GW Admissions Student Blog

Charles E. Smith Center Transformation

2012-02-01T18:42:00.000-05:00

Over the last several years, my 2^nd home on campus, the Charles E. Smith Center (our varsity athletic center) has been undergoing serious updates and construction. Before I started here at GW, the building’s look and facilities were starting to show its age and slightly outdated nature. In order to continue to make GW a force in the A10 Conference, a major construction overhaul was needed. And in 2008, a rather large donation was given by the Robert H. Smith and the Charles E. Smith Family Foundations and the Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod which jumpstarted the renovations. Everything in the Smith Center has been redone, including all the locker rooms, sports medicine center, weight room, hallways, conference rooms, academic support center, the offices, concession stands, fitness room, entrance, ticket office, laundry room, bleachers, and of course the actually gym itself.

At times, this change for the better has created other challenges and obstacles. Such as for my first 2 years on the volleyball team, for our preseason (August), instead of practicing in the Smith Center, which was not ready for use yet, we were forced to practice and prepare for our season in the Lerner Health and Wellness center. While “Hell Well,” as it is called by the student population for short, is an extremely nice student rec and gym, it made life a little more difficult for our team. For example, doing our team laundry was much more difficult, the gym facilities were much smaller, and we were without a locker room. And each of the two seasons, our entire first half of our season was played on the road until the gym was suitable enough to hold matches. In fact, my volleyball team and I were the 1^stsporting event to be held in the new gym.

Here are two excellent videos that explain and take tours of the Smith Center, showing off its renovations:

And here are two websites from gwsports that have pictures of the construction progress that occurred over the last 4 years:

http://www.gwsports.com/view.gal?id=70520

http://www.gwsports.com/view.gal?id=52748

Since I spend several hours there every day, this transformation has affected my life over the last few years in many ways and I have seen each stage along the way. The building is quite beautiful now and I am glad that I get to experience playing and training in the newly renovated facilities. And the Smith Center isn’t just used for varsity athletics. Its hosts a variety of events, such as graduation ceremonies, concerts, comedy shows, and guest speakers. It is a vital part of the GW campus and its new facelift has it looking new and improved.

On another note, I can’t tell you how beautiful the weather here in DC is today. Absolutely gorgeous. 67 degrees. I can’t get over it. I mean, its February! It’s the middle of winter and I am wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals outside. Every opportunity to go outside today, I take it. Well I’m off to the men’s basketball game where at halftime they are honoring those who made the Athletic Dean’s List for the last 2 semesters. And guess what? Yours truly is being honored separately with all of the athletes who earned a 4.0 GPA either of the last 2 semesters! Woohoo!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

SUNdeVICH

2012-01-31T22:13:00.000-05:00

Last night, my culinary exploration of DC continued when my cousin and I cashed in our LivingSocial coupons for SUNdeVICH sandwich shop in Shaw (right off the Mt. Vernon Square metro stop, a bit northeast of Chinatown).

Sundevich was voted the best sandwich shop in DC by The Washington Post in an absolute LANDSLIDE. So it was already on my radar. Then, the coupon deal showed up in my inbox, and I just had to snag it! So it was $10 for $20 worth of food, and obviously that meant I was getting 2 sandwiches. One for dinner, one for lunch today; and I was NOT disappointed in either.

For dinner last night, I had the Isfahan, which they describe as: “a soufflé of spinach, mushroom, walnuts, and barberry with feta.” Sound intriguing and awesome? Well, it was. It was really interesting and just delicious, difficult to do justice to in a silly blog post. I should be writing a poem.

Next I got the Capri, which was still fantastic leftover for lunch today! This one was your basic mozzarella, pesto, tomato, and balsamic vinegar concoction you may find at many an Italian restaurant. It was really good, though--nothing standard about these sandwiches.

I was particularly proud to represent my Italian and Iranian roots in my sandwich choices (the restaurant is owned by an Iranian-American, so that’s cool), and I didn’t waver from my newfound vegetarianism. Double win! Triple win if you factor in that it was half-price!

So yeah, SUNdeVICH is a definite return destination, especially since my buds and I plan on living in that neighborhood next year (but more on that later!)

Email with questions on anything! Shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Food Trucks: Sauca, Take 3

2012-01-30T23:51:00.000-05:00

Fairly recently, I happened upon Express Night Out ‘s “Best of Dining”, and I’ve been trying to cross items off the list. I had already accomplished a few even before beginning the list, which was great, but I needed to explore more! I mean, best food in my town? I’m there!

One of the items, “best sandwich”, actually worked another of the culinary to-do lists I’m currently working on, DC food trucks being the 2^nd. I’ve already visited the Sauca truck, but I like it a lot, so it was worth going a 3^rd time for their Pork Banh Mi—especially if it was rated best sandwich in DC!

When I tried it, it was most certainly my favorite sandwich from Sauca, and one of the best things I’ve gotten from a food truck PERIOD. And that’s a tall order to fill. It was just good! Just 100% good! I’ve had it twice now, and I don’t like ordering the same thing twice when I’m trying to complete my food to-do lists! I recently re-vegetarian-ed myself, so I won’t be eating it again for a good while, at least, but it was certainly worth my last meal before meatlessness.

So if you like really interesting and delicious fusion sandwiches, check out Sauca. They get my triple recommendation—especially for the Pork Banh Mi!

Email shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu with questions about GW, DC, or food trucks!

<3 Shireen

Manouch, Part II

2012-01-29T22:51:00.001-05:00

There is only one man who consistently keeps GW students coming back to campus after days, weeks, months, and even years away from their college days. He is known quite simply as Manouch, and he opens his hot dog stand every Thursday to Saturday from about 10pm to 4am by the SMPA building (21^st and H). This weekend, I chatted up a few alumni and plenty of fellow students while on line to get some of the best late-night food DC has to offer.

Upon returning from a night out (or sometimes in the midst of a painful all-nighter at Gelman), students flock to Manouch’s cart to get some salty, smoky, cheesy, and all-around delicious fare. He makes the absolute best hot dogs, half-smokes, and pretzels—all served up with nacho cheese, chili, or his famous GW Sauce: it’s a stewy concoction with herbs, potatoes, leeks, and possibly kidney beans? It’s actually a version of this Persian stew that I adore (Manouch himself is Persian, though he likes to be cryptic about his origins and life story).

More than the food, however, is the experience of Manouch. He’s got the wit and charisma of a stand-up comedian, with the intelligence and plethora of experiences that one can only attribute to an esteemed academic. He offers up advice on love, school, and friendships, whether you ask him or not, and he’s got some of the greatest one-liners. One of the alum I spoke with on Saturday night (3 years out of GW and still coming back for Manouch!) told me that he once said to her, “Your face tells the story of a woman with many friends and suitors, but no time for homework.” Another friend of mine had a lengthy conversation with him about time-space compression.

Simple perfection. And thus goes another tribute to the man who has made my weekends at GW all the merrier. I’ll likely post a third before I graduate, one to end the trilogy—and it will be packed with quotes. Just you wait! In the meantime, however, I implore all of you to pay a visit to the hot dog stand where everybody knows your name.

As always, email with questions! ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

The Spring Swing of Things for Me

2012-01-29T19:36:00.000-05:00

This semester is bound to be one of the busiest, but most exciting ones in store for me. I am working on switching majors (yes, AGAIN!) to the School of Media and Public Affairs to study Political Communication. I have never taken a single journalism class so it is tough starting at one of the best journalism schools in the country, but hey, I’m just learning from the best!

Come visit us this spring and summer
and we can't wait for our new students to walk through
these gates

As well, I am working with the Admissions Office and going through training for the VIP (Visitor Information Program) through the Admissions Office to stay here for the entire summer and give tours. As if that weren’t enough, I will be interning for an Austin-based consulting firm. Finally, this is the heat of basketball season and I am busy with Colonial Brass as we cheer on our men and women's team to post season play. It is bound to be a great summer and even more exciting summer as I hope to get to meet more of you since traditionally many of you, like me when I went through the process, view colleges during the summer.

To those of you who applied ED and are anxiously awaiting, hang in there! Decisions will be made soon and should be headed out in the middle of February. For others who applied Regular decision, take this time to breathe after putting in your application and hold on until the middle of March. I wish you the best of luck, be sure to put in your FAFSA (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) and CSS Profile (https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp) with the Financial Aid Office, and as always reach out to the Admissions Office or me if you have any questions/concerns. We are always glad to help our perspective Colonials.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Food Trucks: Fojol Bros. of Benethiopia

2012-01-29T16:47:00.002-05:00

So y’all may or may not know of my food truck experiment (I wanna try ‘em all!), and you also may or may not know that I already visited and loved the first Fojol Bros. truck. Well, breaking news: I tried the 2^nd, and love it just as much (actually, maybe more?!!)

Express Night Out voted Fojol Bros. of Merlindia the 3^rd best Indian food in DC, which is quite an honor considering all the top-notch restaurants they were up against. They opened up a new truck pretty recently that specializes in Ethiopian food, and it’s pretty exceptional. I had the Shiro beef (like a few weeks ago, pre-vegetarianism!) and Berbere lentils served with injera, the spongey Ethiopian bread. I really, really enjoyed it. These guys are weird, wacky, and wild, but they make some delicious grub.

Basically, I’m ready to quit school and join the culinary circus that is the Fojol Bros.

(kidding.)

As per always, email with questions about GW or anything else! ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Beginning My Wrap-Up

2012-01-28T17:42:00.000-05:00

Wait, graduation applications are due on Wednesday?!

I've known people who say college goes by in the blink of eye, but for me, that hasn't been the case at all. Each one of my years here at GW--the last of which is now more than halfway done--has been unforgettable and packed with great experiences, from the time I began Colonial Inauguration to today, shortly after returning from break for my final semester as an undergraduate.

That said, what about about after graduation? How has a GW education prepared me for a viable career?
What kind of resources does GW offer, and how far can they take you throughout your undergraduate years? All of these are questions I hope to answer for prospective students, who sit where I was four years ago.

Today I'll start with the first question: is my particular GW degree, a B.A. in International Affairs, marketable?

Notwithstanding the tough conditions out there right now, I think the answer is yes. International Affairs is a major with a good number of options; some students use the degree as a stepping-stone to graduate degrees while others jump directly into the job market.

To a greater degree than some other fields, International Affairs requires students to focus their energy on developing skills. This is in part because the program offers so many choices-- even within functional and regional concentrations--that it's easy to learn a little about a lot. In today's challenging job market, employers seem to be looking for just the right person to fill a given job, so it's worthwhile to develop a focused set of skills.

It's early in my job search, but I'll keep readers apprised throughout the semester on how it's going to provide a realistic look. I tailored my class schedule over several years to give me some good background knowledge of East Asian politics and conventional military developments. In the process, I've learned some valuable research and writing skills that have opened up a number of opportunities already.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some applications to fill out.

Adam

--
Next Time: Making the most of GW's career resources.
Questions? Comments? Send them to me at ash1290@gwmail.gwu.edu.

Intriguing Classes

2012-01-25T22:19:00.000-05:00

Hello all! So I finally have my class schedule figured out and finalized for this semester. And in my opinion, it looks pretty awesome. This is what I'll be learning for the next 3.5 months:

Techniques of Data Analysis: This class is the 2nd portion of the Social Research Methods course that I took last semester and is required for my Criminal Justice major. Last semester was all about the theories and overarching principles involved in social research, while this semester relies much more heavily on statistics, or the mathematical data retrieved from research.

Intro to Forensic Sciences: I am very excited for this class that counts towards Criminal Justice. It is all about how science relates to criminal justice and soling crimes. According to the syllabus, we are covering topics such as the “analysis of drugs, forensic toxicology, forensic pathology, forms of trace evidence, identification of biological fluids, and personal identification.” We also have to write a term paper comparing two methods that perform the same function, such as identification tests. I foresee myself looking forward to this class every week.

Psychology Research Methods: This is the Psychology equivalent to the Social Research Methods class from last semester and counts towards my Psychology major (I just recently decided to change my Psychology minor into a major, causing me to double major in Criminal Justice and Psychology). It will discuss issues such as research directions, data collection techniques, and ethical issues from a psycholgist's perspectives.

Federal Criminal Justice Systems: This is the other class this semester that I am really excited to take. I have taken a class with the same professor previously (last year I took Criminology with him) and learned a lot. This also counts towards my Criminal Justice requirements and will cover topics such as policy making in the criminal justice system and the role of law enforcement. It should be interesting as we have to visit the U.S. District Court here in D.C. and write a term paper about the experience.

Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of the semester and are back in the swing of classes again after break!

Feel free to email me with any questions: cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Adjusting back to the everyday grind

2012-01-24T19:23:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

After being at home working for the summer and then studying abroad for a semester, I realized that it's been far too long since I took a GW class or really studied.....

Before you start thinking study abroad is a piece of cake, let me explain. My program really focused on out-of-classroom learning, or experimental learning as they like to say. My program focused on public health, so we heard speakers from different branches of organizations (governmental and non-governmental), we visited HIV/AIDS clinics and mental health clinics, and wrote a 30 page independent research project... all in Spanish.

So, returning to DC and starting up again with 5 classes was a shock. After involving myself 100% in topics I am super interested and passionate about, I am now back to some of the requirements in the Elliott School that I have put off for awhile. While I am surprisingly enjoying some of the classes that I thought would be tedious, it is still hard to sift through several 20 page readings for one night of one class.

I'll detail my schedule for you all soon, but classes, an internship, student orgs, and volunteering catches up with me! Once I fall back into my routine, I'll have more time for blogging... and hopefully do some fun things around DC to tell you all about :)

I'm headed to New Jersey this weekend to a bat mitzvah.. this will be my first time in Jersey. I think I may have to watch a little "Jersey Shore" to prepare myself? Too bad I won't be on the beach :)

As always, email me with questions! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

The Rundown of my Fall Semester Classes (Reviews)

2012-01-18T17:43:00.000-05:00

Hello! I hope all of you had a wonderful break and holiday season! I enjoyed mine very much; I spent my time with my family and friends and worked at my old summer job to keep busy. I was a tad disappointed though that during the few weeks that I was home in Wisconsin, there were no snow storms. However, the day that my sister and I flew to Florida for the last 5 days of break, there was a snowstorm at home which resulted in at least 4 inches. And even right this very minute, there’s a snowstorm at my house. But, of course, not while I was home. Oh well.

Anyway, I meant to post this last week, but I unfortunately did not have internet access while I was in Florida. Overall, last semester’s classes went very well (not to brag, but I was extremely excited to learn that I earned a 4.0!) and I ended up liking every single class I took. Of course, some classes were more engaging than others, but there wasn’t one class that I dreaded going to every week, which was a definite plus.

Executive Branch Politics: This class was always very interesting and relevant since we constantly were discussing events and policies that are either affecting the country today or a major part of its history. It was extremely discussion based and was never just a lecture class. I also loved the professor, but unfortunately he is not teaching this semester.

Social Research Methods: This focused on research and experimental designs in the social sciences. Topics such as ethical issues and methods of sampling populations were covered along with many other research concerns. As predicted at the beginning of the semester, this was the most boring out of my classes, but that’s not saying much because it wasn’t too boring. The examples of research topics that have been studied in the past were fascinating (we looked into the Stanley Milgram pain experiment and the Philip Zimbardo prison experiment as they relate to ethical concerns).

Theories of Personality: This class will be particularly memorable since my professor was constantly using examples of personalities, such as Mr. T, and other contemporary celebrities. We covered 7 different personality theorists, for instance Adler, Freud, Jung, and Allport, and their corresponding theories on personality (which includes what they believe motivates people and how it affects their behaviors and personality).

Calligraphy: I was quite shocked at my progress in this class. I started off creating characters that were quite awful and very clearly done by someone who had never done it before, and by the end, while I am obviously not a pro at it, I got a great deal better. Even though this class was 2.5 hours long, it was quite interesting to learn about how calligraphy is not just considered a form of writing in Asia, but an art form. Here is a picture of my work on the first day of class and of my final exam project:

first day of class

my final exam project

Social Psychology: As I predicted in an earlier post, this was my favorite class of the semester, despite the fact that I missed this class the most due to volleyball conflicts (was a Wednesday and Friday class and we traveled a great deal). There were some topics that overlapped with my other psychology class, but thankfully not too much, so it wasn’t redundant. Probably my favorite part of this class was writing a paper (yes, I enjoyed writing a paper) about all of the different social psychological aspects present in the movie Shrek (2001), such as conformity, prejudice, and confirmation bias.

Once I have my classes finalized for this new semester, I’ll let you know what I’m taking!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

Winter Break

2012-01-03T21:25:00.000-05:00

My winter break is winding to an end. The part that I spent at home, at least. Like Brandon, I decided to come back to school early to help out with all of your applications for the coming freshman class! I am really excited to start work tomorrow and get back into having a daily schedule instead of just watching tv and hanging out at home.. I'm guilty of both of those things.

