On 16 December 2020, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Kobe University organised the third cultural event "the end and beginning of the year in Europe" online.
First of all, an English postgraduate presented the seasonal food and drink in Britain by sharing many pictures of festive scenes on the Zoom screen. It was rather surprising for Japanese students to know that there were no Christmas cakes in the United Kingdom. Secondly, a Japanese undergraduate talked about her experience during the exchange study in Europe such as Christmas markets in Milan (Italy), Dresden and Nurnberg (Germany). She showed many wonderful pictures which made the participants feel like travelling in Europe. Finally, an Italian professor made an interesting contrast between the north and the south in Europe by explaining the seasonal rituals in Naples such as buying in a fish market before dawn for home cooking and celebrating with traditional sweets. The event provided students with a good opportunity to get to know the heritage and diversity of European culture.
Our Jean Monnet CoE will continue to organise the cultural events so that our students can experience European cultural traditions and be better prepared for their future studies in Europe.