Ukrainian night

As a highlight of our culture night series, we dedicated the last event of this semester to Ukraine. The war in the country since February is certainly one of the most tragic and shocking things happening in Europe in the last decades. With thousands dead, cities destroyed, and millions who had to flee the country, we get a lot of sad news on a daily basis. What receives less attention and is mostly unknown among students, though, is the extremely rich Ukrainian culture and its traditions. Therefore, we had the idea together with Erasmus United Gießen, a current ESN candidate section, to give a platform to Ukrainians.

Around 25 Ukrainian students - some of them who had just recently fled to Germany – traveled from Gießen to Frankfurt excited and passionate to show our international and local students more about their culture. We rented out a kitchen, enabling the students to cook plenty of traditional Ukrainian dishes like Varenyky (dumplings), as well as traditional salads, cucumber snacks, cupcakes, and much more.

Almost 100 people attended the event, which took place at the university campus. It started with a show of some Ukrainian dances, followed by an interesting presentation about the country and some less-known facts. To make things interactive, the students also created a Kahoot quiz, where the three winners each received a painting with a Ukrainian motive. After the food was served, some people played the guitar and sang Ukrainian folk songs, with some girls dressed up in the traditional Vyshyvanka.

We fully funded the expenses for the food from our ESN budget to make admission free. To raise some money for a charity project in Ukraine, we put up a donation box.

It was great to see the dedication of the Ukrainian students. This event not only helped our international students learn more about the country but also created a space for the Ukrainians to – although being forced to flee - feel a little bit like being home again.