I also have a few other things that brought me back to DC so early! While most GW students are still hanging out at home for the next two weeks, I'm also going to start volunteering as an ESL teacher for a really awesome organization in DC and start an internship I just got. The first event that I have to attend for my internship is at the Newseum.. hopefully it is really cool.

the Newseum

Talk to you all soon! Email admissions questions to me! marisaw@gmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Celebrating 2012 in DC!!!

2012-01-03T00:12:00.001-05:00

Good luck in a bowl for one :)

So, I'm probably on of the earliest students to get back on campus. Although classes do not resume until January 17th, I returned on December 30th for a multitude of reasons. Originally, I was going to go see the ball drop with a friend in NYC, but that feel through right before coming back. But you know what...no big deal!!!! There is always next year and anyways, there were plenty of things to in DC. On New Years Eve I went out to Alexandria to catch some of their First Night festivities, but came back before midnight to watch Lady Gaga and the ball drop. You will see on the side that I went to the Foggy Bottom Whole Foods and picked up their last 2 ounces of black eyed peas to cook for myself.

Despite campus being a bit dead because most students are back home, I got to go to three basketball games and witnessed the Colonials get back on track with a decisive defeat of Delaware State University and the Lady Colonials go toe to toe with the #11 Rutgers University Scarlet Knights and then defeat cross town rival American University. I was a very happy Colonial and look forward to further success as both teams head into their Atlantic 10 conference stretches.

On a final note, the reason I came back early is to help in the Admissions Office and process the applications hopefully many of you will be sending to us in the next two weeks before the January 10th deadline for both Early Decision II (ED II) and Regular Decision. Please oh please feel free to call us with any questions or concerns because we are here to help you and get everything clarified before the deadline so you can be reviewed for the stellar student you are.

Make a great decision to start of 2012
and apply to GW using Common App or
the GW Application

I hope you have a had a phenomenal Winter holiday season and wish you a happy, safe and prosperous 2012 and for many of you, I hope you make the right decision by sending us your application and then choosing to attend GW. As always, email me with any questions about anything under the sun and I will get back to you soon :)

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Advice for study abroad!

2011-12-28T01:14:00.000-05:00

I am finally relaxed and have spent enough time at home to feel like I can think back on study abroad and consider what advice to tell you if you're preparing or thinking about it! While my advice may be more tailored to Latin America, I also traveled in southern Africa and friends in other regions have agreed with some of the points below.

Suggestions-
1. Bring your favorite brand of peanut butter
2. Don't bring any flashy jewelry/electronics.. it's not worth getting it stolen/lost
3. Buy a neck pillow for the airplane ride/bus rides
4. Always carry lots of medication (just in case!)
5. Pack as light as possible- it is frustrating to lug around a suitcase
6. Pack in a backpacking backpack if you can so you can carry stuff easily
7. Don't carry useless things like shampoo from the US.. buy it there!
8. Bring photos or other things to make you feel better when you're homesick
9. Buy a Lonely Planet guide so you can plan travel cheaply and awesome side trips
10. Download Skype to talk to friends!
11. Always carry toilet paper...

Hope that helps- I think many of these can relate to any trips abroad, more broadly than just study abroad. It's always super key to keep your passport, credit card, and ATM cards separate and in safe spots to assure you don't end up stuck somewhere for longer than necessary.

Happy traveling! I, on the other hand, am going to enjoy the good ol US of A for awhile!
marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

I’ll be home for Christmas…actually I already am

2011-12-22T00:18:00.000-05:00

Want to hear something wonderful? I’ve been done for the semester and have been on Christmas vacation since last Wednesday (the 14th) and home in Wisconsin since Friday (the 16th). I know, I know, some of you may hate me for that or are jealous (that’s what all my friends keep telling me), but hearing all of them complain about just now finishing finals has made me feel quite relived. How was I done so early you ask? Well, here was my final exam schedule:

Tuesday, December 6: East Asian Calligraphy Final (Paper + in class performance)

Wednesday December 7: Executive Branch Politics Final Exam

Thursday, December 8: Social Research Methods Final Exam AND Theories of Personality Final (Paper)

Wednesday December 14: Social Psychology Final Exam

As you can see, the second week of December was extremely busy for me, finishing 4 out of my 5 exams in just 3 days. Then, I had to wait for almost another week to be completely done for the semester. Overall, it was quite a nice finals schedule, by far the nicest since I’ve been in college. Usually, I’ve had an exam on the 21st or 22ndand flown home the next day, which made for quite a delayed break. However, since this year I made it home on the 16th and we start a week later in January, it means that I get an entire month for break (and I am home for 9 days before Christmas)! That fact alone makes me smile.

Don’t worry, just because I am on break, doesn’t mean I won’t keep you updated or blog every few days. In fact, my next post later this week will be a review of all my classes. Good luck on any final exams you have left before break!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Santiago!

2011-12-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

I finally found time to get to Santiago de Chile- after being in Chile for 4 months! Wrapping up my trip, I spent 4 days in Santiago touring the sights.

Santiago at night

Cerro San Lucia

Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso, on the coast

I spent my time climbing the "cerros", or the small lookout hills around Santiago, traveling to Valparaiso to see Pablo Nerudas house and eat delicious cuban food, shopping for last minute souvenirs, going to museums, and eating great food. It was an enjoyable end to study abroad!!
marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

And finally.... the penguins!!

2011-12-18T10:32:00.000-05:00

For my last two days in Patagonia, I spent them well- with penguins!! We took two trips away from Punta Arenas to see them.

The first was the typical trip to see the Magellanic penguins on Isla de Magdalena.

Following the penguins down the path

Penguins

Penguins along the coast

The second trip was a trip to see the King penguin colony in Tierra del Fuego.

My friends from my program

King Penguins

It was amazing to finally see penguins in real life!

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Putting Down the Books to Pick Up Some Pancakes

2011-12-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

Servers wore construction hats
instead of hair nets. Cute!!!

This past Monday the GW community continued one of its longest traditions, Midnight Breakfast, to kick off the two weeks of finals for the Fall semester. For its 26th year, GW professors, coaches, administrators and staff have gotten together to serve students a nice evening breakfast before we continue to pull our all-night study sessions. Although studying may not be the most fun thing you do in college, at least at GW we get to it on a full stomach :)

GW Women's
Basketball Coach Bozeman
and President Knapp help
serve students a great breakfast

This year the theme was "Trespassing Welcome" and there were themes all around the renovations going on around campus. There were showcases of the new Aimes Academic Center on the Mount vernon Campus, plans on display about the construction of the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) near Whole Foods and sadly the closing of the Hippodrome and 5th floor Bowling Alley. President Knapp joined students as the signed a wall of the former Hippodrome before it is constructed into a new office space for student-run organizations. Some friends and I played pool for the last time in the Hippodrome before hitting the books again in Gelman Library.

The beautiful new academic space at the
Mount Vernon campus

As well as eating and looking at the projects at hand, we also had the opportunity to see various groups perform at the Midnight breakfast like Balance, GW Troubadours, Ballroom and Capitol Funk.

As always, let me know if you have any questions about anything and congratulations to all of you who joined the Colonial Community through the Early Decision I program! Your hard work has paid off and I can't wait to see you on campus

Peace, Love and Hippos!

Brandon Moore
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…..in my dorm room

2011-12-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

After my roommates and I returned from Thanksgiving Break, we decided that it was time to start decorating for the next holiday- Christmas! So, I pulled out my Christmas lights from last year and we hung them up around the living room. Next, Katie went to Whole Foods a couple blocks away and bought a real min-Christmas tree, which she hung lights and ornaments on right away! Then, to complete the look, we placed our Christmas presents to each other under the tree, all while listening to Christmas music. And on Thursday this week (before I go home for break), we are having a roommate Christmas party (dinner and opening presents). I’m excited! Decorating our room was a wonderful way to get into the Holiday spirit while on campus. Here are some pictures!

the beautiful lights and baby tree in the background

our "Christmas corner" (note the Advent calendar filled with chocolate hanging on the wall behind the tree)

close-up of the tree with ornaments with our initials (my gifts to them for St. Nick last week)

3/4 of us surrounding our baby tree

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

National Tree Lighting Ceremony

2011-12-10T14:09:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, December 1, my friends and I were lucky enough to attend the National Tree Lighting Ceremony held just south of the White House near the Washington Monument. In order to get these tickets, which were for standing room only, we all entered a lottery contest, and thankfully two of us got them, each receiving 5 tickets. And being the good friends they are, they brought the rest of us who did not win tickets along.

The ceremony started at about 5pm, and included musical Christmas performances from OneRepublic, Rodney Atkins, will.i.am, Jersey Boys, Marsha Ambrosius, Big Time Rush, Ellie Goulding, and the ever-popular Kermit the Frog. The ceremony was hosted by Carson Daly and also featured the entire Obama family and Santa Clause.

This year, for the first time in over 30 years there was a brand new tree, since the previous one was taken down by a storm this past February. As a result, the tree was a great deal smaller than the last one, but it will grow (it’s just a baby Christmas tree right now). From where we were standing, this also made it a little difficult to see it without standing on our tippy toes.

Overall, it was a really fun experience and hopefully I can attend again in the future. Everyone attending was in the Christmas spirit, singing along with all of the songs and it was a nice way to kick off the holiday season. And of course I have a few pictures!

Taylor and I with our tickets

The entire group

Stage to the left.

The beautiful baby tree from a distance since with all the people we could not get any closer

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu
-Christie

Torres del Paine National Park

2011-12-10T11:30:00.002-05:00

This past Thursday, I went on the most amazing tour in Patagonia. We stayed for 3 nights in Puerto Natales in an amazing hostel called Backpackers Kaweskar and did a day long tour into Torres del Paine National Park. We woke up early to eat a big breakfast in the hostel and then hopped into a small van at 7:30 AM. There were 7 of us- me and my 2 friends, 3 other Americans studying in Santiago, and a French woman who teaches French in London. We had a driver as well as a tour guide and we started heading straight to the park once we collected everyone from their hostels.

View from Laguna Amarga (taken on Emily's iPhone.. I haven't uploaded my pictures yet!)

We spent the day driving around, stopping at beautiful lookouts to see condors flying above, guanacos (similar to llamas) eating grass, and the sights of Torres del Paine. Many people head into this park to do a circuit called the W which lasts 3-5 days, and you camp along the path. Everyone we met had an amazing experience doing it, and I think it would be really fun to come back here someday and do it!

Lake we hiked along (again, picture from Emily's iPhone)

After driving around for awhile, we got out of the car and did a 2 hour hike along beautiful scenery, past a perfectly blue-green lake, and to a good spot to look out over the water at the towering Torres above us. It was an amazing spot to sit and take pictures!!

Lago Grey

Finally, we drove for an hour or more (we all fell asleep) to Lago Grey- where the winds nearly pushed us all over as we walked along the pebble shore around the lake to get close to the icebergs! It was amazing to see icebergs for the first time and also to see someone paddle boarding in the middle of the lake. From the lake, you can barely see Glacier Grey in the distance- it is crazy that the lake used to be filled with icebergs and even before that, the entire thing was a glacier. It was scary to think whether or not these icebergs will even exist in the future. The backpackers who do the W trail end up walking past Glacier Grey, but otherwise it is a long trip out there.

We made our way back to the hostel, all sleeping in the van. It was an exhausting day but a really exciting one as I saw what most people consider to be the highlight of national parks in Patagonia!! Of course, I wore my Patagonia apparel :)

My trip is ending soon but we have had a blast so far and don't want the vacation to end!

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Brief Highlights from Colonials Invasion

2011-12-07T18:41:00.000-05:00

I don’t think any of us ever did a post about Colonials Invasion (GW’s own ‘midnight madness’ which signals the beginning of basketball season) that took place during Colonials (Parent’s) Weekend in October, so I figured I would give you a brief rundown since there are 2 videos I wanted to share with you. It took place after our volleyball match versus Fordham which we won easily in 3 games in front of the biggest crowd ever for a volleyball match held in the Smith Center (1,317 people).

My family was in town so we stuck around after my match to watch Colonial Invasion and to show our support of another GW athletic team! At Colonial Invasion, they introduce the men’s and women’s basketball teams and there’s a bunch of entertainment—the First Ladies dance group, Capital Funk (hip hop dance group), Colonial Army, and a slam dunk and three point contest involving the teams and audience members. For me, this was one of my favorite parts: the inflatable DC mascots (Hippo, Big George, Air Screech, G-Wiz, and Air Slapshot) performed a dance routine which was quite entertaining.

Also, here is a video summary of the night that I found:

Feel free to email me with any quaestions: cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Final Presentation

2011-12-07T15:55:00.000-05:00

I thought I would blog quickly and describe the end of the SIT model, because my study abroad program was so unique in the sense that all of November was a research period for each of us where we could live and research wherever in Chile that we wanted and were basically independent.

Our academic director checked in with us weekly, helping us formulate a more specific idea each time we spoke with her and finally reading over the draft of our 20-30 page paper. It was really useful for me to have her advice, because she worked as a maternity nurse in Chile previous to her job with SIT, and I was able to use her a resource and for explanations of many terms and systems.

For our final grade for a class, which was just the Independent Study Project, we had to turn in the paper along with a work journal. The work journal was a log of each day of our month of November, complete with contacts we made, articles we read and cited in our papers, interviews we had, thoughts on our projects, how we felt about our progress, and how our themes shifted over the month.

Finally, along in this grade was a presentation grade. Like I said previously, we were lucky enough to spend our time at Hotel Arica during presentations. I went on the very last day of presentations (Saturday). Each person presented for a total of 20 minutes in Spanish with a powerpoint presentation followed by a 10 minute question and answer session. My advisor for my project came to see the end of my presentation (in Chilean fashion- she arrived late, halfway through).

Not only was this project a great way to practice writing in Spanish and to practice doing research, it was also a great way to practice my Spanish orally and practice presenting a topic I was seriously interested and invested in!

I'll post soon about Patagonia- we are going on a tour in Torres del Paine tomorrow!
marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Internal Transferring and Studying Across Schools!!!

2011-12-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

They call me the master of transferring and I am still on my game!!! In my freshman year, I switched from the Elliott School of International Affairs to the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. This year I have transferred from Columbian into the GW School of Business. A few days ago we received a question along the lines of if it was possible to switch from Columbian to Business and I am here to tell you that, and almost any other move, it is completely possible within your first two years.

There are 6 schools here at GW which are as follows: Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Elliott School of International Affairs, School of Media and Public Affairs, School of Engineering and Applied Science, GW School of Business and the School of Public Health and Health Services. A student generally can transfer around easily withing their first two years if the maintain a 3.0 GPA. However, the Elliott School GPA requirement tend to be a bit higher (around a 3.5) and some schools will want you to have taken certain courses before transferring in order to make sure you stay on track to graduate within four years. The process is as simple as filling out the following form http://www.gwu.edu/staticfile/GW/Admissions%20-%20Undergraduate/transferreadmit.pdf , meeting with advisers in both schools and bring the form to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Another thing to note is that it is very easy to study across schools. If you wanted to study Business Administration in the GW School of Business and were say a Sociology major in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, you could complete a Secondary Field of Study in Business Administration so you would not have to transfer to that school. Secondary Fields also exist in the School of Media and Public Affairs (Journalism and Mass Communication), the Elliott School of International Affairs (International Affairs) and any minor in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences is eligible to be completed as a Secondary Field in that discipline.

I hope this answered all your questions about moving around schools and studying across schools, but if not always feel free to e-mail me and I will give you an answer or find you one. To all ED 1 applicants, decisions will be out before you know it here in mid-December.

Peace Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

End of study abroad program

2011-12-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

My program here in Arica, Chile, just ended yesterday and I am surprisingly sad to be leaving the place I've been living in since August. I felt that I really connected with the program director, my host mom, and the city in ways I didn't imagine I would.

We spent the last few nights in a hotel, listening to final presentations of the Independent Study Projects. It was really eye opening to see everyone's work from the past month of November when we were able to be on our own and working on our own interests. The hotel was also amazing- there was a salt water "infinity" pool as well as a chlorinated pool, all next to the ocean. Here's a picture from their website- I literally felt like I was on spring break!! Haha.

I am leaving for my dream vacation today- my friends Emily and Elizabeth and I are flying down to Patagonia!! I'll update you all from there!!
marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

My Thanksgiving Break

2011-12-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

As previously promised, here is my Thanksgiving break in a nutshell. Nothing too interesting, but I figured I would share it with you anyway. Classes ended on Tuesday, which for me consisted of turning in a paper for Social Research Methods and taking the last of my midterm exams (Theories of Personality). I flew home to Wisconsin on late Wednesday afternoon after a layover in Detroit. It was defiantly nice to be home for the first time since August 9.

