TRAVELER VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 WINTER 2014
WHAT’S INSIDE:
photo by Dilara Onur
Lunar New Year Hot Pot Night - p. 2 Converging Walls - p. 5 Alumni Reflection - p. 10
introducing
Aubrey Kwong
I-House UC San Diego’s new Events Manager What attracted you to this job? What initially attracted me to the Event Manager position was both the opportunity to work within the university community and a wide-array of clientele. I enjoy planning all types of events, from intimate gatherings to large trade-shows. However, I did not realize the amazing turning point that I was about to take with my career.
What do you bring to the position?
photo courtesy of Aubrey Kwong
My previous position at the Rueben H. Fleet Museum in Balboa Park allowed me to enhance my leadership skills while expanding my knowledge of the industry as a whole. I learned a lot about different management techniques and I was able to grow both as a supervisor and an individual. Additionally, with an ever-changing industry that thrives on new trends, we planners must be able to keep up with the speed and energy within the Meeting/Event Planning Industry. I have a heartfelt passion for event planning and every aspect of the process, which is why I know that I will be successful in this position and in my career. I believe that each person is capable of finding a profession that they truly love and I have! That’s why I don’t feel like I am working but just having FUN!
What have you most enjoyed since joining I-House? I have been here for only 3 months but I feel like it has been so much longer. I have never worked in an environment with so much positive energy and such a strong sense of community and ambition. I feel so lucky because I am able to work in a lively community with an extremely dedicated team while taking in some gorgeous views. How could I complain?
What do you hope to do or accomplish in your new position? I hope to learn even more about this industry by producing events that are different than from what I am used to. The Great Hall is such a spectacular facility that I really hope to build on and expand the Great Hall’s reputation as one of San Diego’s premiere all-purpose venues. Additionally, I really hope to be a good mentor for the student staff and help provide them with the essential professional skills that they can take with them once they leave UCSD.
1
Language & Conversation Table Highlight written by Jenny Lin
O
n Thursday, January 31st, 2014 at 7pm, over a hundred people with anticipation in their eyes were waiting outside of Asante 123B. Why were they so excited? It was Lunar New Year! Besides the traditional westernized New Year, Asian countries, such as China, Korea, and Taiwan also celebrate Lunar New Year. The lunar calendar has a longer tradition in Asia than solar calendar. The history of celebrating lunar new year began a long time ago while agriculture was still fundamental to the economy of China. Farmers had to depend on the moon to know when to sow, to cultivate and to harvest. Therefore, people only used lunar calendar as their reference. There are a lot of myths about the derivation of Lunar New Year. Here is one of the myths in China: In ancient times, there lived a monster called “Nien” or Year, which attacked and bit people in the town at night. People observed and found out that “Nien” came out every 365 days. The night before it was going to come out,
Jenny Lin
families gathered together and prayed to various gods in hopes that they would survive through the night. Then they had a feast for their “last dinner”. After the huge dinner, people were too afraid to sleep. Therefore, they all chatted together to boost their courage, and thus the traditions of Chinese lunar new year were made. As a host of Chinese language table, I decided to collaborate with Korean language table to celebrate lunar new year for this year. We had a hot pot night, we boiled the water, and put ingredients such as tofu, cabbage, fish balls, shiitake (Asian mushroom), enokitake, and beef into the hot pot, and ate the ingredients with sauces. People from Asia, Europe, and America enjoyed making new friends, exchanging their ideas, chatting and chilling. I was really glad that the gathering and sharing amongst Chinese and Korean families could be spread to on a multicultural scale!
