When’s the last time you watched a cook off, a dance off, learned about a cultural tradition you’d previously known nothing about, and had dinner with hundreds of people in a casual setting, or some combination of the above, all in one night? Welcome to Fuqua Friday. It’s an event that takes place almost every Friday, and includes the entire (yes, entire) Fuqua community of faculty, staff, PhDs, MBAs, MMSers, etc.

It’s an opportunity to learn new things, have some great food, meet new people, and just relax. Many Fuqua Fridays are sponsored by cultural student clubs or Fuqua administration and focus on a theme or an event like Oktoberfest or the Lunar New Year.

Some of my favorite Fuqua Fridays involved my friends organizing the festivities, like the time my friend Nancy presented about the tradition of serving tea in China or another night when my friend Carmen made a delicious traditional Mexican dessert. Both nights were completely different, but they were enjoyable for many of the same reasons.

Take a walk through the hallways at Fuqua and you’ll see flags from all over the world. Literally. All over. These flags represent the MANY different backgrounds that students come from. Fuqua Friday is an opportunity for groups of people to share what is GREAT about where they’re from. And for the rest of us, it’s a time to learn about and enjoy all they have to offer.

When a couple of my college friends came to visit me, they were SO excited about attending Fuqua Friday. Before they visited, they said they wanted to experience all of the great things that Fuqua, Duke, and Durham are known for, so I told them about (and took them to) places and events like Cameron Indoor Stadium, Brightleaf Square, the infamous Shooters, and of course, Fuqua Friday. They both work full-time and have been out of school for a couple of years. I didn’t quite see what they were so pumped up about. Now that I’ve graduated, I have to admit that I can better see their excitement. Fuqua Friday is a tradition like no other. It’s a weekly celebration that I’ll miss long after leaving Fuqua.