Thursday: I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with my sister Vickie followed by the Green Bay Packer game versus the Detroit Lions. Obviously, the Packers won, which my family was very happy about (and after this afternoon’s football game the Packers are still undefeated! 12-0!). My grandma and uncle came over to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and my parents made a wonderful and tasty dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, biscuits, and much more. That night I was very full and happy. Maybe even a bit too full. And in case you were wondering, our dinner was of course postponed until after the Packer game ended, so that we wouldn’t miss a minute of the action.

Friday: Thursday night Vickie and I did not go bed, since the Black Friday sales began at midnight. We stayed awake, watching the Friends (the tv show) Thanksgiving marathon on Nick at Nite and then headed out to the stores. We shopped, along with all of the other crazy people, from about 12-4:30am. At about 4am, we hit our breaking point and headed home to sleep. After my adventurous morning shopping, I did nothing notable the rest of the day.

Saturday: This was a very laid-back day, as all I did was go to Cheesecake Factory with one of my friends from high school and get a haircut, both of which were long overdue.

Sunday: Flew back to D.C, with a layover in Memphis, which ended up being completely worth it since I had some fabulous barbeque in the airport. After another long day of travel, I was back in my dorm room, caught up with my roommates and shared Thanksgiving stories, unpacked, did a little bit of homework, and went to sleep.

Like I said, nothing exciting, but it was wonderful to have a few days to relax and to not do any school work (even though I really should have gotten a head start on my papers due the few days after break, but whatever). Now it’s time to finish of the semester with my finals starting on Tuesday!

Feel free to email me with any questions: cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Thanksgiving in Chile?

2011-11-30T22:26:00.000-05:00

Where’s the cranberry jelly and the turkey? We’ve run into some issues with Thanksgiving out here. Not only are we not celebrating on the right day, but we’ve also made our own variations on Thanksgiving classics to make up for food that isn’t available. Since we were in San Pedro de Atacama for Thanksgiving, we decided to host a big meal at our apartment this week for everyone who wanted to come and bring food (potlucks are beyond great).

Some things on the menu are:

Quinoa with cranberries, raisins, and almonds

Sweet potato and spinach sautéed together

Strawberry and spinach salad

Lentil soup

Cheesy squash

Roasted vegetables

Apple pie empanadas

As you can see, we’ve gotten quite creative and are definitely on the more vegetarian side of things for this Thanksgiving. Sorry I haven't uploaded the pictures yet, but we're about to move out of our apartment and present our Independent Study Projects, so things are busy!

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

I’m Back!

2011-11-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to enjoy lots of delicious food while spending quality time with family. I had a great break, but now that classes have resumed, it felt much too short. Thankfully, Christmas break is not too far away, my brain needs a long break. I am sorry for the abnormally long blogging absence, life has been past beyond busy and time completely got away from me. Absolutely crazy. So much has happened since the last time I blogged and of course I will tell you all about it.

First of all, midterms finally officially just ended for me the day before I left for Thanksgiving break. I missed my last one, which was for Theories of Personality, one of my psych classes, in early November (which was scheduled very late for a midterm) because I was out of town for volleyball A10 conference matches. For me, the entire semester kind of felt like one big midterm period since 2 of my classes did not have actual “midterms” but instead had an exam every 3-5 weeks. So it felt like the tests were never ending. But, on a positive note, then each exam had less information on it than an actual midterm would and were not cumulative. Midterms are finally done for me and believe it or not, I actually begin my final exams starting in 8 days (next Tuesday) since 4 out of my 5 classes are having the final exam on the last day of class. I will post more about my finals and the scoop on how my academic semester played out.

The volleyball season has also come to a conclusion. My team finished the season with a 20-10 overall record and placed 4th in the A10 conference standings. Overall, an honorable record. Of course there were matches were we were the better team and that we should have won but didn’t, but sometimes that’s just sports. This year we traveled to a great deal of different cities for conference play (in addition to all the places we traveled to during preseason). We traveled to St. Louis (SLU), Pittsburgh (Duquesne), Dayton, Cincinnatti (Xavier), the Bronx (Fordham), Providence (Rhode Island), Philadelphia (La Salle and Temple). We earned a place in the A10 Conference Championship Tournament, which only the top 6 teams are invited to, but unfortunately lost, which ended our 2011 season a little over a week ago. And of course, I have pictures and plenty of them to share with you! Sorry, in advance for the plethora of pictures!

2011 team picture (courtesy of gwsport.com)

My teammates and I wanted to see if I could fit into our large travel bags....

In a locker room before a match

Pre-match team bonding in locker room

Eating fabulous ribs on an away trip

Look at that block!

My roommate/ teammate's awesome hops

Mac's senior night

We made a scrapbook for Mac (in honor of senior night)-this was my page.

Well, I must go finish a paper I have due tomorrow. Here is just a short list of other posts that you have to look forward to from me in the next few weeks:

-What I did over my Thanksgiving break

-My final exam period post and review of this semester’s classes

-Funny video from Colonial Invasion

-Drive-in movie adventure

-Special post about my beloved, 11-0 undefeated Green Bay Packers (if you read any of my posts from last year, you HAD to know this one was coming eventually)

-Plus more (I don’t want to give away all of my secrets yet).

As always, feel free to email me with any questions, cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Back from the driest desert on earth

2011-11-28T18:16:00.000-05:00

Finally, my long awaited trip to San Pedro de Atacama is over. After too many hours on an uncomfortable overnight bus and too much sand stuck to all of us, my friends and I are back in Arica at our apartment. I won't hold out too long on the photos, because they're amazing!! I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to travel there.

Salt cave (yes, I did lick the wall- it was a once in a lifetime opportunity)

Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death, animals used to wander off from their herders and get lost within the mountains in this valley)

Salar de Atacama (salt flat)

Reserva Nacional Los Flamencos (National Reserve of Flamingoes)

Geysers Tatio (We woke up at 4 AM to drive 2 hours into the mountains to see these amazing geysers in the early morning)

Termas (natural hot springs near the geysers)

Llamas

Jewelry store in downtown San Pedro

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

GW Men's Basketball Off To Impressive Start

2011-11-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

Raise High has been chosen as the theme for this basketball season and The GW Men’s basketball team is off to an impressive hoping to raise not only our school colors high, but also our hopes of achieving national dominance. The GW Men’s team has out of the gate begun an impressive season.

In the first game of the regular season they dominated the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at the Charles E. Smith Center with a 64-48 win.

The men then hit the trail to Berkley, California where they took on the then 24^th-ranked Cal Berkley Golden Bears in the first game of the CBE Classic and despite playing a close first 10 minutes, dropped their first game of the season 81-54. This game against Cal was part of the larger CBE Classic tournament sponsored by Progressive and took the Colonial men to a Subregional Tournament at Bowling Green State University where they faced the host school, Austin Peay State University and the University of Detroit Mercy. In this tournament, the Colonials blasted out Detroit Mercy as well as Bowling Green, but played a very close game with the strong Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay before emerging victorious with a 54-52 victory. The Colonials finished this part of the tournament as the Bowling Green Subregional Champions!

In the upcoming days, the Colonials will travel to play the Big 12 powerhouse Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan, Kansas to start the month of December. They will then come back home to the DC area to take on the 2010 Final Four local foe, the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams, in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic in the Verizon Center a few blocks away from campus in DC’s Chinatown.

Tony Taylor and Aaron Ware
named BGSU regional MVP's

Be sure to look for the Colonials on the big screen and in the rankings. I think we are off to a great start and have a great season ahead of us. Raise High the Buff and Blue!

On an admissions note, we were so pleased with all of our early decision applicants and our officers are busy reviewing your applications. We hope you had a fantastic (and relaxing) Thanksgiving break and look forward to making your day soon! As always, shoot me any question or reach out to me if I can assist you in any way. I am more then happy to help or find an answer for you if I don’t know it for some reason. Until then, I’ll keep you posted on out NCAA tournament bound Colonials!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

San Pedro de Atacama

2011-11-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight, my friends and I are leaving overnight on a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, the most beautiful city in the driest place on earth- the Atacama Desert. I could not be more excited! We have been talking about making this trip all semester and we finally found a good time for everyone to leave behind work, travel there, and spend some time enjoying the touristy aspects of northern Chile.

A total of 6 of us will be going together, and there are many other people from our program who are traveling there on their way back up from Santiago and other cities. We are staying in a hostel close to the center of town and the owner of the hostel is picking us up and dropping us off at the bus station- a nice welcome to the city. We are planning on bringing lots of food and water because the town itself is extremely touristy and prices are supposed to be ridiculous, but we are still looking forward to some culinary adventures in tourist-land.

On top of all this, we are planning on going on some amazing tours to sight-seeing spots around the area. Right now, we’re hoping to make it to a valley that looks like the surface of the moon, gysers, lagoons, and a salt flat. I found some pictures online but hopefully these won’t even compare to the sights we will see on my trip!

Valley of the Moon

Laguna

Geysers

Salt flat

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

- Marisa

Halfway through November

2011-11-22T13:31:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!! As November is already halfway over, I am happy to announce that I have finished the first draft of my independent study project for my study abroad program. This is a little ahead of schedule in terms of how I expected things to go, but really perfect because now I have the chance to relax, enjoy my last two (?! CRAZY) weeks in Arica, Chile, and start thinking about other things.

Because I am in the southern hemisphere, things are really heating up. It’s been hard to wear jeans outside without sweating buckets and our apartment doesn’t have air conditioning so instead we try to take advantage of the wind by keeping windows open during the day. A plus of having summer right now is the produce available- lots of delicious fruits and veggies are popping up at the farmers market and my roommates and I are taking advantage of them! While the north of Chile doesn’t have any fresh berries, my favorite part of summer, I managed to find some frozen raspberries to add to my granola in the morning. We have been cooking up a storm in our apartment, including some of my favorite dishes! We made a tomato orange soup from scratch that emulated my favorite soup from Elephant’s Deli in Portland, Oregon. We have made lots of sautéed veggies, lentil dishes, fajitas made an appearance, and even homemade pasta sauces! It has been really great to have our own space and to cook for ourselves after living in homestays where white bread was the norm.

Since we’ve either been in classes all week or writing these 20+ page papers while we’ve been in Arica, we are trying to take full advantage of the city. Yesterday, we finally made it to the pizza place everyone claims to be the best in the city. The only other pizza we’d had before this was a gross pizza with corn kernels and soft crust, so we figured anything would be an improvement. The best part about the pizza place was that it was INSIDE the large supermarket here- and the pizza was DELICIOUS! Thin crust, good tomato sauce, and plenty of cheese, olives, and mushrooms. They deliver, so we may be taking advantage of that again.

We have a few other things we’d like to do, like spend time at the beach and meander around downtown, so hopefully those things will all happen in the next two weeks before our Independent Study Project Presentations and the end of the program!

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

- Marisa

Being really cultured.

2011-11-18T17:53:00.000-05:00

Last night, my co-worker and I went to see the the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center. I got 2 free tickets on MyTix--it's a program run by The Kennedy Center that gives out free tickets (by raffle) each week. You can also buy reduced-price tickets most days through MyTix. It's really great. I only entered it a few weeks, maybe 3, before I won! I asked around who like Brahms--easier to find someone than I thought it would be! My friend (and co-worker) was totally into it, so we made an evening out of it!

It was really fantastic; the Kennedy Center is beautiful, so just being there on a cold fall evening was nice in itself. Then, there was the live music and dancing on the north "Millenium Stage", which is open to all, and of course our show was really, really good. Beethoven and Brahms were performed beautifully (to my unrefined ears, at least), and the soloist Leonidas Kavakos put on a good show with the amazing symphony backing him up. Totally fun.

In addition, I saw a former professor there! It was really funny--this city is just so small. And the Kennedy Center is where you're gonna bump into people. Well, the upper-crust people you may happen to know. Also, call me crazy, but I really think Wolf Blitzer was there as well. It REALLY looked like him, and he'd be the type to see the symphony on a Thursday night. He lives nearby, after all!

So I will certainly be signing up for MyTix every week, here's hoping I get one again soon! But not too soon, I'm already seeing The Nutcracker there in a few weeks. Can't go too often, that's over-exposure. Plus it's a bit exhausting being so gosh-darn worldly!

As always, email me with questions and the like! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Food Truck Overload?

2011-11-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

So I already ate lunch at a truck once this week. Today, I went to TWO others. TWO. I guess my motive was to make up for not being able to next week (and seriously dieting from now 'til Thanksgiving so I don't bloat like a balloon...).

I got lunch at Cajunators, the beautifully-painted Cajun-Creole food truck. Then for dessert (a few hours later, mind you), I got a cupcake from Sweetbites! I gotta say, I was *very* pleased with both!

At Cajunators, I got some spicy but satisfying Chicken Gumbo to chase away the cold day between classes, and it was rather heavenly. The chicken and andouille sausage flavors melded into the mix in an altogether satisfying fashion. It was pretty cold today, so I really needed something hot and HOT to warm me up. That did the trick.

A few hours later, my tummy wanted something sweet (or rather, my taste buds did...). I was going to chase it away with a cup of slightly-sweetened coffee back at home, but on my way back, I passed the sweetbites truck. I couldn't turn it down, especially since 1) I've never been to *any* dessert trucks, and 2) They were featuring a new Salted Caramel cupcake. You cannot say no to caramel and chocolate. Or at least I can't!

The icing was fabulous. I'm something of an icing connoisseur, and this stuff was on par. Don't let the "salted" in the title scare you, you barely taste it. It's just enough to give the sweet caramel a kick and compliment the sweet, sweet chocolate cake. Overall, a double-win on the culinary end.

Cajunators, if you couldn't tell!

and the Sweetbites truck!

Email with questions about GW, college in general, or how I haven't gained the Freshman Fifteen--(though I still have another year to take care of college weight gain, here's hoping I bypass that!)--shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

The BIGGEST Cheese

2011-11-14T19:01:00.001-05:00

In my food truck journey, I sampled The Big Cheese truck today at Metro Center. If you know where that is, you realize it's a bit far from campus--about a 1/2 hour walk--but the weather was just gorgeous today! I had to venture out and take a nice stroll in my free time. And as a reward for about two hours of walking around the city aimlessly, I stopped at the food trucks on my way home. Perfect afternoon!

I got the Thrilled Cheese (hehehe get it?), which is Chipotle cheddar, chopped jalapenos, and tasty guacamole all grilled together on sourdough. It was fabulous! Not too spicy but enough kick to get ya going! And the guacamole wasn't too pureed and smooth that you couldn't even tell it had avocado in it--this was the real deal.

One thing, though: they didn't cut my sandwich in half! I think this was an oversight, because I mentioned it to a friend and she said that wasn't the case with any sandwiches she'd gotten from them, but it did make it a bit tough to eat! Though still entirely worth it.

Email with questions about GW, DC, or the college process in general! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Weekend of Fantastic GW Sports

2011-11-13T14:08:00.001-05:00

When you think of DC, the first thing that comes to mind is not usually sports. However, GW has changed that concept for many opposing college athletes this weekend.

For starters, the Men's basketball team started off the weekend with their first decisive regular season win against the University of Maryland- Eastern Shore. At a packed Smith Center following a 3 hour tailgate that closed the street in front of the arena, the era of Mike Lonergan here at GW began with a 64-48 victory. The GW men are now in Berkeley, California, warming up before tonight's big game against the PAC-12's #24 ranked California Golden Bears. The men will be playing at Haas Pavilion and this will be a huge first test for them. Try and catch the game if you get ESPNU or listen for what is bound to be an upset win in the newspapers tomorrow. Raise High the Buff and Blue!

Secondly, the Men's soccer team won a huge semi-final match in the Atlantic-10 Conference tournament Friday night by defeating the La Salle Explorers 2-1 in double OT. The tournament, being held in St. Louis, concludes after today's (Sunday's) 2:00 championship match between GW and Xavier. This is bound to be a good match that hopefully ends in GW's favor and propels our squad into the NCAA tournament.

Finally, the GW Women's Volleyball team concluded their regular season by upsetting the Fordham Ram's at Rose Hill on Senior Night in a huge 3-2 win. This final win of the regular season is expected to propel the women to the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to be held at the University of Dayton in 4 days with GW entering as a 4th seed. This will surely be a tough couple of matches in "enemy territory," but it is a feat our ladies can handle. Congratulations on achieving a 20 win season ladies and we look forward to more post season victories.

So as you watch ESPN before bed or open your morning news paper, be sure to look in the headlines for GW. We are bound to be there...where we belong.