MJ Kim
2
UCSD MUN Update Model United Nations at UCSD is proud to announce TritonMUN, our high-school conference on April 26th and 27th that attracts over a dozen schools and hundreds of delegates. This conference has continued to grow over the past few years, and is well-known for its campus-atmosphere and the enthusiastic cooperation between our committee Chairs and their delegates. The Chairs themselves are college students who design their own committees and work with delegates to resolve pertinent global issues. Each year we reach out to local high schools (though some come from as far as Orange County) and work with them to prepare for TritonMUN, and to develop their understanding of world cultures as a whole. Just this past winter we held a Training Conference with a local middle school, where we helped them develop their speaking and debate skills while giving them their first exposure
by Ryan Keith
to a college environment. Model United Nations at UCSD is also expanding our own Travel Team, wherein we attend conferences at other universities as delegates. Just this past fall we earned two delegate awards and plan to attend conferences in San Francisco and Chicago. This is a great opportunity for our delegates to meet people and explore different parts of the United States. We have also used these connections to create relationships with these other schools, and with the local San Diego chapter of the United Nations, in order to offer more opportunities for our club members. We are also proud of our partnership with IR/PS, and their offer of a stipend exclusively for active Model UN members in pursuit of their 5 year plan.
honored At the UCBMUN 2014 from March 6-9, conference in San Francisco CA, Ryan Keith, Laura Joy Pritchard, and Megan Dilfey took home awards.
3
TOP: UCSD MUN pose after the MUN Training Conference. RIGHT: Middle school students participating in the Training Conference.
All photos courtesy of Ryan Keith
update written by Logan Ma
During the last few weeks, the writers and editorial staff of the Prospect Journal of International Affairs continued producing insightful and revealing articles. These pieces covered a variety of topics of international significance, ranging from issues such as the future of Egyptian politics, the use of African conflict minerals in our smartphones and much more. While our main focus is journalistic writing, it is something that we refuse to limit ourselves to. Prospect has always sought to educate the UCSD community on topics of international significance via quarterly events. Last quarter, our CONNECT event featured a speaking panel that discussed the fading media coverage on HIV/AIDS, a disease that still kills millions each year. This quarter’s CONNECT event saw us co-host an informative session with the Interna-
tional Rescue Committee entitled “Beginning Again: Refugees, San Diego and the Politics of Resettlement.” During the event, audience members snacked on free sambusas while listening as a speaking panel of refugees reflected on their experiences. This quarter also saw us host our annual Week of Photojournalism. We invited UCSD students to submit photos taken during their time abroad. Our staff went through all the submissions and selected five of the best in terms of quality and content. Winning submissions were published online on our website. In addition, we printed out select images from the winning submissions and had them featured in galleries on Library Walk and at the I-House Great Hall.
Week of Photojournalism selections
Ellyette Iverson
Jaci Lerner
Jaci Lerner
Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza
see more submissions at http://bit.ly/prospectphoto
4
CONVERGING WALLS words & photos by Dilara Onur
Moving into International House during my last year as an undergrad was probably one of the best decisions I could have made. This community is exactly where I want to end my time at UCSD. As I grow more into this hobby of photography, I grow more willing and open to document those around me; not only for their enjoyment, but also for my personal development. I see myself becoming more observant, more attentive, and more understanding of my environment in expressing what I see through the lens of a camera. The I-House community is based on heterogeneity: international students living with American undergrads to celebrate their differences and the beauty of cultural exchange. My intrigue goes beyond the founding tenants of this community. Instead, I ask, “How did we all get here?” The idea that individuals from all corners of the Earth decided to move into this specific residency and build lasting relationships really fascinates me. Convergence. An unplanned,
unexpected convergence of personalities, language, culture, religion, and ideas. By documenting these residents in their homes, they are giving me a private and extremely personal glimpse at who they are as individuals. In meeting and getting to know them better, I have observed how different they all are from one another. They have all traveled to different parts of the world and come from different backgrounds; but they embody more than the languages they speak and the food that they eat. They all define the true essence of what it means to be a young individual in today’s society: individuals who open themselves up and surround themselves with dissimilarity, all in the hope of better understanding the world around them.
Danny Rindner || San Jose, CA Swa Chitale || Novato, CA What is the best part about living in I-house? [Danny]: “The international students… My Italian roommate has been teaching me how to cook pasta. I’ve been doing it all wrong.” [Swa]: “The living environment… how it is set up specifically for social interaction.”
5
Hussein Khater || Tyre, Lebanon Why did you choose to study structural engineering? “I used to play with Legos a lot. I like that 1+1=2. It’s hard to debate philosophy, but with structural engineering, either it will fall down or not fall down.”
Elisha Suh || Walnut, CA “I love being here now, but I want my after to be somewhere else.”
