Media Credit: Matt Nicholson World music blasted from speakers while students painted intricate designs on eggshells and folded colored paper into geometric shapes on Tuesday afternoon in the EMU Amphitheater. Many students sampled Nutella and Dulce de Leche at a nearby table. [Click to enlarge]

World music blasted from speakers while students painted intricate designs on eggshells and folded colored paper into geometric shapes on Tuesday afternoon in the EMU Amphitheater. Many students sampled Nutella and Dulce de Leche at a nearby table.

This wide variety of foods, crafts and music is all part of this year's International Week, said the International Student Association spokeswoman, Beth Evans.

"Today we had an Arts and Crafts theme. Right now, Weronika Budak, one of our Polish students, is showing us how to make Polish Easter eggs, and some of our Japanese students are teaching origami," she said.

Later, there was to be a lesson in Batik, an Indonesian cloth-dying technique in which wax is dripped onto the cloth to make patterns.

The ISA has sponsored International Week every year for 44 years, each year bearing a different theme and a different perspective on diversity. Last year's theme was 'Aperture: Widening Cultural Perspectives;' this year's is 'Jigsaw Puzzle: Every Piece Fits.'

"This year we decided to emphasize the whole puzzle that makes up our culture," Evans said. "Each culture represents a different piece. All the pieces are similar but have small differences - some are borders, and some are at the center. The main idea is, they all fit together."

Monday's annual opening parade and the garlands of puzzle pieces strung all over campus are intended to give International Week a festival feel.

"One of the main points of International Week is, of course, to have fun," Evans said. "It's a celebration of diversity."

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