As always, if you have any questions about any part of the admissions process feel more than happy to e-mail me. Thank you to all of you who have submitted ED 1 applications! Best of luck to you and we look forward to receiving the rest of your applications.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

(Another) Eid Banquet!

2011-11-11T18:14:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I went to the Muslim Students’ Association Eid Al-Adha Banquet. (I know, I’m being so interfaith-y this week!) Now, as I may have said before, I’m not Muslim, so I’ve never celebrated Eid until this year, first at the MSA’s Eid Banquet in September for Eid ul-Fitr, and now for Eid Al-Adha!

I really enjoy all these religion-based events because though I don’t subscribe to any one religion, I was raised Catholic and still celebrate the big Christian holidays. I knew quite a bit about Jewish tradition because so many of my high school friends are Jewish, but I didn’t have much exposure to Islam (weird given my name and background, eh?)

I’m also a religion minor, so it’s great to see everything I’m learning in all my classes in action, as well as how modern Muslims practice in comparison to all the Middle Ages (and earlier) theologians and philosophers that dominate so much of my religion homework.

There was also henna! So I of course had to get all painted up--I love it! Here are some pictures of my lovely body art:

When it was first applied--the dark stuff dries and crumbles off, leaving behind...

... all this loveliness!

Cute, no? All that added up to a good night!

With questions about anything, email: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Registration for classes from abroad!

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

Thanks to FOFAC, the Focus on Fall Abroad Community (more info here!) that I am involved in for next semester, I have gotten lots of perks from being abroad this fall semester!

First, I was able to choose my roommates and have a confirmed room on campus next semester in Amsterdam Hall. We already know where we will be living and don't have to stress out wondering if GW Housing wil find us a place or not.
Next semester, there will be lots of cultural activities in the dorm emphasizing the sharing of our abroad experiences- everyone will get a taste of each others' time abroad!
Most importantly: I was able to register super early (Nov 4th when my regular registration would have been today) and get the classes I wanted to with the schedule I wanted to!

Thankfully, my internet was up and running when I needed to register. I logged on and inputted all the classes and wanted and instantly I had a schedule that I am looking forward to! Here are my classes for next semester:

ECON 2180 Survey of International Economics

Basic concepts of international trade and international finance, with emphasis on policy issues.

PUBH 1101 Introduction to Public Health and Health Services

Introduction to aspects of public health and health services, including health services administration and policy, maternal and child health, environmental health, and health promotion.

GEOG 2133 People, Land, and Food

Domestication and dispersal of plants and animals; development of agricultural systems; spatial disparities in world food production, demand, and distribution.

PSC 2337 Development Politics

An examination of how and why political systems develop the way they do. Why do some countries develop into democracies, while others become authoritarian? How do class conflict, the nature of the elite, and the political culture affect the development of political institutions?

WSTU 2120 Introduction to Women's Studies

A multidisciplinary examination of historical conditions, cultural norms, and social institutions that define women's status in Western culture. Experiences of girls and women in various racial–ethnic, class, and age groups. Alternative visions for women's (and, by implication, men's) roles and status. Sophomore standing required.

I am really excited for my schedule, and to top it off, I have big chunks of time on Mon/Wed/Fri where hopefully I can find somewhere to intern or volunteer to take up those chunks. I am really looking forward to being back on campus now that I am excited for these classes and my living situation!

Questions? marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Interfaith Dinner

2011-11-10T11:37:00.002-05:00

Tuesday night, my friends and I went to the 10^th annual Interfaith Dinner in the Grand Ballroom. It was a nice night with food, music, and merriment, but also sharing of religions and cultures rather than the ever-so-common separatism among the religions

The theme of this year’s dinner was “better together”, and each religious student group shared pieces from their holy books that emphasized that theme, often in the native tongue of the religion and then an English translation. The musical performances also emphasized tolerance, spreading hope and love, and giving peace a chance. It was just lovely!

It’s always nice to see people of different backgrounds coming together to share common goals and beliefs, but it’s especially nice when different religions come together, especially since religion is so often something that divides peoples rather than its intent of helping people. This dinner affirmed my belief that religion actually can do good! Who would have thought, eh?

If you’re interested in joining a religion-based student group at GW, we have them in droves! I wrote a post about it a while back, but there’s also plenty of info on the student org website where you can find all you need to know.

Questions? Write me! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

Independent Study Project

2011-11-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

Now that it is November, I finally get to dedicate all my time to my research, enjoying Arica, and living with friends! Through the SIT abroad platform, we get a month at the end of the program to pursue any project related to the public health theme in any part of Chile. I decided to come back to Arica since I already had connections in the public hospital and want to work with the Aymara population that is most concentrated here.

I have already started getting a few things in order. For my research, I need to identify Aymara ascendance from the birth records in the hospital. I have already been in touch with people from CONADI (National Corporation for Indigenous Development), as they have a ongoing research project identifying these last names in the region of Arica and Parinacota. I was able to get my hands on this precious book and photocopy it so now I have just been going through my data identifying which names could be Aymara! The Aymara keep their father and mothers’ last names, so it is easy to see the Aymara lineage as it is passed down generation to generation.

I also was able to be part of a birth last night in the hospital! A woman had recently given birth to a premature but healthy baby girl when I arrived at the hospital, and since there weren’t going to be any more births last night, my advisor quickly rushed me in to watch the process the mother goes through post-birth of removing the placenta, etc. I won’t go into too many details but it was really interesting to be able to watch and ask questions while the nurse-midwife was with the mother. Afterwards, I watched as they prepared the baby to be with her mother- literally enveloping her in 4 layers of clothing while she was still under a hot lamp. The baby reached her tiny hand to try to grab mine while the nurse and her aunt clothed her.

All of these experiences have been really amazing so far and I’m excited to keep you all updated on my research.

Email me if you have any questions! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Chilenismos and medical terms

2011-11-09T13:06:00.001-05:00

Over the past 2+ months, I have been exposed to Chilean Spanish. This Spanish is not the kind you learn in the classroom- Chilean Spanish doesn’t only vary in accent, but also in vocabulary. There are so many slang words that are widely used by the population, both young and old, that it took awhile to adjust and incorporate them into my own Spanish. These words are referred to as “chilenismos.” Thankfully, we learned a lot in Spanish class as the teachers wanted to get us up to speed quite quickly and be able to talk with locals. I thought I would share some of the most popular, and some of my favorites:

Po: This is always added to the end of a sentence, like “uhh” or “yeah” in the English language. In answering a question, you could say “si, po.”

Cachai: Do you understand? Get it?

Completo: The new invention of a hot dog slathered in sauerkraut, tomato, avocado, and mayonnaise- a street food favorite.

Al tiro: Immediately, in a second.

Manjar: the Chilean word for “dulce de leche,” or caramelized condensed milk.

Tecito/once: Snack time that replaces dinner here, with bread, cheese, tea

Pololo: boyfriend, as “novio,” the normal word in Spanish for boyfriend, means fiancée

Bajonear: Late night munchies, after the discos close and people go eat empanadas

If you are interested in more, check out this website I found!

In addition to the Chilenismos, we have been learning a lot of medical vocabulary through our excursions and independent study project work. It’s nice to have a hang of medical Spanish and I hope it comes in handy in the future. In the beginning, we all fumbled a lot to translate specific words and professions in the clinics but now referring to a maternity nurse as a “matrona” is easy, and they are distinguishable by their uniform colors too which is nice.

marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

- Marisa

Most Politically Active University FTW!

2011-11-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

According to The Princeton Review, GW was rated to have the most politically active student body! Check it:

So, yay! Good for us! I'd definitely have to agree with their assessment--and then some. Our location just blocks from the White House is a huge plus for everyone who wants to get involved; it's hard *not* to go to that rally you were invited to when it's only a 15 minute walk. With countless hill/lobbyist/White House/everything else political interns, we work for that credit, and by George, I think we've earned it! It's hard to find someone here who isn't interested in politics, even med students and the engineering kids have an interest in DC political culture and the workings of politics. How could you not? It's literally everywhere around us!

Keep emailing, I love it! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~ Shireen

Lobster and Nostalgia

2011-11-07T20:21:00.001-05:00

Today, I continued on my food truck quest by visiting the Red Hook Lobster Pound truck when they were parked right outside of Duques. This may have been my favorite yet—and that’s quite a statement since I’ve really loved them all so far. The thing is, I love lobster more than most other foods; I’d totally be ok with eating it every day. Apparently slaves in New England revolted so that they wouldn’t have to eat lobster every day, and got it cut down to 5 days a week. How crazy is that? And now it’s a delicacy. Go figure.

Now, not only do I love lobster, but I love Maine lobster—I’m all about lobster rolls, lobster chowder, and popovers with blueberry jam and a cup of lobster bisque on a chilly early-summer afternoon in Maine. These are specific memories I have from many summers spent up in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park with my family, so I’m a bit of a connoisseur of Maine lobster. It’s something I take seriously, so I was going to be a tough critic of Red Hook. They had my childhood memories in their hands.

Of course, I wasn’t disappointed. I got a classic Maine-style lobster roll, and it was absolutely exquisite. Maine-style rolls are coated with a very light, slightly lemony mayo-based sauce, and Connecticut-style is poached in butter—Red Hook has both, but I’m partial to the Maine, of course. Also, it’s just slightly healthier! The Connecticut-style just drips butter. Anyway, the bread on mine was crisped just right, and absolutely overflowing with big chunks of lobster. The sauce was perfectly light, not clumpy like mayonnaise can sometimes get, and with just a bit of lemon to compliment the lobster. A sprinkle of old bay and a pickle on the side sealed the deal: awesome lunch.

So as I said, this was my favorite so far—but who knows? It’s possible that my next venture will trump this one. We shall see! The only way I’ll find out is to keep lunching!

Send me emails! I love reading and responding: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Bariloche, Argentina

2011-11-02T11:32:00.001-04:00

Finally- MARISA MAKES IT TO ARGENTINAAAAAA!!!!!!!

While Pucon was beautifully diverse in its eating culture, nothing prepared us for the shock of Bariloche, Argentina. After hopping over the border by bus and eating delicious trout for lunch on the way, we finally arrived in Bariloche, the chocolate and ski capital of Western Argentina. The purpose of the trip was to interact with Argentinean Mapuches and talk about issues of nationality and identity, which would have been amazingly interesting had we been able to. There were issues due to the erupting volcano further south and the lecturers were not able to make it to Bariloche.

Rapanui Chocolates

While this was disappointing for everyone, we had the day free instead to wander around the street of chocolate and taste and indulge in every possible combination of chocolate. I bought a few key treasures- including chocolate covered raspberries (!!!) and orange peels, but those were saved for later since each store gives you a sample and I was already overwhelmed by the time we finished our rounds. It was a fun and relaxing two days in Argentina, but I would have preferred having more time there to soak in Argentinean culture, the accent, and more of the food. I did have a signature Argentinean steak, a cut called bife de chorizo, and it was delicious!

Chocolate stores galore

The cathedral we saw, but since it's almost summer there was no snow!

I hope to be back in Argentina someday… I don’t think I did the country justice.

- Marisa

Love in the Time of Appendicitis

2011-11-02T11:10:00.000-04:00

Last week I had appendicitis, which wasn't so great. But along the way I learned some very important facts about GW, which was pretty great.

Let's explain this by the numbers:

0. The number of dollars it cost me to get EMeRG, GW's all-volunteer, student-run, on-campus paramedic and ambulance service, to drive me to the hospital.

600+. According to folks I've spoken to about this, the number of dollars it would have cost to have been driven two blocks from Student Health Services to the GW Hospital (if there was no EMeRG, I would have had to pay for a ride from DC Fire and EMS).

1. The number of operational ambulances EMeRG has right now.

Sweden's colors are the same as GW's...

So all in all, pretty great deal we have going here at GW. As a senior, I figured I'd never need to be hospitalized while still at college--but life has a way of surprising you. It's good to know that not only do we have a free ambulance service on campus, but we have a great hospital too. (If it's good enough for former Vice President Cheney, it's good enough for me.)

Coincidence, or Conspiracy?

For students with other problems, there's other support services too--Student Health Services for regular check-ups and outpatient care, the University Counseling Center for mental health issues, and a host of others.

In all seriousness, you'll probably never be provided for as well as during your time here at GW.

Adam
--
Questions or comments about Stockholm on the Potomac? Send them to me at ash1290@gwmail.gwu.edu

Pucón, "entrance of the cordillera"

2011-11-01T09:00:00.002-04:00

Driving to Pucon was an amazing drive- as we got closer and closer, Volcano Villarica peered down at us, breathing smoke into the air. The lake is picturesque outside of the town of Villarica, but we continued past to our cabins further towards the mountain.

Volcano Villarica

The town of Pucon was super touristy, which was perfect for those of us craving American style pizza, salads, and vegetarian food. One restaurant called Ecolé had an amazing cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and zucchini mix with peanut and coconut curry sauce. Basically, a culinary introduction to what we were to encounter in Bariloche!

Cute Ecolé restaurant

"As famous as the hostal itself, the ¡école! restaurant is one of the best vegetarian (fish included) restaurants in Chile. From the homemade granola and yogurt breakfasts to snacks of vegetarian nachos and burritos, or a spicy salmon yellow curry or robust vegetarian lasagna, you will never be disappointed. Stop by and have a real coffee or Kunstmann in the evening." -LonelyPlanet Guide book

Indoor/outdoor hot springs we went to

Town of Pucón

I also managed to find the Patagonia store and now have a cool Patagonia in Pucón sticker, a beautiful ceramic store where I bought a turquoise bowl, and other artisan shops. The lakes and rivers all around Pucon are full of trout and salmon, and one artist I found had money pouches made of dyed salmon skin!

I can't believe this is part of my program sometimes.. it really has been an amazing adventure and our program has facilitated and planned all these excursions!
- Marisa

Estudio de pueblo: Loncoche, Chile

2011-10-31T09:17:00.000-04:00

Bus drive to Loncoche

As a practice for our Independent Study Project, which is the capstone project of this study abroad, our academic director set us loose at the bus station in Temuco with $80 each and a small town to go explore for a presentation 2 days later. My group of 3 waited an hour for the bus to Loncoche, where we met several Mormon boys from Utah on their mission to convert southern Chileans to the religion. It was funny to interact in English but we quickly parted as soon as we arrived in Loncoche to find a hostel to spend 2 nights.

There is little to report about Loncoche except that it is a very small town- the 3 restaurants we found only served completos (hot dogs with tomato and avocado) or small sandwiches for dinner, which is typical of pueblos here. Over the 2 days, the highlights were eating a picnic lunch of local cheese and Mapuche tortillas (thick bread, not normal tortillas) next to the river in town and finding dried cranberries. The region produces a lot of fruit and berries but most of it is exported, so we were lucky to run across the only type of berry I have found in Chile that was not in jam-form. We also found an amazing 2 room museum in the town that showcased Mapuche ceramics and leather products, as a local artist uses cow udders to create intricately preserved bowls. It was definitely an interesting experience and a crazy way to get to know a town- getting dropped down in front of the bus and having to figure it out on our own!

Beautiful artificial laguna in Loncoche

Plaza de Armas in Loncoche

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

- Marisa

Temuco, Chile

2011-10-31T09:10:00.001-04:00

Here begins my posts to catch up from my trip with horrible internet. The biggest victory was FINALLY finding some green vegetation!! Flying from Arica to Temuco is about the biggest environment change one can undergo in a day- from pure Atacama Desert to lush fields and forest. Everyone on my program literally has been dancing around in the fields and taking advantage of the cooler weather while Arica heats up for summer.

The reason our program comes to Temuco is because Temuco is located in the region of Chile where the largest percentage of Mapuche lives and where intercultural medicine exists as a government incentivized program. The Mapuches are the largest indigenous group in Chile, and dominate traditional culture of the south. We began our excursion in Temuco by visiting several Mapuche health posts. Normal rural health outposts in Chile only incorporate occidental medicine practiced by Chilean doctors. Outside of Temuco, many include traditional medicine into their health practices while others have a separate traditional medicine building or wing.

Mapuche flag

The traditional medicine man is called a Machi. There are many different jobs that can be done within traditional medicine, and one we were lucky to see was the collection of plants and herbs in the Mapuche forest. After he prayed to the forest to allow us in to learn and collect herbs, the medicine man explained the uses of each plant, and how one could create the remedy drink. It was interesting to hear about the process and how each remedy is individual to the patient, as there are many pharmacies in Temuco offering traditional Mapuche medicine as a sort of farce. Currently, Chilean doctors and Machis are working side by side in order to heal Mapuche patients. In a sense, the Mapuche view the Machi as working to rid the origin and remaining source of the problem while the Chilean doctor cures the symptoms and treats the resulting problems.

