Mi investigación aquí en Arica

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

Whole Foods, Welcome Week, and TOO MUCH RAIN

Yesterday, a new era began at GW.  An era of convenience, freshness, and oft-overpriced organic goods.  Whole Foods isn't that pricey, but it's not cheap.  I will say though that you certainly get quality for your dollar, the location is awesome, and the baked goods are tastytasty.  I got an oreo-topped brownie, and it was a solid choice.

I went in during the grand opening yesterday to troll for the free samples and take a tour, but I did my real shopping today when it was (only slightly) less packed.  Still pretty crowded, though.  And I got a week's worth of groceries for less than I usually pay, if you can believe that!  Though I imagine I was more stingy with some things for fear I'd spend too much.

All in all, Whole Foods--Foggy Bottom will soon become a staple in the lives of us Colonials.  It won't take the place of Trader Joe's for me, but it'll definitely be a nice break from the Watergate Safeway.  That place needs to renovate and update their merch a bit.  I'm interested in how they'll cope with the new competition.

In other news, the past two weeks of school have been plagued with terrible weather.  I write this post as the torrential downpour is raging outside, and I have errands to run but I won't cause it's so yucky.  It was really a yucky Welcome Week, and it just had to flood (literally) over into this week, as well.  Nerds!

It's supposed to clear up by Monday.  Let's hope Mother Nature listens to the weather man!

My next post will be on student organizations, particularly multicultural orgs and international affairs clubs.  Let me know if there's any interest you'd like me to spotlight!

shireens@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

Mi familia!

Finally, I have amassed enough pictures of my family and my home to give you all a taste of my life here! I have been living here for a week and a half now with my mom, Ester, her spoiled dog, Sofie, and the always-disappearing Fito, my cousin. We live on one of the main streets in Arica (21 de mayo) but in the more residential area, not downtown. It's a very convenient spot to pick up the collectivos going downtown and also around lots of other "gringas" (what they call foreigners) houses, which is a plus!

My host mom, Ester, is married and has two children. Her husband, Gonzalo, works in another city about two hours away and his schedule is very busy (his only free day is Sunday). Sometimes, he only comes to Arica once a month but hopefully I will get to meet him soon because Ester has said several times that he wants to meet the new student living in their house. Her son is married and lives in Santiago. Her daughter in in college near San Francisco! And my cousin also lives here because our house is closer to the university than his parents' house ("closer" means by like a mile, and he actually isn't even in class now due to the strike so he's just been drifting around town doing whatever!).

My host mom has been really wonderful to me so far- she's moderately proficient in English which makes it fun to compare the two cultures. For example, if we're having a cabbage salad, she'll ask me what the English world for cabbage is, and vis versa! She's also amazing at speaking slow but also good at challenging me to keep working on my Spanish at home too. She makes cakes from our house for a living, and gets most of her business from the "panaderia" (bread/pastry store) her parents own in the center of town. Yes, that definitely means I benefit from that association- but thankfully, they make wheat bread so I've stuck to that instead of "manjar" pastries (Chile version of dulce de leche).

My mom preparing a cake

Mi perro, Sofie

My room

My room

Dining room

Kitchen

Living room

So that's the grand tour. I love having my own big space with a desk- it's made it so much easier to acclimate and adjust to the culture by having a spot where I can be alone and do homework, skype, and have some non-Spanish time. The hardest part of this experience so far has really been the complete Spanish immersion- but I know that will lessen as we continue to practice!

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

GW Volleyball is 6-0!!

As the title suggests, I again have good news for you all! This past weekend, our team swept UNC Wilmington, North Carolina Central, and Central Connecticut at our own GW Invitational. This makes our current record, 6-0. What is even more exciting is that this is the first time that has happened since the 2003 season (so quite a few years). Our team is super excited that we are undefeated, but we are striving not to be complacent for our recent success. We want to keep our streak alive! In order to do this, we have been working very hard in the gym and weight room (including today-Labor Day!). On this past Friday night, we had an excellent turnout in terms of fans, 596 to be exact, which (I think) is the biggest crowd that we have had for a home match since I began playing for GW 2 years ago! So, if you were at the game, or any of the games over the weekend, THANK YOU! Our team loves a big crowd so keep coming back, it is shaping up to be a tremendous season! Our next home game is Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 7pm vs. Georgetown (the rescheduled finale for the DC Challenge).

As you can tell by all my recent posts, my life as of the last month has been dominated by volleyball, but now that school has begun, you can expect some about classes/ other life soon! Now, for a little taste of the action, I bring to you some pictures! My dad was nice enough to take some good action shots over the weekend while my family was here visiting (we are in the buff and blue jerseys, obviously). Enjoy:

the team, pre-game

my sister, Vickie (GW alum and past blogger), and me

roommates!

Sorry if this was picture overkill, but I had a hard time picking my favorites haha. oops.
p.s. next post: my finalized class schedule. (I promise!)

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

-Christie