On Dec. 6, the TASHAN Student Interest Group organized a Sri Lankan Kottu Night. Sri Lankan food, Bila music and various games characterized the night. Attendees were able to play cards and carrom — a Sri Lankan table-top game — while enjoying various street foods from the island.

The event was meant to provide the NYU Abu Dhabi community with a glance into Sri Lankan culture and food. The food provided at the event included a few types of kottu, string hoppers, roti and various curries. This year’s Kottu Night took place in the Living Room instead of the A5C second floor lounge, which resulted in a bigger event and larger turnout.

“It’s just to have something for Sri Lankans,” said Awahnee Mendis, Class of 2021, about the event. “There are events for the bigger groups of people on campus, but there aren’t that many Sri Lankans, so this is just to give some representation...it was nice.”

On the evening of Dec. 6, members of the NYUAD student body piled into the Red Theater in anticipation of famous Korean concert pianist Yeol Eum Son’s performance. The attendees eagerly awaited her performance of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 in B major, Op.106, also known as the Hammerklavier Sonata. Son’s performance commemorated both the bicentennial anniversary of the completion of the sonata as well as the 10th anniversary of the NYUAD Institute.

The performance of the Hammerklavier lasted around 45 minutes and was followed by a panel discussion with the artist, as well as Gwyneth Bravo, NYUAD Assistant Professor of Music, Matthew Quayle, Music Program Head and Assistant Arts Professor of Music and Ljubica Ilić, Musicologist at the University of Novi Sad. The event was preceded by a master class given by Son on Dec. 5 that was open to the NYUAD community.

“Yeol Eum Son’s performance was staggering,” said Bhrigu Bhatra, Class of 2021. “The length, the masterful technique and the emotional journey through the Hammerklavier sonata makes this one of the most distinctive performances held by the Arts Center this season.”

On Wednesday, Dec. 5, the Ecoherence Student Interest Group hosted the first session of its Sustainability Workshop series entitled, the Make Your Own Perfume Workshop. The event was led by Amani Magid, Academic Librarian for the Sciences and Engineering.

The event was designed to allow students to make their own beauty products in a way that reduces packaging waste. The final products were also created as natural alternatives to commercial products which often contain harmful substances. With the help of the leaders of the event, students got the chance to make their own perfume at the workshop that they could then keep.

“The event was super cool in the sense that even though we didn’t have any background information, the person who was conducting the workshop, she [explained] her experience,” said Sona Sargsyan, Class of 2021. ”I really love the scent that I created, it’s going to be one of my favorite scents.”