On December 6th, the Office of International Affairs held the 2021 Christmas Carnival at the university’s Library and Exhibition Hall. This year, in addition to the refreshing and cheerful Christmas activities that were planned out, teachers and students were also invited to participate in the “Ho, Ho, Yah! Market”, where they could set up lively booths with cultural and creative handmade goods or exotic cuisine. For the student guitar society and a group of musically gifted Indonesia students, the “Dazzling Lights Performance” offered them a chance share their talent and skill while adding festive ambience to atmosphere. Another item of excitement was the creative “Gingerbread House Competition”, in which teachers and students paired up to build creative and aesthetic works of gingerbread art that they hoped would win them the grand prize. Together, students, staff and faculty got into the Christmas mood and had fun together taking part in the various activities.
NPUST’s president, Chang-Hsien Tai, addressed the participants in a speech, saying “the annual time to celebrate Christmas is approaching again, and we hope that as NPUST continues to make progress, all the teachers, colleagues, students, and lovely children at the school will continue to grow and learn from one another. We expect that this Christmas Carnival to be a wonderful event, with both local students and overseas students participating together. We welcome you to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere and the multi-cultural experience that is one-of-a-kind to NPUST.
The event kicked-off with a jubilant dance performance by the little cuties enrolled in NPUST’s Kindergarten. President Tai had fun with the little tykes and handed out special Christmas candy gift boxes. Although the epidemic has meant that, overseas students have been unable to return to their hometowns for the past two years, the Office of International Affairs at NPUST has been working to soothe and alleviate that sense of home-sickness that foreign student may feel at certain times of the year by planning out activities like these, where they can enjoy one another’s company and along with cuisine from back home. And for a “side dish” of excitement, the OIA organized a “Gingerbread House Contest”, with faculty, staff and students pairing up into teams of two and going head to head for the top prize. A total of 40 teams participated in the competition, and each of them used their own ingenuity and creativity in the process of putting their houses together. Finally, the winners were decided by way of ballot casting.
The Christmas activity encouraged additional interaction between local and international students and left them with warm memories of campus life at NPUST that they will be able to hold for a lifetime.