Mapuche ruka hut

The most amazing part of our stay around Temuco was when we traveled to Lago Budi to sleep in rukas for a night, which are the Mapuche thatched huts made out of a wood frame and covered with hay and grass. The floors are made of mud and each ruka has a fire pit where cooking and house heating originates. It was amazing to sleep in a comfy bed somewhat exposed to the elements and wake up to homemade bread and delicious jams and cheeses for breakfast. Before leaving, our program coordinator for this leg of the trip lectured about Mapuche cosmovision and told us his personal story, about how he grew up Mapuche in a family that did not respect their Mapuche past. He is currently writing a book to help popularize the study of the Mapudungun language, which has recently gained more popularity in the Mapuche community. Overall, it was amazing to compare the Mapuche community with the Aymara community we have learned about in the north.

- Marisa

Have you heard about GW Basketball???

2011-10-30T18:36:00.001-04:00

GW and the DC Metropolitan area are often known for their incredible college basketball environment. In this area, we have the Big East powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas, the NCAA qualifying George Mason Patriots down the road in Fairfax, along with the American University Eagles and a little ways away, the Final Four Men's Virginia Commonwealth Rams. But enough talk about our foes! The George Washington Men's Basketball team finished the 2010-2011 season on the cusp of an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament appearance (with a 5th place finish), but lost in an upset qualifying tournament game to St. Josephs, finishing with an overall 17-14 record. In addition, the GW Women's Basketball team had a rebuilding season, advancing to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in Lowell, MA where there season ended with a loss to Dayton.

But this year is a whole new season!!!!!

The GW Men's Basketball team has a new face. The new head coach of GW's mens team, Mike Lonergan, is the former head coach at the neighboring college of the Catholic University of America before serving in his most recent post as the head coach and catalyst of an emerging strong basketball program in Bennington, VT with the American East Conference's University of Vermont Catamounts. The GW men's team will face a tough schedule this year, traveling to Syracuse (#5), UC Berkeley (#18), Harvard, and Kansas State, along with taking on strong conference opponents like Richmond, Xavier (#15), Temple and Duquesne. On top of it all, the men will be taking on the VCU Rams in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic hosted at the Verizon Center here in DC's Chinatown. GW's Tony Taylor was selected to the A-10 Pre-Season first team and will be a great leader for a tough season ahead. It should definitely be an exciting season so look for GW on the headlines and on ESPN and such.

The GW Women's Basketball team will have a schedule that keeps them closer to home, so that just means that much more action for us to see here at the Charles E. Smith Center. The Women will play local foes like Georgetown, UDC, American, George Mason, William & Mary, but also take on foes from larger conferences like the Auburn Tigers, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Virginia Tech Hokies. Mike Bozeman will lead these ladies to what is sure to be a fantastic season here in his 4th with GW and I am so pleases that I will get to see more of the games now that ALL of the band will be at ALL of the Women's games :)

If you are coming up for a tour, make sure you buy some tickets so you can go catch some of the action and feel what the sports environment is like here at GW. Come root alongside the Colonial Army (the student fan section that fills up a side close to the floor level) or watch from home and cheer, root on, and raise high your Buff and Blue!!!

I will continue to update you on the basketball season as I a.) love college basketball and b.) am a part of the band (Colonial Brass) and at every game. Feel free to ask me any questions and best of luck to those of you applying Early Decision about now and for those of you working on your applications. Keep up the good work and reach out if I can help you in any way!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Funky Weather

2011-10-29T19:50:00.000-04:00

If you live in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region, chances are it's been snowing where you are. If you don't, just check Facebook--literally everyone finds it necessary to report the weather via social media--cause no one else has access to the outdoors! Heh.

All jokes aside, DC's first snow was quite the letdown. Nothing really stuck down here, but it sure made all the errands I had to run today ANNOYING to accomplish. Everybody loves the first snow of the season, but this was such a tease! It looked like snow, felt like snow, tasted like snow, but once it hit the ground it just became a yucky blucky mess.

HOWEVER, this is why I went to school in a city: aside from the *minor* debacle of Snowpocalypse 2010, everything pretty much stays running during trying weather. You can leave campus easy-peasy, and with the metro soooooooo close by (I live a block away), transportation anywhere and everywhere is also super easy--plus it keeps you out of the elements while in transit!

One piece of advice for incoming freshmen: buy galoshes or some type of weatherproof shoe. There WILL be days when you have to walk 15 minutes to the other side of campus for class, and you're not gonna want to be sporting fancy flats or those fuzzy furry puffy Uggs you may adore. Not practical.

Because I'm not midterm-ing anymore, send emails! Ask any question(s) you'd like! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

Field Trip!

2011-10-27T18:03:00.001-04:00

Today, my Modern Iranian Media & Culture class went to Moby Dick's kabob house in Dupont. It was our way of celebrating the completion of our midterm, and an excellent excuse to go eat some delicious Persian food in great company!

Not really sure why it's called "Moby Dick"... but it's good kabob.

I love that class, and all the students get along really well together, so it was fun to see them all outside of class (though still kinda in class, since it was when we usually met and all). My professor is all about immersing us in Iranian culture both inside and out of the classroom, so Iranian students and those with absolutely no previous knowledge of the country all profit from the experience. I'm hoping to get into her Iranian Cinema class next semester (it's under the Classical Studies--Special Topics section of GWeb, if you're interested in registering!). I just have to make sure it fits in my schedule. Fingers crossed!

I'm glad GW's opening the Middle Eastern Studies department to include more Persian language and cultural studies classes. Goodness knows Iran is VERY relevant to all sorts of things these days--it's definitely a worthwhile topic to study! And a very interesting one, at that.

Oh and I know I tagged this as an 'academic excursion' and it's not quite academic but more of an excursion--so, sorry? There's no pre-made tag for field trips or playing hooky with your entire class (and professor)!

Email me! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Swanky Luncheon

2011-10-25T18:48:00.000-04:00

Today, my friend (and fellow VFC eboard member) and I went to an awards luncheon at The Capital Hilton. The event was for Planned Parenthood of Metro-Washington, which we are always in contact with for our Voices for Choices goings-on. So it was fun to see all the people we represent.

It was so high-class! The butter they served with their rolls was in the shape of the Capitol building--it was so crazy. And the meal itself was very good too. They definitely shelled out some big bucks for this one, and I'm all right with that! It was a splendid affair to honor the awardees: DCAF (The DC Abortion Fund, Fredda S. Sparks, and Ellen Malcolm. Lizz Winstead, a former Daily Show writer, was the keynote speaker. AND SHE WAS SO FUNNY! Definitely check out her link and see if you can go to a show or at least watch a video of hers. If you're a hippie liberal like myself, you'll love her bit.

Souvenir chocolate in the shape of a birth control pill pack--HILARIOUS.

We're thinking of selling these and similarly hilariously-shaped chocolate goods for a fundraiser--what are your thoughts on that? I know I'd pay for one of those, I think it's just so funny and crafty.

Let me know your thoughts on that, and ask any questions you desire! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Fojol Bros. of Merlindia

2011-10-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

Based on the title, you'd think I was blogging about a traveling circus or the like, right? OR maybe that wouldn't be your first guess, but it's pretty whimsical nonetheless. Well, Fojol Bros. describe themselves as "a traveling culinary carnival" and invite you to join in the festivities whenever they stop by your neighborhood!

Yes, this is another food truck blog. I'm all about them--the posts and the trucks themselves! And when I saw Fojol Bros. was rated #3 best Indian food in DC by expressnightout.com, I decided I had to check them out. I mean, for a food truck to rate higher than numerous Indian restaurants throughout the city? That's pretty good stuff. Plus they're on campus often, and how can you bypass these outfits?

(photo courtesy of the world wide web!)

While all I really wanted was Butter Chicken, I got the duo of Butter Chicken and Cauliflower with Potatoes served over basmati rice. I gotta say, I was very pleased with my meal--it got me through my 3:45 class AND I was still fairly full for my 7:10-9:40, which is always pretty tedious. I have literally no complaints about any aspect of my meal, even the veggie option that I was less excited about than the chicken. It was all scrumptious and healthy, and great for a chilly fall day!

I also learned through their website that their serving materials are biodegradable and compost-able, and a portion of their proceeds go to programs for at-risk youth in DC. You really can't go wrong there! A delicious, hearty, and healthy meal for cheap that benefits the environment and the community? A+, Fojol Bros!

For more, stay tuned! I'll definitely be visiting multiple food trucks to come, including their sister (brother?) truck, Fojol Bros. of Benethiopia!

As always, email me! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Apple Picking!

2011-10-22T19:10:00.001-04:00

Today, my friends and I went apple picking with GW Trails! Well, minus the picking. Turns out all the in-season trees were picked dry, and the rest of the trees didn't have ripe fruit on them yet.

However, we still had a fun time! We went to a farm about an hour away in Poolesville, MD, and the drive was just as scenic as the destination. I love fall. I know I've mentioned it before, but I really, really love changing leaves and crisp air and autum-ness. So even though there was no picking of apples whatsoever, we still managed to have a great time playing in the hay, petting farm animals, eating caramel apples, apple pie, and hot cider, and using an old-fashioned contraption to core and peel fresh apples. Still a fall wonderland!

This is my first trip with GW Trails, and I don't think it'll be my last. Thing is, I'm a novice hiker, so I need to get a bit more experience anyway! This trip doesn't add a notch to my belt in that sense, but at least I know how Trails trips work now. This one only cost $15 (plus whatever you buy there), but you can pay on GWorld! And I didn't take advantage of this, but if you're over 21 and have a license, you can drive people there and go on the trip for free! They rent cars and get zipcars, that's what the trip cost mostly goes towards.

Here are some pictures from the excursion:

What a cute little baby!!!

Scarecrow--didn't just scare the crows. Just look at him!

My buds Matt and Emily.

SkyGoat: they had this weird bridge contraption so goats could go
from one pen to another--made me nervous.

Adorable baby cow!

Yay for fall!

Shoot me an email at shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Fin del homestay

2011-10-19T09:42:00.000-04:00

In an hour, my whole group will be heading to the airport to fly south to Temuco, Chile for about two weeks. It's crazy how fast this academic semester has passed by, and sad to realize this is the end of my homestay. A few nights ago, we had a farewell dinner with all of the host families and their students. It was really fun to sing "Todos Juntos" (a song we learned in Spanish) as well as "American Pie" to our host families, even though we were very disorganized and it just turned into hilarious entertainment on our part without trying. We also had a slideshow with pictures of our families together and it was fun to see my host mom's reaction to the pictures I picked, and other families' pictures.

After the farewell dinner with Emily, my host mom, and me

While some people are doing their independent study projects in the south of Chile and living in hostels or apartments, some people who choose to stay in Arica stay with their host families. I am really excited to be moving in with 3 of my really good friends on this program into an apartment when we get back from the south in November! I am happy to make this change because I worry that without a solid schedule with classes and clinic visits in November, I think I would have spent a lot of time alone in my homestay house being unproductive and unmotivated. I'm hoping my roommates will be a constant source of motivation but also entertainment!

I'm hoping to blog soon about chilenismos, Chilean slang, and my trip in Temuco focusing on the Mapuche indigenous group and their traditional medicine. Stay tuned :)

- Marisa

Block Party!

2011-10-16T17:53:00.000-04:00

Today was the 9th annual Foggy Bottom/West End block party, held on GW's campus in the park behind the metro and next to the hospital. It was a fun event for local vendors, clubs, and advocacy groups to spread their messages, give away coupons, and regale Foggy Bottom and West End residents with SWAG!

I went with fellow e-board members of The Global Language Network, first to set up a table and get people to sign up, but then to visit the other booths and see what they had to offer! We got some free cookies from Trader Joe's and Circa, free apple cider from TJ's also, a West End Library card (or the application, at least), and a pickle on a stick from Potbelly's! So that alone equals a good day. On top of that, there were live music and dance performances.

Entryway of the block party (from a few years ago)

Fun times had by all! And it was an absolutely gorgeous day, barely a cloud in the sky and a perfect 74 degrees out, but still with that crisp autumn chill that I love so much. It was also fun to see parents walking around with their students, I like seeing classmates with their parents--you can often see a bit of them in their kids. It's just fun to people-watch.

Emails are getting few-er and far-er between. Send me your GW/college app/life questions! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Bill Maher for Colonials Weekend!

2011-10-15T22:44:00.000-04:00

I just got back from Bill Maher's comedy show in the Charles E. Smith Center, and it was hilarious! I wasn't sure how much I'd like it--or rather, I knew I'd like it, but I wasn't sure if I'd love being there with my parents. My dad thinks he's hilarious, but sometimes my mom thinks he's too crass--and both of them don't love dirty jokes, something Bill's pretty well-known for. Luckily though, he managed to make the show great for all of us while still staying true to his style of comedy.

Bill was on campus as part of Colonials Weekend. That's "Parents' Weekend" to all you laypeople. I'm sure he was advised to gear his act a bit towards parents and students, but he didn't seem to actually follow those parameters. Stuff got kinda raunchy! But it never crossed the line, in my opinion. It sure got close, straddled the line, possibly, but eventually tip-toed back. The end note was especially risque, but overall I really enjoyed the show.

The topics ranged from the Republican debates to religion to imperialism to the President to male enhancement drugs, and rather seamlessly so, I might add. He also had a fun interaction with the audience and the sign language interpreters who had to translate even the grossest of words into their ASL equivalent. That was too funny.

So all in all, awesome show, great choice for Colonials Weekend (he's pretty much the only reason my parents came...) and I'm POOPED. Bed time. No, seriously, I'm going to bed at 10:45 on a Saturday. Nightnight!

I love reader emails! Send me one! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

WonkyBlog

2011-10-14T14:55:00.002-04:00

Today was WRGW's Truckapalooza! Over 20 food trucks with the DC Food Truck Association came out to one of GW's most successful student org events yet. Even in the rain (which happily cleared up!) didn't keep vendors or happy patrons away from the good eating!

As you may be able to tell from past blogs, I LOVE food trucks. They come to campus often, but never in such large numbers--I was overwhelmed! I will eventually try them all. Eventually. Today, since we had such a good selection to choose from, I got to try two! My buddy and I got food from two different trucks: DC Empanadas and Eat Wonky, and we split our meals. I got Wonky Fries (Canadian Poutine, if you've ever had it) and she got a grilled cheese and an "Asher" empanada--basically calzone filling in an empanada shell.

Everything we tried was good, but the poutine was what really won us over. That was a perfect 10; I'd go back to that one again and then some. I had been wanting to try it for so long and I was not disappointed in the least. So thanks, WRGW!!! This one was a real hit--and a great way to kick off parents weekend!

Poutine: french fries covered in (vegetarian!) gravy and mozzarella-type cheese

Keep emailing, I love questions and feedback! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu
<3 Shireen

Sigue la huelga de los estudiantes chilenos

2011-10-12T13:45:00.001-04:00

In Spanish class today, we talked about how we are getting to see an incredible period of history as all students nationwide in Chile continue to protest for cheaper education. Students are still not going to class and I understand their efforts at trying to get their point across and standing up for what they believe in, but they are holding themselves back academically as this year will have to be repeated. At the end of class, we watched this really well done YouTube video made by a student majoring in film studies right here in Arica. There are some great shots in it of the city and it helps me gain a more dynamic understanding of the protests than by just reading about it in the newspaper.

For more information on the protests, check out the Wikipedia page on the protests.

Hope you enjoy,
Marisa

Tacna, Peru

2011-10-11T13:20:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! One week ago, I was making banana bread for my host mom here to try and packing for Peru. Somehow it's a week later and I have a lot to update you all on!

The border crossing into Peru was exciting for me as it was my first time in Peru! It is a well traveled border, so Chileans don't even need their passports and instead just use their national ID cards. Most chileans end up going into Tacna for cheaper health care or appointments with specialists, plastic surgery, or to stock up on groceries, electronics, and other things. The only thing that can't travel over the border is fruit and vegetables- but pretty much everything else moves in between!

We spent the 3 days in Tacna eating delicious Peruvian food, visiting more health centers, doing a little community service in the poorest slum of Tacna where we painted numbers on each household so that they can be identified during the census and other home visits, interacting with people in the community involved in important projects like a community kitchen, and of course- Alpaca shopping.

The main highlight for me was doing a home visit alongside a nurse to a woman who had given birth 2 months ago and hadn't come in with her baby for her second check up. We spent a long time with her discussing the importance of breast feeding, because she was also feeding the baby whole bottles full of anise water (it is a myth here that anise water will settle a baby's digestion- instead, it is better for the mother to drink for increased milk production!). She also told us about her really horrible experience in the hospital here (the doctor allowed several students in on the Cesarean section and she wasn't fully under anesthesia so she could hear him describing the surgery) and how she wished she could have had a home birth but complications didn't allow it.

