COEUR d'ALENE - His name isn't Indiana Jones, but Lakes Magnet Middle School seventh-grader Mike Fitch has adventurous aspirations.

"I love social studies," he said. "I want to be an archaeologist so I can travel around the world."

The 13-year-old Coeur d'Alene resident manned the New Zealand exhibit during the fifth annual Multicultural Faire in the Lakes gym on Saturday. Pictures of beautiful landscapes and information about the country were posted within the display, which rested atop a table adjacent to exhibits featuring the countries of Turkey and Peru.

"I like New Zealand because it has all sorts of terrain," Mike said. "It's a great place to go hiking. The views are great."

While he has never been there, he plans to visit once he graduates college. This was his second time working at the faire, an experience he said he enjoys because it's a way to learn about the cultures of the world.

"The food's good," he said with a smile. "And there's a lot of performances and music."

Melodious marimba notes danced in the air as volunteers representing several countries discussed their locations' histories and cultures. Mother and daughter Kim and Dova Liss of Coeur d'Alene represented Israel and shared their Jewish pride as well as a few traditional foods such as falafel and a chicken and yogurt dish called "shawarma."

"I'm Jewish, obviously, and I thought it would be nice to put it out there more and try and get more people aware of it," said Dova, 14. Dova and her family visited Israel last summer to celebrate her bat mitzvah at Masada, a symbolic landmark where the last Jewish stronghold against Roman invasion stood.

"You can't get better than that," Kim said. "Beginning the ceremony, we watched the sun come up and it was just spectacular. It's a lot of meaning, you know?"

Dova, a Lakes eighth-grader, said she participated in the faire to help "broaden the horizons" of the people of Coeur d'Alene.

"It's important to make people aware of (culture) and it's really fun to see how other people live in those countries," she said. "The different foods that they have, and everything's so colorful. It brings color to our town."

At least 100 people filtered in and out of the gym during the faire. Countries such as Italy, Ireland, India, Japan, Poland, Jamaica and more were featured in the exhibits. Ethnic foods included the sweet and gelatin-like Turkish delight, American hot dogs and thin, crispy Norwegian specialty cookies called "krum kakes."

"They put a lot of cardamom in their baking," said Pam Silk of Coeur d'Alene. "I make a cookie, it's called a 'peppernotter,' and it's because it has actual pepper in the cookie."

Pam's son Einar, 17, discussed his experiences at the Sons of Norway annual summer camps, which he has attended multiple times.

"During the second week of camp, they do a mock immigration from the 1840s when they had a massive influx of the Irish and Scandinavian," he said. "They take you through how that worked and how bad it was for some people ... Rhode Island was the 'Isle of Broken Dreams' because families would get split apart because some kid would have a disease and be sent back to Norway."

Norway is rich in folklore and mythology. Pam said the film "Frozen" was based on the Scandinavian tale of the Norwegian "Ice Queen." And many Norwegian stories include trolls.

"The trolls are huge in Scandinavia," she said. "It was a way of explaining their world back then before they gained the knowledge of what really was going on."

Coeur d'Alene High School senior and exchange student Nina Chen hails from Taiwan. She has lived with a host family in Hayden since August. She contrasted a North Idaho school with her school back home.

"I like it. It's different, but it's good," she said. "It's kind of rushed, you only have like five minutes to get to your class."

She explained that her school days in Taiwan are a bit longer.

"In my country, we get out of school at 5 p.m.," she said. "It gives you more time for sports and activities."

On the other hand, Nina said American school is good for making friends because students have different classes and teachers throughout the day, rather than one class all day long.

"We just stay in one class with (the same) 50 people all three years," she said.

Several organizations participated in the faire, including the Human Rights Education Institute.

"I think it just continues what we're teaching," said HREI office manager Kelly Schumacker of Post Falls. "It's education and awareness of different cultures and gaining a respect for all."