Colonnades residents sampled food and experienced traditions from over a dozen countries at Wednesday night’s “Walk around the World.” At the event, residents braved the cold to visit themed common rooms on the floors of each Colonnades building.

At the event, students ate Belgian waffles, drank Turkish coffee, received Brazilian somba dance lessons and learned facts about the Philippines.

Attendees received Phoenix Passports, which were stamped at each floor. The RAs on some floors required students to sample food or learn facts about their countries before administering stamps. Residents who turned in completed passports were eligible to win a Target gift card.

Rike Habbel, assistant director of residence life in the Colonnades neighborhood, said the Colonnades area decided to host the inaugural event to increase global awareness among residents.

“With the Winter Term theme being diversity, each [residential] neighborhood had the idea of doing something,” she said. “Our goal [for this event] is to give guests the opportunity to learn about other countries.”

In preparation for Walk around the World, Colonnades residence assistants (RAs) worked with residents on their floors to choose countries and implement their themes.

Sophomore Evan Miceli, an RA in Moffitt, said he helped his floor to choose Italy.

“I’m Italian, and it’s exciting because everybody gets to know more about Italy—share the food and facts,” he said.

Junior Bethany Lester, an RA in Harper, said her travels inspired her to choose Morocco as the theme for the night.

“I went to Morocco this summer,” she said. “It feels awesome [to share the culture] because Morocco isn’t one of those places that people talk about or go to.”

Freshman Michael Garvis, who lives on Lester’s floor, said that residents were eager to prepare the food and decorate the common room.

“Everyone on our hall was really willing to participate,” he said.

In recent years, the Colonnades neighborhood has hosted other activities, including a cookout, a carnival and a haunted hallway. For Wednesday’s event, the Colonnades neighborhood worked with Campus Security to temporarily enable its 430 residents access to all of the Colonnades buildings.

Garvis said that the offerings inspired him to come to the event, and he wants the Colonnades area to host similar events in the future. According to Garvis, Walk around the World allowed him to have more interactions with the neighborhood’s residents than he did during other Colonnades neighborhood activities.

“This event is way better because it’s getting me out to other Colonnades buildings,” Garvis said.

Lester also said that Walk around the World held more significance than past events in the Colonnades neighborhood.

“They were just for fun,” she said. “This has more meaning, a global meaning.”