Centro de Salud de la Natividad

Outdoor market (yes, unrefrigerated chickens)

Statue in Tacna illustrating how much they rely on mining

Community kitchen conversation about sanitation measures

6:20 AM army drill down the street in front of our hotel.. we were worried it was a protest!

Education session we attended with pregnant/recent mothers to illustrate portion sizes and healthy meals for infants and toddlers

Dentists and pharmacies line the streets in Tacna

A shop filled with Alpaca where I found some amazing colorful fabric

Hope you enjoy these pictures! I have a week of exams and then we head to the south of Chile to Temuco and then to Bariloche, Argentina for some relax time before our independent study project starts! I am really excited for what is to come as it will all be new and more focused on my interests.

As always, email me! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
Marisa

Pie Truck

2011-10-10T22:19:00.000-04:00

Today, I treated myself to lunch at one of the food trucks that often frequent campus. I’ve been to CapMac, Sauca, and a few others, but today I visited Dangerously Delicious Pies!

And I gotta say, my slice really was dangerously delicious. It was a bit expensive at $7 for a slice of quiche, but it was a big slice and was packed solid—a filling and tasty lunch. And if you really think about it, a sandwich at any of the other hotspots on campus and off will run about that price or more—though if it’s on GWorld you don’t feel as guilty for spending. (Gworld is our meal plan sorta thing, can be spent at local restaurants--I'll do a separate post explaining that one of these days...)

Anyways, I got the Cowboy Quiche, and it was super tasty and meaty and peppery and cheesy and just good. My buddy and I ate our lunch on the Toni Morrison “bench by the road” in front of Lisner Auditorium. It was beautiful and sunny out and I didn’t have to work because of Columbus day, so really the afternoon was just perfect.

This is my favorite time of year—early fall when it’s still warm out but you can wear fall clothes because of the crisp-er air and trees change color and it’s just beautiful! So expect more posts with me gushing about how lovely it is outside and how much I adore October.

As always, email with whaterr! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

National Coming Out Week

2011-10-10T01:44:00.000-04:00

So this week is National Coming Out week and GW is taking part in this very important celebration of diversity at our campus. This is a great time when LGBT students (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer) are able to celebrate their diversity, remember their community and embrace support for even further change. GW's LGBTQ group, Allied in Pride, has sponsored many events this week and has a very sizable LGBTQ population that is taking part in these events.

An aerial view of the Mount Vernon's Hand Chapel

Tonight, I went to an interfaith service with my amazing friend Abby at the Hand Chapel on the Mount Vernon campus. The Hand Chapel is absolutely gorgeous and has a beautiful view into the wooded area that surrounds the rolling hills campus tucked away in the hills of Northwest DC. At this service, about ten students (allies and LGBT students) showed up to listen to a Father from Dignity Washington (group for LGBT Catholic persons) and an Emaan from a very liberal Islamic sect speak about the strength, divine acceptance and equality that the LGBT community was entitled to and possesses. The message presented by both presented a powerful message using water to illustrate that all people, gay straight, white or non-white, depend on this source and through this "recycling" process, we as a people are all one.

I am looking very forward to the rest of the events the week has to offer and will be sure to make it to as many as I can. To give you some insight as into what the rest of National Coming Out weeks involves, here are some of the events:

1. LGBT Study Abroad and International Careers Information Session
2. Glee Night (I mean isn't that just amazing!!!!)
3. Out of the Closet and On to the Screen: The Changing Images of the LGBT Community on Film and Television
4. LGBT Family Friday: Dessert and Mocktails (Since this weekend is Parent's Day weekend here at GW)
5. OUTing to Town (which is a very popular local LGBT bar here in Northeast DC)

As always, if you have any questions about anything, feel free to contact me with any questions and I will give you an answer or find you an answer if I don't know it right off the top of my head. Best of luck to all you Early Decision students and I look forward to continuing to help all of you :)

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Festa Italiana!

2011-10-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

Today was the Italian Fest--Festa Italiana in DC! As a proud Italian-American, I just had to go! So my roomie and I went out to Judiciary Square a while ago to check things out.

There was gelato, cannoli, and pizza, of course, but they were also serving sausage and pepper sandwiches, pastas, and porchetta sandwiches--that's pig roasting on a spit, in case you're wondering. Not my scene, exactly, but I had my fill of home-made pizza, gelato, and cannoli, for sure.

That's what I'm talking about.

There was also an opera singer and a man who walked on stilts, rode a mini bicycle, and somehow maneuvered on a unicycle, as well. I'm not sure what the circus act had to do with Italian-ness, but I was all about it. The festival also had vendors selling various things and a few different raffles, one to win a trip to Italy, even--keep your fingers crossed that I win!

And because of our bombastic Italian pride, there were fancy Italian cars on display--Ferraris, Maseratis, and Lamborghinis, of course. All in all, good time. Viva Italia, I say!

Shoot me an email, if you like! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Skype-dates Galore!

2011-10-06T16:36:00.000-04:00

I've never been much of a skyper, I'm pretty much only on when I've specifically scheduled a skype-date with someone, otherwise I shut the application off. Lately though, I've found that I'm constantly making skype-dates and always logging on to hear the rather-annoying *wooooommmmp* sound.

Can you guess why? All those darned study-abroaders! I've got so many friends doing Focus on Fall Abroad, or FOFAC (here's fellow blogger Marisa's post on what that actually is). But as a result, everyone's away and our only way to catch up is through Skype--cause goodness knows calling each other is way too pricey. So I've got at least a skype-date a week, almost every week.

Now that's difficult enough for me: I have to find about an hour span in the day when I'm not doing work, at my internship, or in class, which is hard enough, but I also have to make sure my computer is charged and I am home in time--I could do it elsewhere, but I don't like people listening in to my Skype conversations. More so than phone conversations, which is weird of me, but I just don't like it. So scheduling for myself is a bit of an ordeal.

Not only that, but *most* of these people are in other time zones, so we have to finagle times that we're BOTH not occupied, which is a bit tough with such lengthy time differences--worst so far was 9 hours. That was rough, one of us had to stay up way past our bedtimes (hint: it was me!)

But it's aiight, really. If not for this lovely mechanism, I'd be a lot less connected to my buddies abroad this semester, and no one wants that! Coming home from a semester in another country is hard enough, it's gotta be harder if you feel like you don't even remember your old friends! So I'm doing best to alleviate that for my pals on other continents--and it's fun for me, too!

Email me, if you like! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

Coming to Life

2011-10-05T00:02:00.001-04:00

An excerpt from the tour guide life: everyone's favorite question is, what can GW give me that other universities can't? Last week, I got a very resounding answer.

A week ago, prolific Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison graced the GW campus for a one-night engagement in the Lisner. Having read one of her famous novels in high school, it felt like an unbelievable opportunity to get to see her in person. And that it was! Ms. Morrison has arguably done the most for black women in literature in the last few decades than any other author, and to see her sitting up on the all-too-familiar Lisner stage was nothing short of spectacular. She was funny and lighthearted in her storytelling, but also deeply moving and impassioned in her readings from old and new works alike. She even allowed a Q & A session afterwards, where I found she was completely approachable and down to Earth in responding to some intensive questions (typical GW kids). Ms. Morrison also has begun a project here at GW called Bench By the Road, and the new bench in her honor has been placed outside the Auditorium, so stop by and check it out if you're on campus!

This is the thing about GW, though. Where else can you see one of the most groundbreaking writers in modern literature speak FOR FREE on a regular weeknight? It's opportunities like these that make this the place to be. In addition, it really brings what we learn in the classroom out and into a new light, coming full circle. I read this book in high school, saw its author speak in college, and found myself tremendously moved and compelled to go back and re-examine her work now as an older, more mature and capable person. Maybe I'm just nerdy, but I love to learn, and more importantly, I love to relearn, building upon things I already know with new ways of thinking. It is seeing influential people like Toni Morrison that gives a student like me an opportunity to grow and rethink the opinions I have already set forth on the world around me. Moments like that, I just feel honored to be here.

I'll be back soon to tell you all about the whirlwind of my academic/extra-curricular life here at the G-Dub, but until then, pour your heart out to gmdepalo@gwmail.gwu.edu. And also, check out my fellow blogger Shireen's post on Ms. Morrison's night in the Lisner: http://gwadmissions.blogspot.com/2011/09/toni-morrison.html.

See you around campus,
Gina Michele

Student-Athlete Leadership Retreat

2011-10-04T15:17:00.000-04:00

As promised, I am going to talk about the student- athlete leadership retreat that was held on Sunday, September 18. While we knew that something was planned, we had no idea what exactly. They wouldn’t tell us or our coaches, as it was meant to be a surprise. We were told to arrive at the Smith Center at 11:30am (only an hour after my team and I arrived back on campus after our red eye flight from San Diego) and grab a colored tshirt (the only thing we were told beforehand was the color of the team we were on- I was orange) from one of the tables set up in the gym. On the back of the shirts was the GW logo and the phrase "Our Nation's First President. Our University. Our Team." After all the athletes were changed into their new shirts and settled back in the bleachers, our new AD, Patrick Nero, spoke to us about the purpose of the day as well as leading us in our fight song with help from part of the colonial army. Immediately after we loaded into 9 coach buses and ventured to our mystery location for the day, which ended up being……...drum roll please…………Mount Vernon. And I don’t mean Mount Vernon as in the Vern (our other campus), but as in the Mount Vernon Estate that was owned by George Washington, located in Virginia.

It was finally revealed that the day would be filled with learning all about the man behind our university, which consisted of the museum, a tour of his mansion, and team-building/ leadership games. The reason behind Mount Vernon as the location? According to Nero, "In order to lay the foundation for our student-athletes to represent the George Washington University and wear his name across our uniforms, I thought it'd be beneficial for all of us to learn about the man." And it was beneficial. Even though my team and I were beyond tired from the weekend, we did learn a lot and even got to meet some athletes that we have never met before. Following all the fore mentioned activities, we were all graciously treated to a BBQ. By this time, it was already past 5pm and it was time to head back to campus and in my case, quickly do some homework and get some long-awaited sleep. If you want to read more about the day, here is the GWSports press release: GW Student-Athletes Learn Leadership Lessons from University Namesake

my orange team

*all photos/ video courtesy of gwsports.com*

AND HERE IS A VIDEO THAT GWSPORTS MADE ABOUT THE DAY (CHECK OUT THE SPEAKING APPEARANCE BY ONE OF MY ROOMMATES/TEAM CAPTAIN- SHE'S AWESOME):

On another volleyball note, my team and I have won our last 2 matches versus Loyola Maryland (on Wednesday) and versus Charlotte (Saturday night here at home). As of right now, our overall record is 12-5 and we are undefeated at home (7-0)!!! And this coming Friday, October 7, we will be trying to keep our streak alive with a home match against Dayton at 7pm (an A10 conference match). If you can please come support us as we take on the defending A10 conference champs!
Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Quite a Fright

2011-10-04T11:32:00.002-04:00

There’s a cold chill in the air. A heightened feeling of trepidation, anxiousness, and general dismay—it’s October, the eeriest time of the year. Why this sudden sense of fright on campus? Is it Halloween spirit? Oh no, my friends, this… is… MIDTERMS!

Ahhhhhhhhh!!! So much scarier than any Halloween horrors!

Seriously, everybody’s just bugging out, and most tests haven’t even started yet! We’re just super anxious and stressed out as a result of the coming stress we know we’ll have to deal with. Psyching ourselves up, it seems. As of now, my midterm session looks… aiight. Not fabulous, but ok. I have 3 in-class tests, one take-home, one paper. So we’ll see how that goes, I’ll keep you all in the loop.

Here’s the thing about midterms: I don’t know about your high school, but in mine, we only had one week of midterms, and they were very structured. It was great: you only went to school the days you had tests, and you left after you finished your exams. Here, midterms could be any time between the first day of school to right before final exams, really (I had one the day before Thanksgiving break last year, as well as one the first week of October.) That’s quite a span. Additionally, they can be whatever format your professor wants—as you can see, I have quite a span of categories of exams this year. It’s gonna be a whirlwind.

But you get through, you always do. Whether you pull 3 straight all-nighters or finish writing your paper due in your 12:45 class during your 11:10—you get it done. And that’s what college is about.

Email me, as usual, but as it IS midterm season, don’t expect the quickest response! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3Shireen

Visitas con la clase de español

2011-10-03T19:36:00.000-04:00

This past week in Spanish class was surprisingly fun. I will never say that again, 1. because all we have coming up are tests and presentations, and 2. there are no full weeks of class left! It's crazy how fast the academic class section of the SIT study abroad program passes by. Tomorrow, we leave for a 3 day trip to Tacna, Peru, and it's funny to me that I will have been in Peru without visiting larger cities or seeing Machu Picchu... just another reason to come back! Then we have a week of final presentations and exams and another trip, this time to Temuco, Chile (largest concentration of Mapuche ethnicity) and Bariloche, Argentina (basically the swiss alps with a street of chocolate stores.. oh no).

In Spanish class this past week, we talked a lot about mental health in order to complement our visits to the Center for Mental Health, focusing on serious mental health issues, and the Center for Women, which focuses on domestic violence and rehabilitation. With a lot of heavy conversation going on, especially as we heard first person accounts of their marital issues at the Center for Women, a trip to the fish market and the agricultural market was a welcome break. We still had assignments to bring back to class for discussion, but it was mostly learning about the different type of products offered and whether or not the fishermen/vendors knew the health benefits of the foods they sell.

The fish market is currently mostly populated by fish from Southern Chile- everyone told us that they were the best tasting ("mas rico") if you fried them in oil.

Sea lions on the rocky coastline at the port ("lobos marinos")

Fish vendor making ceviche

The agricultural market vendor stalls

Olive stand

Since students enrolled in the universities here are still on strike, we have continued to be the only students on the alternate Universidad de Tarapaca campus. We have classes at the CFT campus, where all the technical and professional skills classes are held. A few nights ago, several students/mischievous kids (usually the more dangerous stunts aren't done by students, and instead sketchy younger kids) on the main campus were burning tires and forced the police to cut off traffic all around the university. A bunch of us were together at my neighbors' house eating apples with honey for Rosh Hashanah and we could just see the police perimeter that was set up. Thankfully, nothing progressed from there even though the police were prepared with tear gas. This was the first time since we've been here that I've seen any time of confrontation on this issue, but students in Santiago frequently organize marches, protests, and arguments with police.

UTA Campus CFT classrooms and Elizabeth

I also finally snagged this picture from my friend Emily of me with my family during the 18th of September festivities. I finally met my dad, Gonzalo, who works in a town about 10 hours away from Monday through Saturday. He was lucky enough to get the week off to visit Ester and I.

The props were provided for the photo... I did not wear that hat all night

I'll update you all again once we get back from Tacna. Hopefully I will return with lots of amazing alpaca products and insight into how the healthcare system works in Peru in order to make comparisons with the system in Chile. Ciao for now!
- Marisa
marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

Turkish Festival!

2011-10-02T20:54:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love the DC Turkish Festival. It's held every year on the first weekend of October around 12th to 14th streets on Pennsylvania Avenue (right outside the Federal Triangle metro), and it's been rated DC's best festival by Washington City Paper. There are performances, a bazaar to buy all your Turkish/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern essentials, and PLENTY of food! Seriously, there's so much, it's fabulous.

I went last year and loved it, so I had to go again this year. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. They had the best Turkish folk dance troupe in the world perform! How do I know they were the best? They won the international competition in Poland last year. I'm not sure why the Turkish folk dance competition was held in Poland, of all places, but they won! And so they came all the way from Istanbul (Turkey, not Poland, haha) to perform at the DC Turkish festival! That's kind of a big deal, if you ask me.

I'm usually pretty open-minded with my palate, but all I wanted today was a chicken Doner sandwich and some baklava. I gotta tell you though, it hit the spot. I could have been more adventurous, but I've been looking forward to this festival for so long I already knew what I'd be doing and eating and all that jazz. No complaints though, it was serious fun.

Image from the DC Turkish Festival's website--pretty legit.

All in all, great day! Also a great end to a fantastic weekend and a great start to the week!

Send your questions and whatnot to: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Tattoos!

2011-10-01T23:14:00.001-04:00

Not on me... hahaha. I bet you got excited for a second though, right?

As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday was my roommate's 21st birthday. Needless to say, it was a party-hearty night. As was Friday. And when it's your 21st, the party lasts all weekend. So today, a group of us accompanied her to Georgetown to get a tattoo!

She already has one, but she'd been thinking for a long time she wanted a second, and she had the image planned out for a while.

