UW-RF International Bazaar 2011

Last night was the 2011 University of Wisconsin River Falls International Bazaar, which kind of took me by surprise, as last year it was at the beginning of April and closer to the Unity in the Community event, which this year is in the second half of April. You can't tell from this photo of two of the Korean (i think, going by the food they were serving, but i thought it was Japanese dress) students (River Falls actually has quite a few foreign students for it's size, and from what i have heard it's because the TOEFL requirements are not as hard as Madison or similar schools, and there are quite a few foreign students, which makes for nice diversity in such a small town.), but the crowd was quite large, larger than the other times i've gone. The food tickets, which were free but they used them to make sure they had enough food, were "sold out" quite some time before the doors opened and they had people wait to see if some didn't show up. The second part of the event, which took place in the Falcon's Nest, has a good deal more people than seats, i've never seen that before. The seats down below were all filled, the seats in the balcony were full and there were a good deal of people standing and watching. Quite impressive. They also moved the fashion show from the ballroom where the food is, like it was last year, to the Falcon's Nest, probably a good move, with so many people.

Side note here, i find it funny that the one girl is serving with one hand, and checking her cellphone with the other. I have issues with anxiety and phones, so i tend to avoid cell phones unless necessary, and find it interesting how many younger people are seemingly permanently attached to cellphones. Being born in 1970, i remember wandering around town (a small town of 800 or so people, though) without a way to contact people, and talking to a friend who has a pre-teen child he mentioned he has one. At least he isn't one who is running up four or five figure bills texting like i've read about. Technology sure does seem to be changing things quickly lately, or i've just not been paying attention.