This year our small Mongolian student team hosted a Mongolia Event at PLU, and it honestly became one of the best memories we've made on campus. We wanted to bring a little piece of home to PLU, the food, the culture, the music, the energy, and after about a month of planning, preparing, and a little bit of chaos, we made it happen.
Preparing for the event was almost as fun as the event itself. Our team met every week, and every time we got together, we somehow ended up laughing pretty hard like we are having our best time in life. Practicing our dance performance was especially hilarious, half the time we forgot the moves or made up our own, but those moments became some of our favorite memories. We also spent a lot of time building the photo booth and creating Mongolian bookmarks with traditional script on the front and English translations ont e back. What started as "let's just make these quickly" turned into a whole team bonding moments with jokes, music, and random conversations. Even figuring out our games like bingo, the treasure hunt, and freeze dance took forever, but it was all part of the fun.
When the day finally came, we were all running around getting everything set up, but the excitement made it all feel worth it. Once people started walking in, the whole room came alive. Our bookmarks ended up being surprisingly favorite, people kept picking them up and saying how cool the Mongolian script looked. The food tasted exactly like home, which gave us the bingo, the treasure hunt, and freeze dance had everyone laughing and participating. The phot booth also turned out better than we expected and helped people capture sweet memories with their friends.
The whole night gave us this warm, cozy feeling almost like we went back home to Mongolia for at least two hour. We really hope guests felt the same aura and got a small taste of our culture. It was such a heartwarming moment to see people enjoying the atmosphere, learning something new, and just having fun.
Overall, the event was a big success, and it meant a lot to us to share our culture with the PLU community. We're so proud of what we created, and we're hoping to host an even bigger and better Mongolia Event next year.
- Nobita, ISS intern
