TRAVELER
FALL 2013
Director’s Note It’s amazing that we’re already at the end of the fall quarter! And what an active, busy and productive fall it’s been – which is precisely why we decided it’s time for a newsletter. I-House, its staff and affiliated organizations are active and involved in so many programs that we felt it important to share the many exciting things we’re doing with you. First, a bit about our I-House community for fall 2013- I-House currently houses 348 residents from 32 countries. Our most well-represented countries include China, United Kingdom, Spain, South Korea, Japan, France Taiwan, India, Germany and Australia. But we also have students from Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Turkey. In speaking with staff from Residential Life and with the RAs (Residential Advisors), this I-House community is exceptional by all accounts. We have just finished our application review and selection for winter 2013. I-House students enjoy a unique and life-enhancing experience. We are reminded of this whenever we hear from our many alums around the world. Because of this ongoing connection with our alums we decided it would be important and beneficial to have an ‘alumni news’ section in our newsletter. In addition to our exciting community, made up of current and past residents, I-House has been involved hosting various engaging and exciting programs. In this inaugural issue of our newsletter, we would like to introduce you to our programs and overview some of their many accomplishments. Finally, deciding to have a newsletter and writing the content was the easy part. What proved more elusive was what to call it. After considering many interesting and provocative suggestions the name “Traveler” rose to be the most natural fit. In both its literal and metaphor meanings “Traveler” captures the spirit and essence of I-House. As Mark Twain stated, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Dr. Henri Migala
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Language Conversation Tables
The International House Language Conversation Tables promote the different languages spoken and represented at UC San Diego. This fall we have over 15 different language tables, such as Turkish, Japanese, Irish, and Tagalog. The tables meet every week to discuss various topics, watch films, attend campus and community events, and even host cooking classes together. Highlights from this quarter include Japanese cooking night, a joint Spanish & French cooking event, and Halloween treats & pumpkin carving. The language tables are important because learning a language is more than saying hello, how are you, and thank you. It’s about connecting with people, expressing opinions and ideas, and understanding the culture and context. The Language Conversation Tables emphasize the social dimension of learning a language to create a fun and casual environment for beginners, native speakers, and everyone in between. In addition to language practice, the conversation tables are a great way to meet students, scholars, and staff from around the world. You might meet people who can give you tips on what to do during your time abroad. Or you can be a resource for someone else. The language tables are open to everyone and it’s not too late to join! Check out the Language Conversation Table calendar at ihouse.ucsd.edu/programs. Interested in learning more or hosting a language table that isn’t yet available? Contact us at ihouseintern@gmail.com or stop by the I-House office beneath the Great Hall in Eleanor Roosevelt College.
Malou Amparo Programs Coordinator
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The term “International Affairs” can be defined in several ways. To a political scientist international affairs could mean the relationship between countries. To an economist it could mean global trade relations. To an anthropologist it could mean understanding the various cultures in the world. The International Affairs Group (IAG) recognizes the diversity in “International Affairs” and the events we host reflect this variety. IAG’s mission statement is to heighten our understanding of global issues and increasing our awareness of the world in which we live. We achieve this by bringing experts to dispel stereotypical notions and provide us with in-depth factual information. IAG is a group that plays a leading role in the international dimension of campus life through speaker series, seminar discussions, student panels, film screenings, and informal presentations. We host events every week at the Great Hall, typically on Mondays at 7pm. Some of our events this quarter included Global Opportunities (which provided students information on how to intern with international organizations), Making Human Rights a Reality (a talk about the human rights systems) , A Taste of Africa (UCSD’s kickoff to San Diego’s African Restaurant Week), and Music and Dance of Philippines (a “hands on event” for attendees). Looking forward, we plan to host a talk regarding International Education, host various Embassies from Washington D.C., as well as have a film screenings. Like us on Facebook to know more about our upcoming events: fb.me/iag.ucsd
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IAG is always looking for volunteers and collaborators to help us achieve success in our program! If you believe you can contribute to IAG, contact Christal Simanski at iag.ucsd@gmail.com.
