International Bazaar

An International Bazaar promoted cultural awareness at the University of Oklahoma on Friday.

International students gathered on OU’s South Oval to share their culture with others.

“It’s just a great event that really gets people aware of the international presence on OU,” International Advisory Committee President Hillary Medina said.

“All the native countries, they will be coming up with their goods, stuff like handicraft things or their core national cultural items made in their countries,” member of the Student Association of Bangladesh Sadia Afrin said.

There was face painting, cultural body art, and a performance by the Redliners.

Handmade and imported items were on sale from each organization. Many people brought cash and bought several of the items available.

There was jewelry, clothing, and miscellaneous things for sale.

Little passports were provided so that each person could get their passport stamped as they traveled to different booths.

Each booth was set up by different international student organizations, and members of each organizations spoke to people about their culture.

Some organizations were serving their national snacks, and explaining the value of it. The Iranian student association was serving Persian black tea, and the Vietnamese Student Association gave away candy from Vietnam.

The Redliner, the only co-ed acapella group at OU, performed two songs for people visiting the international Bazar.

The audience gathered around them and watched as they enjoyed the performance.

The International Bazaar is held annually during the fall semester at OU. It is the largest cultural event during the fall, according to the IAC website.

The IAC sponsors the event every year.

The International Advisory Committee is an executive student organization that represents international students, and coordinates the efforts of all international student organizations, according to the IAC website.

“We kind of try to help them with more of the fun things like demonstrating your culture going to other cultures,” Medina said.

IAC at the University of Oklahoma was established over 23 years ago with the primary purpose of uniting all of the international cultural associations on campus, according to the IAC website