IAAS Ghent organised an event to welcome the students from their campus in Korea. On the 17th of October we organised Belgium 101, to teach the international students all about being Belgian (so mainly food and beers).
This was a cultural event organised by IAAS to welcome the Korean students to Belgium. The event began with a warm welcome and short introduction about IAAS before starting the activities. We organised 5 interactive and fun workshops to introduce the Korean students to Belgian history, culture and life-style…
Waffle baking, where the students were taught how to make Brussel-style waffles and had a chance to taste the delicious treat with different toppings.
Beer tasting. While drinking five different kinds of beers, the Koreans participated in a quiz related to Belgian history, politics, sports and of course: beer!
Belgian food, divided into two sections: warm dishes and desserts. There was stoofvlees, a Belgian beef stew made with beer and love. Vol au vent, which is made from chicken, meatballs and mushrooms in a delicious creamy sauce, served with a traditional puff pastry shell. Lastly, they enjoyed another classical Belgian dish of chicory vegetable wrapped in ham and topped with cheese sauce.
For dessert there were mattentaarten filled with Geraardsbergse matten which is a special type of curdled milk. Finally, the Korean students learned how Gents gestreken mastellen are prepared. This delicious rounded bread with a touch of cinnamon is filled with butter and dark brown sugar and subsequently flattened with a clothes iron!
Slap cup games, which created a lot of enthusiasm among the tipsy crowd.
“Traditional” dances and songs: while the Belgians put on one crazy song after another, they showed everyone the typical moves. The Koreans made a valiant effort to learn these slightly embarrassing dances and actually did very well. Of course by the end of the night as de kabouterdans played with its Dutch instructions there were a lot of confused looks towards everyone stomping around like geese.
The event ended with cheerful and happy faces. Everyone had loads of fun and learned many new things about Belgian culture while making new friends. From the IAAS team, we look forward to welcoming many more new students, both international and local, to our lovely family.
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