International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) at UCSD is a vibrant, student-led organization that seeks to increase community engagement and international awareness among the UCSD population by facilitating volunteer opportunities for students with the IRC in San Diego. With more than 100,000 refugees from over 30 countries, San Diego has one of the largest and fastest growing refugee communities in the world. The IRC is an international organization that responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises by providing assistance to refugees fleeing persecution. Thousands of refugees are resettled in the U.S. each year, and the IRC serves to restore safety, dignity, and hope to this vulnerable population. UCSD students who volunteer at the IRC’s San Diego offices are given the chance to work one-on-one with resettled refugees from across the world including Iraq, Burma, and Somalia. Volunteering with the IRC students gives students the rewarding experience of serving those in need, gain unparalleled experience, build valuable networks with working professionals, and bolster their resumes. The IRC at UCSD has to established student-run carpool programs to ensure community engagement is possible for all students. Additionally, the IRC at UCSD is involved with, and continues to host, a variety of on-campus events to raise public awareness for the international refugee struggles and to fundraise for current IRC projects around the globe.
Like our Facebook page “IRC at UCSD” or email us at irc.ucsd@ gmail.com to find out how to get involved.
did you know? Last year UCSD students donated over 800 hours of their time and effort working with over 500 refugees as: - ESL Classroom Assistants - K-5 Afterschool Tutors - Student mentors - Nutritional Educators - Front Desk Administrators and citizenship interns - Tax Preparers - Farming assistants
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Alumni Re Laura Ross
Class of 2013 During my final year at UC San Diego, I had the pleasure of living at International House. I’d grown up in San Diego my entire life, but spending nine months with students from across the globe gave me the opportunity to experience the
Nathan Murphy
Class of 2013 My name is Nathan Murphy and I was a resident advisor in Kathmandu House for 2 years and lived in I-House for a total of 3 out of my 4 years at UCSD. I am currently living in New York City and working as a digital web producer. When I lived in I-house, there was this incredible sense of community that I am not sure can be replicated in any other place- nor am I sure I would want to try to replicate it. I-house is a life-changing experience that shapes people, but half of the idea around I-house is that those people then leave to go shape others, and together we can eventually help re- shape the world. So, while leaving I-house was difficult, it was also a part of what makes it so great. I am very fond of an old saying that comes from a play written by Clifford Odets and the saying goes, “…a place is not a place; a place is who you are with.” To me, this is the essence of International House. The impossibly wonderful community at I-house is cultivated by its impossibly wonderful inhabitants who live there. These relationships are fostered by the layout of the buildings, the events held in its
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area all over again. I loved sharing my favorite haunts with people who had never been to California and discovering new places together. Being with other students who were visiting from abroad made me really take advantage of everything that San Diego has to offer and see it all from a new perspective. But my favorite memories, by far, are from planning and attending Sunday Supper. I love that International House was not just a place for people to live together, but a community where we were able to work with and for each other. Being part of the Sunday Supper Committee allowed me to bond with my neighbors on a different level. We not only got to see places
quaint spaces, and its inescapable friendliness. I LOVED the fact that as I would walk home I could see all the living rooms of I-house opened up to I-walk and see some people studying, others gaming, others reading, and let’s be honestmost of the others were drinking. Yet, despite the myriad of activities that went on inside their individual apartments, there was never a moment where people were not in constant interaction with one another. What I miss the most about International House was the simplicity with which people were able to find commonalities, and the simplicity with which they could share and discuss their differences. International House is a breeding ground for open thinking and human interaction, and in my 3 years there I had some of the best conversations of my life over a cup of coffee, or during a run, or on a walk to the beach. International House exudes a simplicity of life and compels even the most linear personalities (hint hint- me my first year in I-House) to expand upon their experiences and dive into everything that the incredible community has to offer. I-house did wonders to shape me and helped give me perspective on how big the world really is yet how everything is truly connected within it. I have already opened my NY apartment up to former residents and former roommates from my years in I-house and as more people pass through this great city, I plan to continue to do the same. As Odets said best, “A place is not a place; a place is who you are with” and I plan on keeping the friends and relationships I made in International House a close part of my life for many years to come.