6
Jacqueline Guan || San Leandro, CA “I feel like the elephant is my spirit animal–they are so kind but can easily destroy anything in their paths. I’m learning that I can stand up for myself too.”
Jordan Landaverde || Santa Rosa, CA “I like how there is such a lack of contrast. The fact that it looks wrong is why I like it.” (Referring to Van Gogh’s “Cafe Terrace at Night” hanging on his closet door. )
7
Ellen Potts || Cleveland, Ohio “The more aware you are, the better the world is. You learn how to empathize with people.”
Jake Espinueva || San Francisco, CA How did it feel performing at Sun God last year? “I got to jump off the stage like one of those cool performers. Life goal: check!”
8
update by Chirstal Simanski
The International Affairs Group (IAG) recognizes the diversity in “International Affairs” and the events we host reflects this variety. IAG is a student organization run by UCSD's International House. 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 our 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 screening, and informal presentations. We host events every week at the Great Hall, typically on Mondays at 7pm. Some of
our highlight events this quarter include: Understanding the Current Situation in North Korea a talk by Professor Stephan Haggard and Radical Religious and Violent The New Economics of Terrorism a talk by Professor Eli Berman. Looking forward, we plan to host the Deputy Executive of Human Rights Watch and several cultural-themed nights. IAG’s events are always open to the public free charge. To learn more about our future events please find us on facebook: fb.me/iag.ucsd or email the current fellow at: iag.ucsd@gmail. com to learn more.
Alex Inouza
photos courtesy of Jamie Anderson
9
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: IAG Fellow Christal Simanski with Professor Stephen Haggard at the “Understanding the Situation in North Norea”; attendees watch a presentation; Sir Eldon Griffiths speaks at a joint IAG/EmPAC event at the Great Hall; posterboards explaining the mission of the Ssubi project at the IAG event highlighting the organization.
Alumni Reflection
courtesy of Emily Martin Emily (center) with her fellow I-Housers Emma and Lesley in Hawai’i.
by Emily Martin I was twenty when I packed my life into a suitcase, said goodbye to everyone I knew and loved and hopped onto a plane going to LAX. This was the adventure I had always craved, but the moment I said goodbye to my family, gave a final kiss to my boyfriend and walked through into airport security, I felt more alone than I had ever in my entire life. I’d be away from them for a year and it felt like it would last forever. I sat for an agonising 11 hours, longhaul, thinking “This is a mistake! What am I doing?” Knowing that I didn’t know a soul at the other end. I couldn’t be sure that there would be anyone to care about me or look after me. I met Lesley at LAX, she was a Chemistry student studying in Dublin and we stayed with the same host family for our first week. From then on I knew I wouldn’t be alone, that I had someone I could count on. During that first week at I-House I also met Emma, another British student and we never looked back. Lesley, Emma and I were like the three musketeers and all
of my favourite adventures were shared with them – getting kicked out of a hotel hot-tub in Hawaii, nearly getting eaten by a cougar at the Grand Canyon and being threatened with deportation by a cop on our way to a toga party. We had some good times! For a long while I thought the greatest gift would be where I was. Getting to study at UCSD and living in I-house was an amazing privilege and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity. But, now that I reflect back on it, I know the greatest gift was the people that I met there and the friendships that I made. The year went by in the blink of an eye, but I still keep in touch with a good number of the people I met at I-House. I traded in my view of the Pacific for a view of the River Avon and live with my fiancée in the Cotswolds, just outside Stratford-Upon-Avon. I also have two special bridesmaids joining me for my wedding in July. Emma and Lesley will be with me on my special day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
10
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:We’ve reached the publishing of another newsletter! It seems like just last quarter that I was publishing the first ever Traveler, and now I have a copy I consistently forget about hiding in my backpack. And much like the last one, this one would have been a blank slate were it not for the help of a few people. Thanks to everyone who wrote something, to Malou for keeping me on track by letting me nab snacks from her office, to Jenny for her design input, and to Dilara Onur for letting me feature her wonderful photo project. And a warm quarter late welcome to Aubrey Kwong, who, in her brief time here, has commented on how much 90s pop music I play when I work. I’ll make sure to try and talk to you outside of this newsletter note.