Students Studying Abroad Explore Around the Globe

historic homeland is called into question without any chance for them to defend themselves is malicious.”

Cornellians for Israel Vice President Zoe Bernstein was one of the co-signers of the column and expressed her concern over the scheduling.

“As engaged members of the Cornell Community at large, who dedicate countless hours each week to various campus initiatives and involvements, it is deeply upsetting and frustrating to see a pattern developing of excluding our voices from anti-Israel events hosted by various student groups and Universitysponsored speakers,” Bernstein wrote in a statement to The Sun.

Bernstein pointed to last year’s Muhammad el-Kurd talk that occurred on Shabbat and last semester’s settler-colonialism event that occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.

“Jewish students are beginning to feel as though their voices are being intentionally excluded from important dialogues, leaving the narratives they perpetuate to be one-sided and lacking the nuance these sensitive and complicated topics demand and deserve,” Bernstein wrote.

Einaudi Center director Rachel Riedl denied claims that the event had been deliberately scheduled on Purim in a statement to The Sun.

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Eric Reilly can be reached at ereilly@cornellsun.com.

Cornellians adapt to diverse academics and cultures

ABROAD Continued from page 3

“One of the biggest adjustments from life at Cornell is the [Oxford’s] dining hall situation,” Bustos said. “Every campus has its own dining hall — you go to your one dining hall. There are very restricted hours — for example, you can only get breakfast Monday to Saturday from 8:15 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. and if you miss it, it’s gone. You pay individually for every item you put on your tray.”

The college Bustos goes to also has a formal dinner every night which students have to sign up for 24 hours in advance online.

“Tables are all set with cutlery and they serve food to you — you have to stand up when the deans come in,” Bustos said. “They sit in the front row and everyone else sits down the hall, so that’s very interesting.”

Though Hidalgo does not enjoy the quality of her on-campus food compared to Cornell’s, she finds good food off campus that is very cheap compared to U.S. prices.

“They have so many different types of cuisine, and it’s pretty friendly to people with dietary restrictions,” Hidalgo said. “At the dining hall they separate Halal and non-Halal cutlery and provide meat options that are not beef for Hindus, for example.”

Expectations Versus Reality

There were many things that Cornellians could not have prepared themselves for at their study abroad destinations.

“Material-wise what things are made out of is very different — it’s a shock to the eyes,” Hidalgo said. “The different types of trees and how green Singapore is is something to get used to.”

For others, navigating the transportation system can be difficult.

“For metro passes in Paris sometimes you need to put your photo on the pass,” Xu said. “They inspect it and sometimes sneak attack if you haven’t — so it’s a very disciplinary system.”

Xu also added that it has been interesting to live through the nationwide strike in France.

“I see posters. I hear people talk about it. I watch people canvass. The transportation disruption — I’ve never experienced a strike before on this scale,” she said.

Bustos has been pleasantly shocked by her spacious dorm room.

“My favorite thing is my dorm — I have my own sitting area, a huge room with two beds, a bathroom and it’s so, so nice,” Bustos said. “Incredible, 10/10, amazing.”

The hefty pound-to-dollar conversion sometimes takes Bustos by surprise.

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Pareesay Afzal can be reached at pafzal@ cornellsun.com.