On Saturday, the traditional event “Around the World in 80 Minutes” was held on the Spanish Square in Mostar, organized by students of the United World College (UWC) Mostar.
Visitors had the opportunity to get to know the culture and traditions of more than 70 countries from all over the world, enjoying a colorful show of national costumes, as well as dance performances of traditional dances from Africa, Asia, South America and Europe. In addition, numerous stands offered visitors a variety of dishes from their countries.
The head of the Department for Development and International Cooperation of UWC Mostar, Haris Idriz, pointed out that it is important that this event has been gathering people of different cultures and nations for almost two decades.
“The United World College has been organizing this great festival of diversity and culture for 19 years, where students represent the countries they come from. This year, as many as 74 countries are participating, and everything is filled with dancing, music and socializing. This is a special day that the students of UWC organize for the local community in Mostar,” emphasized Idriz.
Coordinator for public relations and communications of UWC Mostar, Adla Velagić, emphasized the importance of celebrating the United World College Day and the uniqueness of the Mostar college in this area.
“Today we celebrate the United World College Day, that is, the global educational movement. There are 18 schools of this type in the world, and the College in Mostar is the only one in the Balkans. Every September 21st, we mark this day through a traditional event called ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’, where all the students of UWC present themselves to the citizens of Mostar through their traditional costumes, music and cuisine,” said Velagić.
According to her, this year’s program is especially enriched with contents that bring world cultures closer to the local community.
“Visitors will be able to enjoy a special segment of the program – a fashion show of folk costumes from fifty countries around the world. Also, about 70 stands representing the same number of countries have been prepared. This is an opportunity to at least partially get to know different world cultures and traditions, but also for citizens to get to know our new students better, of which there are 211 this year,” asserted Velagić.
A second-year student at UWC Mostar, Anđela Grujić from Montenegro, emphasized the importance of the event for getting to know each other and exchanging cultures.
“This is an important event because more than 70 countries are participating, representing their culture and traditions. In this way, we, the students, learn something new about their customs and food. I am dressed in Montenegrin national costume and I represent food from traditional Montenegrin cuisine, the flag and pictures from different parts of Montenegro,” Grujić said.
