15th International Night at BALTDEFCOL

On Friday, February 28th Baltic Defence College’s faculty members, students, family members and invited guests celebrated the friendship of 23 nations with a traditional social event ‘International Night’.

The event was launched by college’s Sergeant Major Peeter Einbaum welcome speech. This was followed by the Estonian Military Orchestra performance. Lithuanian cadet band ‘Vytis‘ and Latvian Navy band ‘Vairogs‘ pulled the crowd together for clapping and dancing. The musical performances culminated when all three bands from Baltic states spontaneously joined together to play a well known Metallica song.

This year 18 nations presented a wide varity of national delights from Ukrainian home made dumplings and pancakes to mysterious Canadian "moose milk". To keep food fresh and tasty some of ingredients were mixed, heated or even cooked on spot. All the nations also had thought about visual representation of their countries - flags, pins, national costumes, tall reeds and winter grass and even inflatable kangaroos.Lithuanian knights with real swords and armours brought smiles to everyone's faces.

A traditional fundraiser by BALTSPOUSES was also conducted during this year’s International Night. This year,the guests made generous donations in support of Tartu Christian Adolescent Home. This year we raised 1380 euros!Tartu Christian Adolescent Home will have the opportunity to provide a wonderful summer to the under-privileged youth and help the needed children education.BALTSPOUSES is an informal group of spouses of BALTDEFCOL staff and students. Thank you, BALTSPOUSES for your annual contribution!

The aim of International Night is to introduce the culture and traditions of the participating countries and, through that, strengthen personal relations inside the College and with the family members.

First organized in 2005 as “Baltic Night” with the aim of familiarizing the international staff members and students of the College with the history and traditions, cuisine and culture of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the International Night has grown and evolved with time.