eflections and do things together, we also learned how to organize together. We experienced putting in hours of work and then having things go wrong and experiencing frustration and problem solving and ultimately the satisfaction of success. On top of that, we got to watch the rest of our community enjoy the product of our labors and enjoy it with them. My experience in I-House taught me how to work productively with diverse and passionate people, but more importantly, it taught me the difference that it makes to be working with people that you are connected and feel accountable to on a personal level. Since my time at I-House, I’ve graduated and moved north to the
Gary Cooke
UCD Ireland
As I look back as an alumni of I-House and my year spent there I have no regrets. I truly believe it was my experience of I-House during my study abroad experience that allowed me to make the most of the study abroad opportunity. It was because of I-House that I got the opportunity and motivation to get involved with many of the activities, trips and organisations. It provided me with a bank of friends both from California but also from across the globe. Friend that even five months on I am still in contact with regularly and current trying to organise a reunion in Denmark. I-House allowed me to directly get involved with the organisation of the language tables and take a particular leadership role in the Irish table. I got to share my native culture and language with my peers from around the world. I-House let me be involved in organizing the Quarterly Sunday Suppers and Culture Nights. In which I learned more deeply about the cultures we were studying and even how to make some of the delious foods. I was involved with I-Cares where we got to organise a trashion show and go into the heart of San Diego to help the homeless.
San Francisco Bay Area. I’m currently living in Oakland and getting involved with communitybased responses to violence and poverty. I’ve always had a theoretical belief that when people communicate openly and actively work to understand each other they will be able to find common ground and ways to work productively with each other for a common benefit. My life at International House gave me a plethora of practical experience to support this and empowered me to continue seeking community-based solutions to community problems. But more than that, it gave me a global network of close friends that I’ll have for the rest of my life.
I-House also allowed me to get to know other international students and Americans. All with a passion for exploring cultures and the wonders of California. This made it is easy to form groups to travel with and I was able to go on a major road trip to north Cal and then on another one to Death Valley and Santa Barbra. These opportunities allowed me to explore the wonders of California and all the different sights. Through meeting these people I got to learn a lot about their cultures and their languages. I hope to visit all these friends across the world someday. I-House I feel has changed me so much for the better. I grew as a person from it and helped me better understand myself. I thank all the staff of I-House for their tireless work in making this organisation great. It is a great service for all of the students living there and truly allows them to make the most of their experience. It was because of I-House and its work, that helped me settle in and make the most of my time in the US.
share your story If you’re an I-House alum that wants to share how their I-House livving experience has shaped their post- I-House lives, we want to feature you in the next issue of the Traveler! Send us an e-mail at ihouseintern@ucsd.edu and make sure to include in the subject line: “Traveler Alumni Reflection.”
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Prospect Journal of International Affairs at UCSD is an undergraduate publication that publishes online at prospectjournal. org. Through our work, we aim to expand our individual understanding of topics that affect the world around us, while at the same time facilitating conversation among our peers. While many of our articles focus on international politics and economics, we also discuss topics ranging from human rights to the natural sciences.No matter the area of interest, and no matter the format we work within—opinion pieces, research essays, interviews with visiting speakers and more—our goal is to engage with the world around us and lead our readers to do the same. Beyond the page, Prospect interacts with the student population through quarterly on-campus events. While the format of these events vary, they are meant to inform and increase the amount of campus conversation about a certain topic. For example, last spring Prospect hosted “The Changing Shape of Modern Warfare,” a panel discussion on how traditional forms of warfare have been transformed by new technologies. “AIDS: The Forgotten Epidemic,” another panel discussion this October, brought in three speakers, including the
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former head of the CDC in China, to discuss current scientific and social aspects of HIV/ AIDS globally. Currently, Prospect is working with the UCSD chapter of the International Rescue Committee to host an event focusing on the large refugee population in San Diego. Students can get involved with Prospect in several ways. We have a large group of staff writers and senior editors on the writing side of the organization. Staff writers come to weekly meetings, cover on-campus events, interview visiting speakers and publish throughout the quarter; senior editors manage small groups of these writers and edit their pieces. Prospect also has a marketing staff, which focuses on expanding the reach of the journal’s publications as well as publicizing Prospect’s quarterly events. Our finance team handles all of the organization’s fiscal affairs, especially funding for quarterly events. All of these teams have a hand in planning our quarterly events. Our journal accepts applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Application information can be found on Prospect’s website (prospectjournal.org). All applications and inquiries should be directed to prospectjournal@gmail.com.
