On Monday February 15, GDPT Pho Hien Lion Dancing Troup’s performance started Taste of Asia Week off strong at the Kansas Union, attracting students and visitors’ attentions. Taste of Asia will continued throughout the week of February 15.
Alyssa Denneler, a KU student who attended the event, said she enjoys the performance and would definitely recommend her friends to attend events like this to learn more about other cultures.
“That was really awesome,” Denneler said, “I’ve never seen this before, so it’s super cool to actually see the costumes and people dancing… I honestly don’t know a lot (about Asian culture)… I definitely learned something today.”
Denneler also said that this kind of events impact campus dynamic in a positive way.
“Today is a college tour day, so all those new students can see these very vibrant cultural things are happening on campus,” Denneler said,” I think it’s really beneficial.”
According to the program coordinator of AASU Trang Nguyen, each day of the weeklong festival has a different event to celebrate a different part of Asian culture. Nguyen said the event promotes Asian-interest organizations on campus and encourages students to engage in cultural organizations. She also said the purpose of the event is to expose the KU and Lawrence community to Asian culture and drive students to learn about ideologies of different groups of people.
“It’s great to participate, because we will have a lot of interactive activities and games, and also there will be free food, so it’s a good way to reallt get a taste for what Asia is,” Nguyen said, “we also wanted to highlight the different aspects of cultures and allow other organizations to highlight what they want for their culture.”
Nguyen further described the following schedule of Taste of Asia events. She said apart from Monday’s GDOT Pho Hien Lion Dancing Troupe’s performance on Monday at the Kansas Union Plaza, Flavors and Feasts from the East was held at the Jay at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. On Wednesday, people attended Culture Fest to engage in interactive games and activities in the Big 12 room on the fifth floor of Kansas Union at 6 p.m.. Furthermore, Comedian Eliot Chang performed in the Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union at 7 p.m. on Thursday. On the last day, people were able to learn more about Asia culture by watching Taste of Asia Variety Show at 7 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Kansas Union.
Nguyen also said Asian American Student Union is not the only party to put the event together. She said cooperation with other organizations makes the event possible.
“Apart from SUA, we also have collaboration with Permias, the Chinese Student and Scholar Friendship Association, the Japanese Student Association, the International Student Association and Vietnam Association as well as many other groups that have really come together to help promote and put on this week,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said the most difficult part of holding the event is to communicate with different groups and collaborate with each other, “understanding what everyone want to do, what everyone could do. She is excited about the upcoming events and hopes for a better turnout.
For detailed schedule of the event, please visit www.facebook.com/kuaasu/. 
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