Save yourself a short drive to Convoy — it’s time to stop dipping your toes in the water and take a full-on dive into a vital component of Asian culture.

Here comes the Multi-Asian Student Association’s (MASA), premiere event — the UCSD Asian Night Market that will be held on Jan. 17 from 6:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Library Walk. The event is coordinated by four ambitious Tritons of the MASA Staff — Cultural Representatives Pat Nguyen and Alex Yong and Public Relations Representatives Nancy Quach and Tiffany Lin — who have brought together a diverse expanse of over ten Asian organizations on campus.

“We really wanted to do something big, since MASA puts on one mass cultural event each quarter,” Nguyen said. “And there is no better way to showcase the different Asian cultures than a night market.”

With an eclectic mix of many of the different organizations on campus, foods from all over Asia will be represented such as nem nuong — a pork patty dish — from the Vietnamese Student Association, Spam musubi from the Hawaiian Club and a favorite of Tiffany Lin and Nancy Quach: the dumplings and miso soup from MASA. But no night market would be complete without some sort of hectic nature or hustle and bustle of the sort that Asia has to offer. The team of four decided to replace this difficult-to-replicate ambience with authentic performances by organizations like the Southern Sea Lion Dance Troupe, the UCSD Wushu martial arts club and the Asayake Taiko drums. With the tastes of the East to swathe your tongue and dances, both traditional and modern, to behold your eyes — all that’s left to forget that you’re in La Jolla is to be yelled at by vendors in an Asian tongue.

“I feel like the best part of planning this event,” Nguyen said, “was to see our brainchild come together, because at first it was just an idea.”

The motto of MASA is “One Family, One Heartbeat,” and this cannot be better expressed than by the unity between Asian clubs on campus. Although the Asian Night Market is a pilot event for the organization, MASA hopes to plan future events that are just as, if not more, involved in instilling a high sense of unity and inclusion.