read more at prospectjournal.org
Model United Nations is a student-run organization which emphasizes the spread of awareness of international affairs and works to teach students to develop their skills at diplomacy and negotiation. Model UN at UCSD reaches out to both the student body and the surrounding community in our pursuit of these goals. Each year we invite local high schools to participate in TritonMUN. This is a large student-run event that encourages high school students to learn about international affairs by having them represent a country’s position in a competitive debate with other high school students, each representing a different country. Another opportunity that we offer to UCSD students is to participate in our Travel Team, which sends UCSD delegates to other universities across the nation to compete at the collegiate level. We are always looking for new staff for TritonMUN and for new members of our Travel Team, and we have opportunities throughout
honored The delegation to the Santa Barbara Intercollegiate Model United Nations Conference at UC Santa Barbara November 8-10 took home a Best Delegate Award.
the academic year for students to get involved. Our Fall TritonMUN conference ta on November 23rd, and we will hold a second conference in Spring Quarter. For our Travel Conferences, there are several that are open to newcomers and interested students in the Winter and the Spring. We are planning on attending another conference in LA and San Francisco in the Winter, and plan on traveling to New York City where we will have the opportunity to debate in the actual United Nations building. Model UN at UCSD holds open weekly meetings on Sunday at 1pm and Monday at 7pm in the Asante Classrooms. If you are interested in participating in either our Home-Conference or our Travel Team, or if you would just like more information on the club, then you can email us at modelun@ucsd.edu. You can also like us on Facebook! Either search Model UN at UCSD or go to fb.me/1eNaPf4.
visit UCSD MUN online modelun.ucsd.edu
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Visiting Scholar Spotlight
Scholar: Wolfgang Alexander Moens Country of origin: België / Belgique / Belgien Home university: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Favorite marine animal: I don’t have any particular affinity for marine mammals. But I’m dying to try the Galapagos tortoise. (Don’t tell me an animal surrounded by that much water is terrestrial.) And by now my feud with those scallywagging seagulls is legendary.
Hallo! I am a visiting scholar and a mathematician at the math department of UCSD. I am doing a three year research project in the area of algebra. (To be precise: I study certain algebraic objects, their representations and their gradings.) I am also happy to be an active part of the I-House community, most of all because I-House gives its residents the opportunity to meaningfully interact with people with very diverse backgrounds. I spend much of my spare time with the other bridge dwellers, who can almost be said to form a community within the I-House community. I would like to note that am a big fan of the idea behind I-House’s Language Conversation Tables and that I try to do what I can to contribute to the program’s organisation and execution. In addition to having hosted the Dutch and German tables, I have also attended the French and Italian ones. I would like to conclude with two more things: (1) Eurovision is a spectacle that is tragically underrated here at UCSD and we must do something about that; (2) Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
About the Visiting Scholars Program: Here at UCSD, we are lucky enough to be a part of a thriving academic institution—one that stands as a leader in funding world-class research in a number of disciplines. In order to live up to this lofty distinction, our departments regularly attract visiting scholars from around the globe for post-doctoral fellowships and other research/exchange opportunities. Unfortunately for the majority of us, our interactions with those responsible for conducting this research are precious few, and often limited to our specific field of study. Here in I-House, we have a unique program intended to bridge(!) this divide. Every year, we are fortunate to invite a small, yet dynamic cross-section of this talented visiting scholar cohort to live in the bridge apartments that span the divide between Asante, Kathmandu and Geneva over I-Walk. This living arrangement affords undergraduate I-House residents a window into the groundbreaking research that happens on our campus every day, and also provides an arena for visiting scholars
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to interact with UCSD in a more intimate capacity—to experience the campus as a hotbed of social, intellectual, and programmatic activity; as more than a workplace. Currently, the IHouse Visiting Scholars in Residence hail from Spain, Belgium, Germany, China, and Italy, and represent the intellectual vanguard in fields such as Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Comparative Immigration Studies, Oceanography, and Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. The visiting scholars are enthusiastic participants in a number of I-House programs, from the Language Conversation Tables to Sunday Suppers to International Affairs Group meetings, so don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to engage with some of UCSD’s best & brightest!
