The third annual Cup of Culture took place on March 21 inside the Fireside Room. It was presented by Bakersfield College international students and co-sponsored by the Equal Opportunity/Diversity Advisory Committee. International student counselor Shohreh Rahman started off with a speech of how the United States is a big melting pot before introducing the countries.

The nine countries that were represented were Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Iceland, Burma, Venezuela, Poland and Mexico. The event started off with a slide show and music.

Each student that presented shared information on their home country and the story of how they came to America.

The most popular question of the night was “Why Bakersfield?”

“It’s not that bad here. It’s still California and its nothing like back home,” said Bosnian native Elmar Okanovic.

He went on to explain how different the countries were, while other students went into more detail of how they liked their schooling.

Saudi Arabia native Somaya Harb recalled her personal challenge of learning English.

“I hated all my English professors,” admitted Harb. She has been in the United States since 2006 and in less then a year learned English.

She said movies and television shows are what helped her the most.

“Malcolm in the Middle was one of my favorites,” she said.

BC has 39 exchange students from 20 different countries.

The presentation continued with the students sharing fun facts, like how Venezuela has the cheapest gas in the world, and Bosnia has the cleanest water. Also, Poland’s number-one sport is soccer and is where the world cup will be hosted next year and, last of all, Iceland has been named the world’s number one for nightlife entertainment.