Food brings everyone together!

Food is often the best way to bring people together. From the care and love that goes into the preparation of the meal, to the laughter and memories made while eating together, food consistently plays a central role in everyone's life.

Today, we used food to introduce our cultures to our classmates by holding an International Curry Cookoff. Not every country has "curry" as part of their diets, but every culture has something sort of similar. We got to try curry (or variations) from Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Jordan and Mexico. We also got to sample a delicious strawberry dessert from Colombia. 

After eating our fill, we all voted on the curry (or variation) we liked the most. Can you guess which one won?? 

Fresco Opera at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Yesterday, we visited Olbrich Botanical Gardens to see the gorgeous landscaping and listen to the Fresco Opera. Olbrich has a summer concert series where performers from all over the state come and share their talents in a free concert. The grounds were full of people enjoying a picnic dinner together and listening to the amazing vocal talents of Fresco Opera. We had the perfect weather for the event, and loved exploring the many themed gardens.

Happy Birthday, America!

Can you think of a better way to watch the 4th of July fireworks than from a pontoon boat on Lake Monona? We had a prime view of the Monona firework show, as well as other firework shows going on around the lake. We also had a beautiful view of the Capitol building all lit up for the evening. Since some students are observing Ramadan, we brought food on board to share and break the fast! We enjoyed Saudi Arabian coffee, red tea, kabsa, sandwiches, and many other delicious foods. One of our Korean students even prepared Korean barbeque pork! It was wonderful being able to share our food and make memories together.

It's the beginning of the new session!

We're half-way through the first week of our new session! Our students are already showing off their skills and learning new things each day. This session, we have students from Korea, Japan, China, Jordan, Colombia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Spain, Thailand, Somalia and Taiwan. We are loving the diversity, and the daily opportunity to learn something new about a new part of the world!