Portuguese Cultural Night: Our Students’ Perspectives

Nathan A Ebbs

The Noite de poesia was a pretty cool experience. There was pizza and little chocolate desserts at the beginning of the event. Then the Portuguese professors congratulated all the students graduating with a minor in the language. The event featured songs and poems. Highlights included faculty member Gabriella Parizzi who sang two songs. As a finale everyone present sang “Canto do povo de um lugar.” I was fortunate to be able to play “Manha de Carnival” on the oboe, which was a lot of fun. Before every poem and every musical item, the professors described what the poem and piece of music meant to the people of Brazil, who the composer was, and their contributions to the Brazilian culture. I thought it was very cool to learn about the culture of Brazil in both poem and song. It is wonderful how music can connect people from different cultures and areas of the planet.

Emma Grace Walden

A noite de poesia e música foi ótimo! When I arrived, I was so excited to see everyone from 111 and Bate Papo, but there were new people to meet, as well. Gabriela, one of the other Portuguese lecturers, was so bright and funny, and her singing was so mesmerizing that I was captivated from beginning to end. The food was absolutely amazing! Brenz Pizza is always a delight (especially the bruschetta pizza), but I also had the privilege of trying brigadeiros for the first time! I wasn’t expecting them to be so soft inside, but they were so good that I had to go back and get another and bring one back to my roommate. The poems read were all beautiful, and my immersion was due in no small part to their dynamic readings. While I didn’t understand some of the words, the way people read them ensured that I still came away with a general meaning and feeling for what was read. I also got to sing a solo, which was very fun, but I was extremely nervous and almost forgot the words. Everything turned out okay, though; I had the support of other students, who sang with me after my solo, and everyone loved our performance so much that we had two encores! Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience, and I can’t wait for the next Cultural Night!

Marcos Javier Querales Diaz

I think it was a great experience, and as a person from Venezuela, it was very interesting to experience the Brazilian culture and observe how they express themselves. As a person who is a native Spanish speaker, hearing people who are from Brazil speak Portuguese was an excellent experience for my learning of the language. There were many exciting things at the event, poems, karaoke, and people singing solos. Even I sang with my classmates, which was a funny experience because I am not a singer; also, the fact that I could share this experience with my classmates made it even more fun. Also, the poems that some people read were amazing. I did not know that there were some fantastic poets in Brazil and that they were considered geniuses in their time. I would say that going to this event was definitely worth it, not only because it gives me some bonus points (haha), but because it is always good to learn about different cultures and countries.

Daniel A Freeston

The Night of Poetry and Music was a really fun time filled with culture and art. We got to see a variety of different performances such as singing, poetry, and a musical performance by Nathan. I was also a big fan of the fact that there was food and refreshments, which made me very happy to get some free pizza. There was sweet tea, unsweet tea, lemonade, and coke to drink. There were also many different types of pizza, so many in fact that I don’t remember how many, but I had pepperoni pizza and it was splendid. The room at the Black Culture Center that we used was a great space to hold the event. It had ample seating capacity as well as good acoustics for musical performances. When we all sang together, we sounded like a choir of angels descending from the heavens to bless the earth with a heavenly song.

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