The design looked a little something like this (can't take a pic cause she's still bandaged up):

et ignotas animum

dimittit in artes

Which means (roughly) "and he set himself to the study of unknown arts." It's an excerpt from Ovid's Metamorphosis which was used as the opening line in James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I haven't read either... whoops. But my roomie is really cool, so... yeah. Interesting quotation though, right?

She got it on her rib which is apparently one of the worst places to get one since it's RIGHT on the bone. Ouchhhhhhh. Probably never getting one, though I kind of want to. I think I'm just 1) too indecisive, and 2) too squeamish about needles. I passed out while getting some shots at the pediatrician's office when I was younger. Not good stuff.

But it was still fun! Jinx Proof in Georgetown is where most GW people seem to go to get their tattoos, it seems. They're well thought-of and clean, though kinda pricey!

So yeah, while it's not that cool for *me* I still feel like some residual cool factor rubbed off on me for spending an afternoon in a tattoo parlor. If not, don't burst my bubble, aiight?

Hit up shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu with questions or whatever!

~~~Shireen

My Buddy's 21st Birthday!

2011-09-30T12:04:00.001-04:00

Last night was my roommate's birthday, the big 2-1, so we all went out to Zaytinya for dinner. It's a Greek-Turkish-Lebanese restaurant in Chinatown owned by superstar Chef José Andrés. He's pretty much the most well-known chef in DC, and he's internationally renowned, as well. Below is a spot on him from 60 Minutes! Yes, I watch 60 minutes... I am your grandfather.

If you're not up for watching the piece, it talks about all his innovative creations and how he re-defines foods as we know them, completely re-purposing ingredients we know and love to make something almost revolutionary. One of the concepts he employs is called "molecular gastronomy"--too much for me to explain, watch the piece or Google it. But olive oil ice cream, for instance--sounds so weird but it was awesome! Rose water ice cream, as well. And that was just dessert. (Listen to me, JUST dessert. Oh please, Shireen.)

Additionally, he is an avid supporter of DC Central Kitchen, which feeds the homeless AND trains them as chefs to work in restaurants. He's originally from Spain, but Andrés now makes DC his home, and he claims he loves it. I believe it!

So all around great cause, great guy, and great food. I was so excited to finally go to one of his restaurants! I've wanted to for sooooo long--he's kind of an icon.

AND my friend had a lovely birthday, and we loved sharing it with her!

email me: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Viaje a Putre, Belen y Lago Chungará

2011-09-26T20:24:00.000-04:00

I'm doing a really great job at blogging regularly... (not). Sorry to my anxious readers who are following my moves in Chile! :) And wow I have a lot to catch you all up on.

This past week, my SIT study abroad group traveled east with our program director and program assistant into what is called the "pre-cordillera," meaning basically the foothills of the Andes mountain range. These foothills were also around 12 000 feet of altitude change for all of us. We left Arica in the morning and arrived in Putre late afternoon Tuesday, with several stops along the way in order to acclimate as much as possible. Thankfully, my dad suggested I get some altitude medicine before leaving home, and it came in handy because my symptoms were much less severe than some girls on the trip. Once there, we had some pretty interesting presentations from traditional Aymara medicine men and an Aymara midwife where they showed us the herbs they used and described certain ceremonies they practice. We also toured the local health center and talked to locals about the interaction between Aymara medicine and modern medicine that goes on in Putre and the surrounding areas.

Town of Putre, population around 1 000

Yatiri (Aymara medicine man)

Partera (Aymara traditional birthing assistant) showing how she uncoils the umbilical cord from around a baby's wrist or neck without even touching the mother

After a few days of class in Putre, we continued on to Belen to visit the rural health post where one paramedic attends to the 27 inhabitants of the village and also treats others who come over the border from Bolivia or surrounding camps. The town is so small that we were greeted by a town elder. The town was tiny yet beautifully located with many abandoned houses among the rocky landscape. The school only has 7 students, ranging in age from 5 to 12, and many of the children are Bolivian. We brought them candy (good work, public health program) yet didn't feel too bad because they only get it from our visits- otherwise all the food they eat is locally produced. That afternoon, in another small town on the way back to Putre for the night, we had a typical Aymara lunch where they cook the food underground. We were stuffed to the brim with lamb, corn, and potatoes by the time we left and everyone napped on the way back to the hotel.

7 person school in Belen, town population is around 27 (!!!)

Unearthing a traditional Aymara feast of lamb, pastel de choclo (corn paste cooked in its husk), and potatoes

After a surprisingly great sleep at altitude, we traveled even further into thin air to 14 764 feet to Lago Chungará in Parque Nacional Lauca. I kid you not. It was impossible to walk quickly, jump, and make sudden movements (yet of course we tried, who doesn't want a jumping picture next to one of the highest lakes in the world?). It was amazingly beautiful and fun to finally sightsee. That afternoon, we also stopped for lunch and a swim at a hot springs. There were several pools with mud floors and one bigger concrete pool pictured below. We headed back to Arica after lounging around in the sun and the warm water!

Parinacota Volcano, Lago Chungará, and my roommates for November!

Termas Jurasi (hot springs)

Overall, it was a really amazing first trip with the program and I am excited for our adventure next week to Tacna, Peru!
As always, email me at marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Book Festival!

2011-09-26T18:18:00.000-04:00

I never get a chance to go to the Library of Congress National Book Festival. Except this year... but I wasn't able to stay for long. So I STILL didn't get to see any of the cool panels or get any books signed by awesome people!!!

Two of my favorite modern authors were there: Toni Morrison (though I *did* see her like, 4 days ago when she came to campus) and Sarah Vowell, who writes books on history in a really quirky and funny manner. You may have seen her on The Daily Show, or as the kid in The Incredibles. Yeah, she did the voice for that--she's really cool.

But I didn't get to see either of them, because I'm an idiot and didn't budget my time! They were both there Saturday and I went Sunday, and I only gave myself 2 hours to spend there so I didn't get to do much. I'm a jerk. Welcome to my self-loathing blog.

Moral of the story: GO TO THE NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL. But even more: FIND OUT WHO IS SPEAKING AND WHEN. and then GO WHEN COOL PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING. And you won't hate yourself as much as I do right now... in fact, you'll be very satisfied with your planning and time management skills.

Heed my warnings, folks. They're real. Coming from a true source of wisdom.

Email me and chastise me for not taking advantage of the LOC National Book Fest: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Busy, Busy Weekends

2011-09-24T23:04:00.001-04:00

At this very moment, I feel like a zombie. And I probably look like one too. Why you ask? Let me explain the last two weekends. First, last weekend, my team and I were in San Diego for the San Diego Volleyball Tournament, which meant we left on Thursday morning after practice and returned on the red eye flight Sunday morning at 9am. It was probably the fastest weekend of my life. We were either traveling (by plane or vans), playing volleyball, eating, or trying to catch up on sleep. Unfortunately, in California, our undefeated streak ended at 10. But we are learning from those losses, so while it sucks, we are trying to make something good come out of it. You might wonder why we took a red eye flight to return back in D.C. early Sunday morning instead of waiting until later. Well, we had an event waiting for us back on campus. Our new athletic director planned for the entire student-athlete community, a student athlete leadership retreat. I will do a separate post on that in a few days.

our hotel in San Diego

creepy doll picture that was in every room

Now this weekend, we are traveling on the road again, but this time for the beginning of the A10 conference season! We are playing Duquesne and St. Louis, which means that we bus from D.C. to Pittsburgh, then from Pittsburgh to St. Louis with a stop overnight in Springfield, Ohio. Then, on Sunday, we will be flying back to D.C. and arriving back on campus after midnight. I am actually currently on the bus as I type traveling to St. Louis. I love traveling on buses so much more than our vans that we take to local games/tournaments. Mainly because there is so much more space, meaning you can sleep, and also since we can watch movies (we watched the Proposal on Thursday’s drive).

driving through Ohio- looks exciting....

bus ride!

Now, you can probably understand why I look and feel like a zombie. Lots of travel, volleyball, and homework (I had 3 papers due and my first exam this past week). Well, I’m going to attempt to take a nap for the remainder of the drive then catch up on some homework.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Choice USA Generation 2 Generation Awards

2011-09-24T12:53:00.000-04:00

Last night, my roommate (also my Voices for Choices VP) and I went to the Gen2Gen Celebration for ChoiceUSA. This weekend is their annual conference in DC, and the weekend-long affair kicked off last night at K Street Lounge with an award ceremony featuring Gloria Steinem!

I know... I'm pretty lucky to have seen Toni Morrison and Gloria Steinem ALL IN ONE WEEK! And within only a few days of each other! Eek!

Obviously, as VFC President I'm all about pro-choice advocacy, but I haven't had a lot of opportunities to schmooze with others in the field. Last night was my first exposure to that world, and I'm super excited to immerse myself in it even more! I was told by my liaison with Planned Parenthood that we've got exciting things in store for the campus PP groups--can't wait!

So it was a really cool event with a whole lotta awesome pro-choicers and members of the sexual advocacy community. I also got to meet with Georgetown's H*yas for Choice, and we started the planning process for a DC University-wide event, so be on the lookout for that!

The event will include the entertainer at last night's happy hour celebration, a spoken word artist based in DC named Sonya Renee. She was really good, we all got chills from some of her poems--so we really want to have an event with her! It would probably be at a venue in or around Dupont Circle, so we can get a steady audience from GW, Georgetown, and AU as well. Let me know your thoughts on that!

Email me! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

TONI MORRISON.

2011-09-22T09:48:00.000-04:00

I cannot describe how much I love Toni Morrison and her books. I've read Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Beloved twice each, as well as a few of her others. I just love her style of writing, the subject matter, and the characters, and today, on Toni Morrison Day (as announced by the DC government!), I got to see her for the SECOND time! Once was enough of an honor, but now TWICE?! Too good to be true.

Here she is! What a lady.

But alas, it is true! As a result of the efforts of my former professor and another highly-regarded writer, Evelyn Schreiber, Professor Morrison came to Lisner Auditorium last night to read from her latest work, A Mercy, and give a brief snippet of the piece she's currently working on, entitled Home. When she revealed the title, the entire audience responded with a resounding "hooomeee..." as if on cue. It was really cool that we all just did that without thinking--and after realizing it, we all laughed at ourselves. Toni just does that to you. She's the bomb.

Needless to say, my heart was aflutter the entire time, and I hung onto every single word as if she was explaining the meaning of life. She was also REALLY funny! The first time I saw her was a few years ago in high school, and she was kind of stoic and not as chatty, I was a bit intimidated. This time, she was so relatable and just full of laughter and kindness! She even dragged out the Q&A section a bit longer to accommodate eager questioners.

All in all, tonight was fantastic. When you visit GW, go see the bench dedicated as part of her Bench by the Road Project. It's a lasting testament to the abominations of slavery as well as the total awesomeness of Toni Morrison.

Not often you see slavery and total awesomeness in one sentence, eh? That's what Toni provides. Go read Song of Solomon NOW!

Email me with any info your heart desires! Unless it's hating on Toni. shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3Shireen

Another Conference, Hopefully You're Not Tired of All These--I know I'm not!

2011-09-21T19:26:00.001-04:00

I seem to be going to a conference a week for work, and it's awesome! Today's was about Islamic Finance law and policy, and it took place in the GW law school, so I didn't have to go far, which was nice! Also, it was catered by corner bakery, which I love! I had to fight myself not to grab like, 18 sugar cookies.

But back to the conference: I met a lot of fancy people, most of which traveled rather far to attend. And I swapped business cards with people! Yay for networking! It would be a lot more helpful if I was actually a business-inclined person, but hey, why not? They were all talking about finance and risk-sharing and more business jargon and so much of it went over my head. Then they got to the Islam side and I totally knew what they were talking about--finally.

The deal with Islamic Finance, in layman's terms, is that asking for or paying interest is against Shari'a law. It's also not kosher in Talmudic tradition and in Christian teachings. (haha didn't even mean to pun "not kosher"... I say that a lot). SO these companies and organizations have to find ways around loans, mortgages, and other finance stuff that doesn't deal in interest. And that was really interesting! Actually! Even when they started talking dollars and cents and using business talk!

So while this isn't my principle interest in life, it definitely broadened my horizons and opened up a lot of new opportunities for me! It's something I'd definitely like to learn more about and do some of my own research on.

Send an email with whatever you'd like! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

GW Law School Fair 2011

2011-09-20T00:59:00.001-04:00

Howdy guys!!!

Although Monday's are probably one of my busiest days of classes, I found way to make it to GW's Second Annual Law School Fair. It was an absolutely amazing event that I was able to cover in two one-hour sessions between my Youth & Delinquency class and Chemistry evening class. Over 120 law schools were in attendance, even including 17 of the top 20 law schools (which by the way includes GW law) Look for yourself : http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings

Go to GW?

The tables covered the entire floor of the Charles E. Smith Center, GW's main indoor sports arena right in the heart of campus if you haven't heard Christie or me mention it before. Some of the tables I checked out were the University of Alabama Law, Michigan State Law, UC Irvine Law, Yale Law, Columbia Law, William & Mary Law, The University of Texas School of Law, NYU Law, George Mason Law, Georgetown Law, Vanderbilt Law, The University of Maryland Law, Cornell Law, Santa Clara Law and last but certainly not least The George Washington University School of Law. I was very impressed with all the information I gathered on these schools as a sophomore in college and have a great knowledge of the opportunities available to me both locally and nationally as I go to these events and see the schools that are anxious to get GW graduates.

This is an amazing opportunity for GW students as it was held on our campus and attended by not only GW students, but other local college students and even local DC workers looking to go back to college. It was amazing to have this resource available to me all afternoon and speaks to the life of a GW student- going to career or professional school fairs between classes.

As always, please feel more than welcome to ask me any questions and I am thoroughly enjoying those of you I am currently assisting. Keep your grades up, stay involved and work on those essays!

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Conference at The New American Foundation

2011-09-16T16:52:00.001-04:00

Today at work, I was sent out to a conference at The New America Foundation. It was entitled Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al-Qaeda. The speakers were Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt, co-authors of a book sharing that title and NY Times correspondents on national security.

It was a really interesting discussion and very relevant to my studies, though not so much to my current job... it's aiight though. I got to leave the office for a bit (and go directly across the street, haha) But as you may have noticed in past posts of mine, I really like events with cool DC people and big wigs.

Here's a video from the discussion:

Video streaming by Ustream

Cool, huh? And guess who's back-of-the-head is right in the middle of the screen, there. Mine! So yeah. Pretty cool indeed.

As always, shoot me an email at: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

¡El 18 de septiembre- fiestas patrias!

2011-09-16T08:50:00.002-04:00

We are gearing up here in Chile to celebrate national independence day, the 18th of september! Today, I don't have class and Monday is a national holiday so Chileans take this opportunity to celebrate all weekend long. It's amazing how proud Chileans are of their country- in every stand, store, and home, there are decorations with the flag and flag colors. It's hilarious to me that the U.S. and Chile share red, white, and blue as their flag colors so I feel very patriotic for both countries while sporting these colors around town.

I will be attending several lunch barbecues ("asados") with my family and hopefully going out downtown to see the festival and parade this weekend. Everyone relaxes, eats a lot, and gets together with their family. I am excited to finally meet my host dad who is coming into town for the weekend to spend time with his family. He usually works about 10 hours away so he will be taking a bus here today and returning Monday by bus for work on Tuesday.

Chilean flag on the morro (huge rock hill basically) overlooking downtown

Main street throughout town is named for this holiday!

A typical all meat barbecue (called an "asado")

Chilean mulled wine ("navegado"): red wine, oranges, sugar

Empanadas up the wazoo!

Traditional Chilean dance, the cueca

Hope everyone is enjoying the DC weather- I would love to get some more heat down here!

As always, ask me anything! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Voices for Choices Event!

2011-09-15T22:14:00.000-04:00

So you know how I just promoted The Global Language Network? Well now I'm here to promote my other student org, Voices for Choices!

We're the pro-choice and sexual health awareness group on campus. A 10-year old chapter of VOX, we work directly with Planned Parenthood on advocacy work, lobbying, clinic escorting, and various other issues related to sexual health and pro-choice activism at GW, in DC, and in the political arena.

Additionally, this year I, as President, am in partnership with Sir Richard's Condom Company, a forward-thinking company with a proactive premise: for each condom bought, one is donated to a developing country. This year, they're working with Partners in Health to meet the staggering demand for sexual health education in Haiti.

Click "Attend" on our Facebook Event Page! Even if you can't actually come, I'd like to drum up support--it's too good a cause not to!

Email me with your thoughts! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

... and if you'd like to be added to the VFC email listserv, shoot me an email at vfc@gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Mi investigación aquí en Arica

2011-09-15T17:49:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile. During the week, I feel like I've gotten so adjusted to the routine of so much class that when I'm not in class or working on an assignment, I'm sleeping haha. No joke... with the free time between our first and second class (12-3 PM), I come home to eat lunch and take at least an hour nap. It's really refreshing but sometimes leaves me pretty groggy for our public health seminar classes. Oh well... everything I need to know for that class is in the book they gave us, so I can always revise it later :)

I thought I'd talk a little about the progress I've been making on my research here in Arica. Since my program includes class, culture, and research, we have all been working on narrowing down our interests to find one interesting topic to explore here. I definitely want to work in the public sector here, as the main hospital is run through the public insurance called FONASA. I am really interested in maternal health, and luckily upwards of 200 babies are born here each month, making it a great place to get some data!

Hospital Dr Juan Noe Crevani (named after a famous physician who gave back to the community)

I hopefully will be working within the maternity section of the hospital, and my goal is to compare the mothers who naturally give birth (through birth canal) versus the mothers who give birth by cesarean section (operation). I am interested to see if there is a connection between the indigenous group, the Aymara, located in Northern Chile and an increased rate of cesarean section. My thought process is that these two would be connected maybe due to some hereditary pelvis size/shape, as Aymara women are typically shorter (average around 5 feet). This is a huge leap/assumption, but hopefully something interesting will emerge from my data!

The hospital has created "Aymara birthing suites" to encourage and incentivize Aymara women to give birth in the hospital, as opposed to at home- Chilean law requires women to give birth in a hospital. They are welcome to bring family members, special herbs, and their midwife.

Aymara women

Because of the research I am doing here, I was able to apply and receive the GW Study Abroad Office "Commitment to Community" scholarship for this semester. I love that I am being rewarded for something I am so passionate and interested in doing!

Hope you find my research as interesting as I do :) As always, I am super open to questions! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

The Global Language Network

2011-09-15T16:11:00.000-04:00

This is not my first post on The GLN, and it likely won't be my last, but I figure I should raise awareness for those who haven't heard of it yet. Also, I'm President of GLN-GW, so I think a bit of shameless plugging won't hurt anyone!

Here's the deal: The Global Language Network began 6 years ago as a GW student org, and since we have branched out to become an official 501(c)3 non-profit. We teach over 50 languages to the GW and greater DC communities, and our classes are taught on GW's campus and the surrounding Foggy Bottom area. Also, classes are offered nights and weekends, so they can work around your class/work/interning schedule.

Sounds great, right? But wait, there's more! All our classes are FREE! You have to put down a $100 deposit as a GW student, but if you don't miss more than 3 classes, you get your money back! So it's just a win-win-win. Everyone wins. Classes began yesterday for the fall session, but log in to our website at www.thegln.org or email me at shireen@thegln.org to sign up for our newsletter so you're in the know on our other events and preparations for the spring session! And use your GW email when creating an account to secure yourself priority registration for classes!

Email me at shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu for everything else!

