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Tag: GW Exchange

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By shivaniinsingapore

On Wednesday, November 7th, my exchange friends and I watched the election results from a TV lounge inside one of our residential halls. In all, there were fifteen of us from five different countries. Since Singapore is thirteen hours ahead of the US, we all met up around 9 AM to watch the news reports as the polls closed.

When most of the news networks announced  that President Obama had won, my friends were all extremely happy. Several of my Singaporean friends also were excited about the results of the election. However, what I found most interesting was the fact that people were willing to skip classes and tutorials to watch the results with us.

Most of my friends were extremely curious to figure out how elections work in the US in terms of how the electoral college works, as well as what it means to be a majority in the House and Senate. Thus, a lot of the American students spent a majority of the morning explaining our political system, as well as how checks and balances work. ...continue reading "Election Results"

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By littlemisadventures

LuxorI’ve gotten used to thinking of Egypt as a city- a vast, congested sea of humanity. However, there’s much more to the country than Cairo. During the recent Eid al Adha, I traveled to Upper Egypt with my mom, who flew in from Chicago ostensibly to see me but actually to see various dead kings and their monuments. I’m fine with that, incidentally.

A professor told me that the years don’t pass very quickly in Upper Egypt. I understood what this meant as soon as I stepped off the train. If it hadn’t been for the tourists’ fancy cameras and the pop music playing in cafés, we could have traveled back in time. The countryside was lush and peaceful. Buffaloes and donkeys sauntered through the streets, unfazed by the motorcycles. Men sat leisurely outside stores sipping tea and chatting. Teenagers hacked enthusiastically at the bodies of strung-up animals in preparation for eid dinners as bone shards, blood, and bits of meat flew everywhere. We took a three-day cruise, visiting tombs and temples during the day then docking at night in Luxor, Edfu, and Aswan. ...continue reading "Death (and Life) on the Nile"

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By shivaniinsingapore

Even though I am across the world, I, along with my friends here, will be watching the election results just like we have been doing for each debate. Although we are twelve (now thirteen) hours ahead because of daylight savings time, we all manage to somehow find time and watch the debates together. This coming Wednesday, we all have decided to watch the election results in real time, so that means we will have to meet up in the morning time. ...continue reading "Election Time!"

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By jfbarszcz

I imagine that most GW students would feel similarly when I say that right now, the foremost thing on my mind is Tuesday's presidential election. In the US, the presidential election is always a time of great excitement and dominates the national attention. Here in Prague, as one may expect, the media coverage is not quite so overwhelming, but it's still a very big topic (and of course, I continue to read American news outlets online, where the election remains the top story). Seeing that we exert enormous amounts of global influence in just about every sphere, I don't find this surprising in the least; US policy decisions have effects on the entire globe. Still, it's definitely pretty weird to go to a foreign country and have seemingly everyone there know an impressive amount about my country's politics, when I know so little about theirs, and I'm the one who's in their country! Then again, I guess the same could be said about people here (especially young people) knowing English, American movies, music, etc... in other words, I should be used to this kind of stuff by now. ...continue reading "Electoral Madness"

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By littlemisadventures

In between conjugating verbs and raging at the complicated process that is absentee voting, I’ve been excitedly awaiting the U.S. election. Before I left the States, I remember feeling disappointed that I would be out of D.C. at this time. Now that I’m here, though, I don’t mind it at all; being abroad in an election year gives one a unique point of view on the whole thing. Of course, all the American students discuss the election regularly, but we aren’t doing this in a bubble. It doesn’t feel like we’re distant from the discourse that surrounds it, because Egypt is following the debates and the polls closely too. The outcome of this election will have worldwide effects, so it isn’t surprising that people around the world are invested in it. ...continue reading "Experiencing an Election from Abroad"

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By littlemisadventures

Before coming to Egypt, I did my research and talked to people about how things operate here. I have therefore avoided most cultural faux pas. I can navigate taxis, mosques, restaurants, and classrooms without any trouble. I’ve learned, however, that it’s not good manners to worry too much. In my experience so far, appearing worried about things that are perceived as “no big deal” just makes you seem uptight and overly anxious- in other words, a killjoy. One should let things happen and not get upset if (and when) they go wrong. ...continue reading "Taking It Easy in Egypt… No, Really."

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I cannot believe my first semester at NUS is coming to an end! We have about three more weeks of classes, then a reading week, followed by finals (my last final is on the 1st of December). We had midterms about three or four weeks ago, but a majority of my classes have a continuous amount of assignments and papers due throughout the semester.
My only official midterm I had was in Pre-Modern Japanese History. The professor gave us one hour to write three and a half pages answering a discussion topic. However, we were allowed to use three readings and nothing else. I have to admit that it was quite terrifying- I had never had an exam in Singapore, and the last exam I had that had a similar structure was in high school. To prepare for the test, the only thing I could do was read the articles and try to find a common theme. When the test started, I didn't even bother creating an outline or anything of that sort. I just began writing and hoped for the best. Luckily, it worked out in my favor. ...continue reading "FINALS."

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By jfbarszcz

It's been a busy week and weekend for me, as I suddenly find myself with lots of work to do. Midterms, presentations, general homework, plus scheduling classes for next semester (Yay FOFAC priority registration! Boo transferring into Columbian from Elliott and having to figure out all the new GCRs!) Heck, even writing this blog, while I don't want to call it a chore, still takes some time. And while my classes here are generally less intense than GW classes, it's still hard to get work done for them for a couple different reasons: ...continue reading "Week (I’m Not Even Counting Anymore): Midterms"

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By jfbarszcz

As you may be aware, dear reader, soccer (sorry, football) is much more popular in Europe than in the United States. In the Czech Republic in particular, football is probably about tied with ice hockey as the most popular sport. So it goes without saying that I wanted to attend a football game (sorry, match) during my stay in Europe. Thankfully, that's pretty easy to do here. I think that in this regard I've actually been pretty spoiled. AC Sparta Praha is historically the best team in the Czech Republic and one of the best in Central Europe. But unlike, say, Real Madrid or Manchester United, you don't have to pay hundreds of euros for a single ticket. The price of admission to a Sparta match is 240Kč, or about 12 US dollars. Not only that, the stadium is three tram stops from my dorm, so it was very easy for me to attend a match on a whim after class one Monday evening. And NOT ONLY THAT, but my 240Kč ticket? It bought me this view. Pitchside, midfield, hell yeah. Do you know how much that would cost you in Barcelona? I don't even know, and quite frankly don't want to. ...continue reading "Football! (As in soccer!)"

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By shivaniinsingapore

I had the opportunity to hear the song Gangnam Style in August. It was extremely popular amongst some of the local students at NUS. I heard it while in my theatre class and was taught the dance. I personally like the song because of its beat and fun dance moves.While this song is not sung by a Singaporean, it still is played numerous times throughout the day on the radio. Gangnam style, for those not familiar with the song, is written by a Korean rapper who goes by the name Psy. It is accompanied by a distinct set of dance moves. The lyrics of the song basically are talking about the Gangnam district of South Korea, where apparently people who live there have lavish lifestyles. The video to this song can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 ...continue reading "Oppan Gangnam Style!"

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