the real North Korea full of trash and their real food which consists of dirty water and watered down rice.
South Korea had a contemporary feeling with clean and very little furniture. Their food was the food we would normally associate as Asian food.
Global Norms was a great experience and learning more about the world through these tours was a great way to close Global Vision week.