Adam McKinney Events Coordinator
A word from the Residential Life Office Hello from ERC Residence Life at Eleanor Roosevelt College. After a successful summer of planning and over 4 weeks of training, including opening and move-in, we have begun! We are excited for another year in I-House, especially since the entire college (including I-House) will be celebrating its 25 year anniversary. Residence Life and Student Affairs have put together some special programs and projects just for the occasion, including quarter wars between buildings to collect money for the International Rescue Committee. Building residents competed by putting quarters and change into decorated collection bins with their building names on them throughout the Fall Quarter. The winning building that collected the most coins received recognition (in the form of their favorite food)! We are also encouraging students to complete 25 hours of service to honor 25 years of scholarship, leadership, and service at ERC. International House Residence Life staple programs such as I-CARES (the community service arm of I-House) and I-HOP (the International House programming boards) are off to a great start. The newly minted (!) I-Sports & Fitness organization held a wildly successful a new program this Fall called I-Olympics. Language & Culture Cafes, SLAM open mic nights, and I-Publish are all doing fantastic as well. We also created an I-Center Liaison position for the Residence Life staff, which came out of staff and resident feedback, to connect with other international student programs on campus. We look forward to continuing the tradition of active and engaged residents of I-House and with the newly revamped I-House application and review process we know this year will be one of the best! If you are ever interested in attending or collaborating with one of the I-House Resident Life programs, please feel free to contact myself or one of the International House Resident Advisors.
Lauren Jane Hartig Assistant Resident Dean lhartig@ucsd.edu
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Contact Us
Phone: 858-822-1791
Email: ihouse@ucsd.edu
Fax: 858-534-0550
Web: ihouse.ucsd.edu
Located under the Great Hall in Eleanor Roosevelt College, M-F 9am-Noon, 1-4:30pm International House awards scholarships to deserving undergraduates every year that run on donations from generous sponsors. Give now and help support resident-based scholarships at ihouse.ucsd.edu/giving. To receive weekly emails with info about upcoming events, send an email (No Subject) to listserver@ucsd.edu. In the body write: add [youremail] ihouseevents-L Editor’s Notes: Well, this was certainly an undertaking, but the result was better than I ever could have dreamed, mostly because my dreams are always me showing up naked to school. A huge thank you to Malou for wrangling writers so this newsletter wouldn’t only be a bunch of colorful boxes and pictures. Simon, Jenny, Nikki, Jamie, and Cindy, sorry I took up so much time at the back computer. Henri, your support and positivity were always helpful. Thanks also to my fellow interns Elly and Eva for always brightening up tough design days just by being there, to Jenny for your edits, and everyone who wrote something for this newsletter. Finally, thanks and solemn salutations to Adam, who came in at the eleventh hour with the Visiting Scholar Spotlight, an intense editing crunch, and all those Boggle breaks. Hope Colorado treats you well. Don’t forget to write.