Tonight one can taste Baklava, a desert food from Cyprus, witness a performance of an Eulu tribe dance, and view the traditional costumes from a varity of countries without ever having to leave Carbondale.

Today, from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., international students from SIUC will be sharing their culture at the international festival, A Taste of the World, at the East Carbondale Community High School.

The event will close out the high school’s International Week, in which more than 40 international students have participated, a coordinator said.

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Beth Mochnick, community programs coordinator for SIUC’s International Programs and Services, said the festival and week long events celebrate the international students contribution to the community.

International Awareness Week celebrates the diversity we enjoy at CCHS and the community, she said. It’s nice to have SIUC students share their culture with high school students.

Mochnick said the international students have also participated in panel discussions in the classrooms.

Some of the topics discussed were health care issues in Kuwait and Russia’s transition to democracy, she said.

Mochnick said many international students are studying education and appreciate the interaction between American students and teenagers.

The number one goal for many international students is to learn about the American culture, she said. These events allow them to experience the education aspects of the American culture and help them in their educational fields.

Mochnick said at the festival booths for individual countries will be set up featuring different foods. She said traditional Indian, African and Greek folk dances will be performed. She said some of the students will be dressed in their homeland’s traditional costumes.

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Daniel Seam Ze, a graduate student in workforce education from Cameroon, Africa, will be performing a three minute traditional Eulu tribe dance. He said he will be judging how the crowd reacts to his performance.

There is a belief in other countries that Americans tend to reject what is not American, he said. I want to show people back home how they react to different cultures.

Jia Honge, a graduate student in agribusiness economics from mainland China, gave a talk Tuesday on the Chinese health practice of eye care massage for spiritual healing purposes.

She said she was glad to see the high school students interested in her discussion.

Students were very interested in my talk, she said. After the discussion they kept asking questions. The exchange experience between us and the students is the best part in participating in events like these.