On Saturday, April 29, the Prindle Institute hosted an international formal for students who came a long way to DePauw. Students celebrated their culture and backgrounds with the backdrop of DePauw’s Nature Park–trees lush green against the sunny day. International students shared their experiences from the formal.
Born in Kalaiya in Southern Nepal, but born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, first-year Raj Yadav attended the international formal with some of his friends. Yadav commented on how well-decorated the Prindle Institute was alongside the large attendance by DePauw students. He also said that the formal was great to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds.
“The formal did not resemble other formal/ball events where the people would dance together, it was instead just everyone sitting at different tables and playing a big round of Jeopardy. The winning table got to eat the food first. The food was freshly made and tasted good. The venue was very pretty and the decorations were done really nicely where a lot of flags from different countries were hung up on all the walls and the tables were set up very well,” Yadav said.
Yadav’s favorite part of the formal was being able to walk around the nicely decorated Prindle Institute and have conversations with the people around him. He also mentioned that the event was a really good getaway from the stress of finals week.
From Kathmandu, Nepal, first-year Khusi Singh was heavily anticipating the event after hearing much about the formal from upperclassmen. After heaving the dishes they served at the international formal the past year, Singh was excited about the experience. Overall, she said the event was a great way to take a break from finals, dress up, eat food, and have fun with friends.
“We went there at around 7:30 p.m. and we walked into a fully decorated venue with photobooths, flowers, candles, and different country flags everywhere. Then we were seated at a round table in an open room where there were students already playing jeopardy. There were different categories like flags, famous places, cuisines, and trivia,” Singh said.
After coming late to the formal, Singh said she and her friends decided to take photos as they waited for food. Singh said the place was so beautiful and captured so well in photos. Afterward, Singh and her friends feasted on the wide variety of buffet food.
Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, first-year Abdul Aahad Vakani also attended the international formal. Vakani loved being able to dress up alongside friends and participate in such an event.
“The International Formal was a great getaway for all the international population of DePauw to get together and reflect on this last semester which honestly felt like a blur to me. A lot of my friends not involved in Greek Life got to dress up and 'go to formal' and get a slight taste of the Greek formal experience. Although the entire event was a little underwhelming,” Vakani said.
Vakani mentioned that the event wasn’t organized the best. Despite having wonderful food, he said that the event did not provide drinks to go with it. Nonetheless, Vakani enjoyed being around nature and the decorated Prindle Institute.