~~~Shireen

My new internship!

2011-09-14T23:42:00.000-04:00

Hello, friends. I am now a Policy Analyst for The Institute for Gulf Affairs! Weeee!

Today was my first day, and I loved it! The Gulf Institute is a rather small operation with an office about 15 minutes off campus. Me and 3 other interns are working on a few campaigns, one involving human rights concerns for Saudi women (check out the No Women. No Play. website for more info!) and another on the current political situation in Bahrain.

I was the last intern to start, the other 3 started either last week or a month ago, so I have some catching up to do! It doesn't seem like it'll be too hard, though, everyone there was super nice and helpful, and I already started my first project: an op-ed about the women's campaign to be published! I'm gonna be published, kids! Haha.

Another major plus to the job: all 3 of my co-interns are native French speakers. They're all so cool! I'm super jealous, but the good thing is they speak it all the time in the office, which will definitely help me with comprehension and (once I drum up the courage) speaking. I've taken French since the 6th grade, but I took a few years off so I got a bit rusty. Here's hoping I pick it up--and fast! I'll need to in order to keep up with everyone!

So that's really all I've got on my first day, but more updates to come! Definitely liking the new office and the whole crew, so this should be a great semester!

As per the usual, email with questions and whatnot: shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Classes + Volleyball = My Entire Life during Fall Semester

2011-09-14T18:24:00.000-04:00

Hello again! The further into the semester it gets, the less free time it feels like I have. It is only the third week and I have quite a lot to do (and almost all of my ‘to- do’ list involved either classes or volleyball, in case you couldn’t already tell). Speaking of my classes, as of last week, I have finalized my schedule for the semester. Here’s the rundown:

Executive Branch Politics (Public Administration): This class counts towards my Criminal Justice major and discusses public management opposed to private sector management and key public policy topics. It also addresses the functions of local, state, federal governments.

Social Research Methods: This class also counts towards my Criminal Justice major and focuses on research in the social sciences. According to the syllabus, the class concentrates on research design, data collection, and data analysis. Out of all of my classes this semester, this is the largest in size and honestly, will probably be the most boring for the same reason (lots of people need this for their major in either Sociology or Criminal Justice and it is strictly lecture).

Theories of Personality: This is a psychology class required for my minor (or major, if I decide to double major in criminal justice and psychology). It is exactly what it sounds like, a class about personalities and those theories surrounding them. To me, this class sounds super interesting and I am pretty excited to learn about all the different types of personalities and see if I can recognize them in everyday life.

East Asian Calligraphy: This is the only class that I am taking this semester that does not go towards my major/ minor. It actually counts for my fine art (or performance art) requirement. So far, even though I’m not good at drawing the characters, the class is fairly fun. It is really nice to have a class that is a little less stressful and academic and instead for a few hours I can focus on something that I can equate to drawing. Plus, I can’t wait to see how much I improve from the first day to my final exam in December.

not perfect, but pretty good for my first day of class, if I do say so myself

Social Psychology: This class also counts for my Psychology minor (/major) and seems really fascinating. Basically, this is a class covering how society and the people around you can influence your behaviors and thoughts. Some of the topics included are group decision making, obedience and conformity, aggression, health, helping, and love/ attraction. As of right now, I predict that this will be my favorite class this semester. I will let you know in December if my prediction was correct and how all of my classes turn out.

Switching topics to the other half of my life, volleyball, a lot is happening. Since my last post, we took 1st place in the VCU/ Third Degree Sportswear Invitational tournament, beating VCU, Cornell, and North Carolina A&T, and we also took down Georgetown last night in a exhilarating 5 game match (our first of the year) in front of a very excited crowd. As a result, GW Volleyball is still undefeated and is now 10-0!!!

this picture doesn't quite give the crowd justice (can't see all bleachers)

huddle during a timeout (p.s. I'm #7)

post victory lap around gym

**all volleyball photos courtesy of gwsports.com**

Now this weekend, we will be playing in San Diego, which is exciting since we have so many players from California. We are actually leaving tomorrow morning and returning on Sunday for a GW athlete-leadership day (not quite sure what that entails yet), so once all the craziness of this weekend is over, I will recap it all for you. And of course, provide some pictures from the trip.

Well that’s all for now. I have to start packing and get ready for San Diego. Sorry for the long post, but I promised to discuss my classes and since I am in season, realistically even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could not talk about volleyball in a post (it is everyday).

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Eid Banquet

2011-09-13T21:25:00.000-04:00

SO... I lied in my last post. I said that my next one would be about multicultural student orgs. But this is about the Eid Banquet last week, so, whoops. Next one will be about the orgs, I promise! (Though actually, the Eid Banquet was held by the Muslim Students' Association, so it sort of counts. Sort of.)

Anyway, the evening began with optional prayer in their reserved prayer space upstairs--if you weren't into that everyone else was just chilling in the Grand Ballroom of the Marvin Center. After everyone got back, there was an intro to GW-MSA, some Qu'ran readings, and a speaker who discussed coping with stress and school and religious obligation and whatnot. It was pretty good. And then there was food! And that was also good! There was a mix of Indian/Pakistani grub, complete with a whole lotta rice and samosas--oooooooh yeah. The samosas were baller.

My friends and I all wore traditional outfits. My roommate is Pakistani so we borrowed her duds and looked FLY while doing it:

OF COURSE I had to look at the wrong camera... that one *would have* been great.

So that was my night! This is one of many awesome events put on by MSA. They really pull out all the stops with their events; I'm not Muslim, and I always enjoy myself and learn a lot. So I'll be publicizing their events regularly, you can bet on that!

Email me with any questions or what have you! shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

The Hardest Time of the Year to be a Texan in DC: Football Season

2011-09-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

It is not the inches of snow, buckets of rain, or extreme humidity that the Mid-Atlantic endures that is harder on this man in his cowboy boots and burnt orange regalia. Instead, it is the lack of football lights, Friday night fever and football tailgate parties that makes my life a tad more difficult. BUT luckily, there is an alternative.

Although GW does not have a football team, there are three places a GW student can fulfill his/her football needs.

Maryland's new uniform that has caused so
much controversy. It is modeled after their
state flag

1. You can watch your team on TV. For me, I can catch a Longhorn game almost every week or at least a radio broadcast or watch the many local games with new squads like UNC, UVA, VT and Navy. GW dies provide you with free cable in your dorm rooms, so you can always be close to the game.

2. If your craving the lights, the halftime shows and band music filling the fall air, you can always catch a game with the Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) Terps up at the University of Maryland-College Park just a few minutes off the Green line here in DC's metro system. As well, Catholic University, Georgetown University and Galladuet University all have football games too with usually cheaper tickets.

3. Go watch the Washington Redskins!!! Although I should be a Dallas fan since I am from Texas and all, it is hard not to support this local squad. Although these tickets do range from $70 to $100 usually, it would be a nice gift from home for maybe a birthday :)

I hope this has made you feel a bit better about fueling that football fever here is DC. It is worth your while to leave the football stadium for a premier education and I can attest to that, but it still doesn't make it easy. But given the DC community that surrounds you, I know you will find a way to survive.

Hook 'em Horns!!! P.S. Women's Volleyball is on their way to improving to 9-0 this evening and will take on Georgetown this week! Keep up the fantastic work Christie and GO COLONIALS!!!

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything GW and I will reply quickly. Good luck this year and you are ahead of the game looking at colleges this early :)

Peace, Love and Hippos!

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

From Class-Goer to Intern

2011-09-08T18:06:00.000-04:00

As if this semester could get any better for me, I have even more good news. My first week back on campus, literally my first day back in class, I was offered my top-choice internship on the spot at my interview! You're probably wondering how someone goes from regular class-goer to DC intern so fast, yeah? Surprisingly, here, it is very easy.

Let's talk about internships, because honestly, that's what everyone is talking about. Internships are a huge part of life here at GW, because we are a school that's all about hands-on experience. One of my draws to the university, which goes for most people who commit here, is the fact that you not only get to have the city at your disposal, but you can utilize its resources to get some real, quality resume-boosters while you're a full time student! But, if you're anything like me, the sheer multitude of internships may be enough to scare you into another semester of solely classwork. Here's how I did it, and if you follow the same path, I promise it's virtually foolproof.

Use GWork. This is a service I always have to talk up on my tours, but I'll be honest in admitting I never used it prior to this summer. As I wasn't under Federal Work Study or in need of a steady job while I was at school last year, GWork was something totally under my radar. But as the summer was winding down and I realized I'd be a sophomore in a matter of weeks, I realized it was time to get serious about interning. I signed into GWork, and started from the beginning. Here's the link.

Polish your resume. If you want the high-class internship of your dreams, it usually all starts with a really tight resume. Don't have a resume? Don't be embarrassed, I only made mine this summer so I could get summer work. Lucky for you, there are sample resumes on the GWork website to help you out. More often than not, though, you have a resume, but aren't sure if it's ready to impress. Here's the secret, GW Resume Critic. You can actually submit your resume to this service free of charge, and in a matter of days, will have it either returned or available to be picked up totally edited and assembled to internship perfection! If you have the time, I guarantee you this is worth the trouble. There is a link on GWork to this service!

Field your search. Once your resume is completed, it's time to actually begin your searching. GWork has a bunch of different fields where you can limit the type of results you want; by type of position (intern, part-time, full-time), by field, or by simply typing in keywords. For me, I knew an association I wanted to work for, typed in their acronym, and my dream internship popped up as the first result. Okay, so it might not come that easy for you, and I did continue my searching beyond that first result. If you put in the effort to research around, looking into any results that come up, you can really get a sense of what's out there for you.

Write your (different) cover letters. The cover letter was a concept most foreign to me until this summer, when I realized that all the internships I wanted to apply for required them. If you're as lost as I was, there are even cover letter samples on GWork, so do yourself a favor and look those up. A cover letter is basically an introduction of yourself, why you want this internship, and why the organization or corporation should spend their time considering you. Follow the parameters and they are pretty easy to create, but you DO have to change them for each internship. Try to avoid something generic that you can just insert the name into, because too often do people accidentally send cover letters with a different corporation's name in them. Try not to learn from experience on that one.

Go on interviews. From here on out, it's all you. You put yourself and your experience out there, and you should start hearing back from places you've applied. Be sure to be cordial and speedy in any email or phone contact back and forth, and set up an interview time you can actually get to, not one you'll have to race from your 11:10 to make. Then it's all about selling yourself. So, to do that, you need to know yourself. Know your strengths, know where you want to improve, know what you want out of a specific internship and why you're the right person for it. Give honest, truthful answers instead of formulaic, general ones, and paired with a solid resume you will have an offer in no time.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I did it. I hope that the process goes as smoothly for you as it did for me, and if you need any more advice on how to snag a great internship, you can email me at gmdepalo@gwmail.gwu.edu. Also, use your professors and classmates! Students often get internships through networking within the GW community, so don't be scared to put yourself out there a little. Hopefully I'll soon see you on the metro on your way to work. :)

See you around campus,
Gina Michele

Excursiones por la ciudad y la valle

2011-09-07T19:07:00.000-04:00

This week has been yet another week of orientation for me- but more so to the culture of the city and to Aricans. I have tried my best to get in on some interesting cultural excursions, but it has been really hard finding information online about certain things that look interesting. It looks like the best way to get things done around here is to simply ask my family, their friends, and go to the place I want to see to get a schedule. Things like gym schedules and salsa dance class schedules and restaurant hours aren't always available online, or aren't clear online, and so there's a bit of chance and luck that plays into whether I end up participating in things around here! I'm sure once I get more settled with scheduling, I'll be able to maneuver the city easily without "gringa" problems.

The first weekend I spent with my host family, I went to go watch my cousin play a game of rugby with his club team. I tagged along with my neighbors since they're also hosting a student on my program while my mom stayed behind to work on a cake. It was surprisingly hot sitting on the field for several hours while they played against 2 separate teams. I had never really seen a rugby game before this so it was interesting to have my neighbors explain the game to me in Spanish.

My cousin (#3) playing rugby

This past weekend, I accompanied another student on my program, Emily, and her Chilean family on a short daytrip in to the Valley de Lluta. There are two valleys close to Arica and they are most easily viewed on Google Maps if you google Arica, Chile. These two valleys are where all the vegetables and fruits for the city are grown! It's amazing how local most of the produce is, and they also make olive oil so that is locally available as well. Other products like certain fruits and nuts (like the peanuts we bought to make peanut butter!) mostly come from Peru.

On our way through the Valley de Lluta, we stopped in Poconchile, a small village with an old adobe church built in the 17th century. The San Gerónimo de Poconchile Church has a cemetery behind it and certain festivals relating to different saints are celebrated in the church. It was a really beautiful spot but there was also a creepy skylight in the church with the face of Jesus painted on a large piece of fabric that hung in the skylight.

Inside the church

We then made out way to ECOTRULY, a yoga and ecological community village. All the people who live on the premises are Hare Krishna, except for the American volunteer we met who was working there for a month in exchange for food and shelter. He wasn't technically WOOFING because they do charge a small fee, but it's basically the same idea. It was a really beautiful but isolated sustainable example of how people can live off the land here quite easily.

Sustainably built one-room lodging

Lots of propaganda on the Spoon Revolution all over the farm

Emily the vegetarian

Our amazing lacto-vegetarian lunch

Overall, it was a really interesting experience to get outside of town and see the valley and how people are able to live in a more isolated environment. The lunch was absolutely delicious (curry of cauliflower tomato and potato, curry rice, broccoli, rice pudding, homemade wheat bread, salad, homemade curry sauce and mayonnaise, and an empanada filled with broccoli and other veggies). It did get a little cultish at times so we were happy to be with Emily's mom who could properly convey that we weren't interested in working with them for more than a few days, if at all.

I have some homework to catch up on but it has been great hearing from all of you! As always, marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa