February 2014 – Page 2 – Postcards from GW

Exploring DC events

AdminFebruary 10, 2014

DC is a wonderful city, with so many different events happening every day, however when you’re at college you find yourself in a bubble of going to classes, eating at the same restaurants and visiting the same bars. I decided this weekend to find one of these great events, and see what Washington had to offer. This event came in the form of the Mercedes Benz fashion show, which was being hosted at the W Hotel. . A free event that only required an RSVP, my friend Maleeha and I decided to celebrate her birthday by being classy ladies, dressing fancy and being sophisticated women for a night and not just college students. When we arrived, everything appeared to be coated in pink, including the live DJ performing We grabbed a cocktail and went to explore the area. It was incredibly busy with many people watching the live models show off Diane Von Furtstenberg’s latest designs (which were incredible!). Picture 5 (3) We felt like superstars at such a cool event , but it got even better when we found out we could get our make-up done for free. After we were glammed up to the max and had our photograph taken , we felt incredibly grown up. It is a lot of fun to get out of your comfort zone and experience something new, and I recommend to anyone here on exchange to just do a little Googling or checking local events for the area. With the cherry blossoms festival coming up in the next month, there will be a lot of events going on including the Blossom Kite Festival on the 29^th March.

At GW It was also Homecoming weekend which is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of the school. It opened on Friday night with a Bonfire in University Yard, including performances from the Acapella groups on campus. The basketball game against Fordham was great as GW are still on their winning streak and beat Fordham 93-67. I missed the first half of the game unfortunately but for a good cause as I have just started volunteering at an organization called Life Pieces to Masterpieces. Only 33% of students in Wards 7 and 8 (areas in DC) will graduate from high school and only 5% will earn a post-secondary degree. These numbers are very low, compared to both district and national averages. The organisation works with African American boys on an after school basis with homework, leadership and development. They create art such as these to express feelings on projects they are working on. I thought it would be good to do something different while I was living in DC and give something back to the community. For anyone interested in this, speak to EngageDC, a great organization working through GWU.

Sunday for us is always breakfast day, courtesy of my wonderful chef Vanessa, who this morning was making Waffles with Johnny sorting the Bacon. We also headed out for a late Brunch at Founding Farmers – I have learnt that Brunch is a very important thing for any big city in the US and I am a big fan of it! James had already decided he was going to pig out, and he definitely had more than enough food there Vanessa and I decided to avoid the burgers but still had way too much food ourselves! Keep tuned for next week as I’ll be starting my new internship at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund – exciting stuff!!

Running around DC

AdminFebruary 10, 2014

By inepalacios

While the past week I was talking about the places I knew in the US, my class, the journeys and the people that I know, I ran out of space to talk about one the most lovely aspect of my exchange experience: running around DC.

At the beginning I felt that this habit would not be interesting enough to write about. Week after week, the people I met, the places, and the enjoyable moments made it impossible to avoid talking about this activity. I actually discovered for the first time most of the most important place of DC while running.

The first time, I went to the Washington Memorial and the White House with one of the exchange friend, Johanna. Since that time, I have not spent any week without going for a run. The following week was the turn to see the Lincoln, the Jefferson and the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial, it was awesome: the smooth wind, the landscape, the Potomac, the serenity, the beauty of the city by night made enjoyable every instant. The last time, on Friday afternoon, while running to the Capitol, I saw the best sunset I have ever seen in the Northern Hemisphere.

The best aspect of my running experience in DC was that I could find a running team “to temporarily replace” my running team in Buenos Aires. No doubt that both groups are particularly different, but wonderful in their own way. I miss my Argentinean team, but meanwhile I have been spending enjoyable trainings with the GW Cross Country Club, the guys of the team are really friendly people. Thanks to this team I could know new places, new roads and news neighborhoods. Most importantly: being part of the group allows me to experiment another aspect of the GW students’ world.

Many people told me that running is boring, for me is a way to relax, to keep active, to enjoy the nature, to clear my mind. In the past years, running was the chance to spent time with my friends. Now, it allows me to get to know more people, the city and to get involve in another great GW experience.

Time to enjoy DC: the perfect excuse for hanging out

AdminFebruary 5, 2014

By inepalacios

If two weeks ago the solution to see all the new friends and to save time to study was organizing a party in my dorm, this last week there was no solution. I had no other choice but to join all of the proposed plans made by my new friends, adding more incredible moments to my exchange.

The great plans started since the Sunday the 26th, when the exchange students from Australia decided to organize a party to celebrate the Australian independence. Games, music, jokes, and typical Australian food, which were delicious, set the precedent for all the rest of the exchange students to share our culture. Timo, the other Argentinean student, and I were thinking that we definitely should prepare some of our typical food: empanadas, as soon as possible.

Photo one

To not miss each other, the exchanges students planned to go to another excited Colonials’ basketball game. As it was expected, the Colonial’s victory required celebration, so we had a dinner in Timo’s room, and played songs on Timo’s ukulele.

On Thursday night the plan was impossible to refuse: Nima and Nadine, both exchange students celebrated their birthday, although I had a class on Friday morning I ended up going to Nadine and Nima’s party for a while.

On Friday despite the fun moments my thought was “I spent 4 weeks in DC, with the exception of the orientation week, I didn’t go out of GW’s campus”. But with the weekend, the solution to my concern appeared.

Agustín, a Spanish friend organized to have a dinner with Ernestine, Inma, Gonzalo, Gisella, and Javiera (all of them are exchange students who have been studying in Washington since last semester), they were definitely a great company to get to know Georgetown, one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in DC. Among talks of history, politics, personal experiences, they shared with me their exciting journey of studying in GW.

On Saturday, as a great international city, Washington, DC was prepared to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The best way to get involved in the occasion: celebrate it in the interesting neighborhood of Chinatown. Andrew, one of our EXO leaders, invited all of the exchange students to his home. It was a really nice way to get to know and enjoy Chinatown.

On Sunday my buddy Steven planed to bring me to Dupont Circle, and have a delicious brunch. I was there, when a memory of the first Washingtonians that I knew came to mind. It was in Santa Maria, in the province of Catamarca, in Argentina last year, when I met a couple of Washingtonians who gave me my first demonstration of DC. Among their descriptions they told me “DC is well known for its nice habit to have brunches, the combination between breakfast and lunch, we do it every Sunday”. It was exactly a year ago. By that time I could not imagine that a year later, I would be enjoying that brunch that they had described to me so well in DC.

At the end, Mary (a friend of Steven who accompanied us), Steven, and I finished walking around the pleasant area of Dupont Circle.

If I was worried because I had not left GW, a weekend was enough to give me the pleasure of knowing Georgetown, Chinatown, and Dupont circle.

But the weekend had not finished yet. Megan, Christine, Sam, Arielle, some American friends that I had met a couple of weeks ago invited me to see the Super Bowl, the most important game in American Football. Although I did not know a lot about American Football, it was an opportunity to get involved in a typical American activity.

At the end of the day, I realized that beside that the parties could be fun, the place nice, and food delicious, spending time with new people is my favorite pastime.

Although I did not talk much about my class, the difficult challenge of studying in a new language is still present. But the friendly people who are accompanying me are the perfect balance, definitely.

Unassuming Philadelphia

AdminFebruary 5, 2014

By aaront162

One of the great pleasures of being on exchange is the ability to act on the spur of the moment as was the case when a small group of us decided to head on a short road trip to Philadelphia. After a two and half hour drive transformed into a four hour drive by poor navigation and rest stops, we eventually found ourselves in an unassuming room in an otherwise unassuming building near the centr of Philadelphia – old wooden chairs around around tables draped with dusty green cloth, books, pens and papers and frozen at a specific moment in time. That particular moment was the debate and signing of the Declaration of Independence and US constitution, and that building was Independence Hall. We had arrived late in the afternoon, barely able to catch what was the last guided tour of the day through what is arguably the holiest of holy grounds of that great narrative of American democracy.

Stories of nationhood are of course powerful things, embodying at their core a sort of orientation of identity which can keep the collective whole coherent and Independence Hall serves as the backdrop to the great “American Aeneid”. Yet as much as these stories of nationhood weave the notion of a united identity – a sense of distinct and shared values and principles which can bridge divides – the reality is of course always far more complex and more often than not, bleaker and far less romantic. The tour guide ended on an empowering note, something along the lines of modern day American inheriting that great spirit of freedom and equality – two principles which it seems I frequently encounter and seem compelled to draw my focus upon during my time here in the US. The poverty which is so evident in Washington DC is still evident in Pennsylvania and the backdrop loses none of its biting irony – simply replace the National Monuments with the great historical sites of Colonial revolutionary America.

All of the above was drawn into focus by a simple and unassuming display not far away from Independence Hall in an old, decaying prison – a half gothic revival half brutal and pragmatic concrete and steel bar mishmash that is the Eastern Penitentiary Prison. What was once a pioneer of early prison design had been transformed into a well oiled tourist attraction with an exceptionally good self-guided tour narrated by Steve Buscemi. The most memorable point amongst the displays of Al Capone’s prison cell and gift shop was simple diagram of US incarceration rates on a column graph, dwarfing those essentially ever other state in the world – a rate which hovers just below 750 prisoners per 100,000 population. This blog entry is of course no place to tackle the behemoth of the criminal justice and prison system, however, I do have to say that once again, another great city of the US brought about a much greater deal of reflection and thinking than I ever expected it could and more so than anything else, it is the striking and complex contrasts which are evoked which are the most poignant – an unassuming room where the principles of rule of law, fairness and equality are said to have been captured and embedded into a nation and an unassuming diagram which displays the modern issues of justice.

Happy Chinese New Year and Superbowl!

AdminFebruary 5, 2014

By hannahbethdray

This week has been one of trying new food, and experiencing new events, and what a week it has been! For the last few months my friend Vanessa has been telling me how amazing Korean BBQ was, so on Thursday evening I finally bit the bullet and we travelled into Virginia for one of the biggest meals I had ever had. The table was completely covered in fantastic plates of delicious food; I ate so much that I needed a nap by the end of it! Vanessa decided that after this meal she was going to prove how great her cooking was, so on Friday night we hosted 12 people for a dinner party. This turned out to be quite a squeeze and a real run around trying to find enough chairs, but it turned out to be a great success with every plate licked clean. The dishwasher definitely came in handy that night! On Saturday it was Chinese New Year – the year of the horse (or the Bronco’s my friend Paul told me, but this will come later). There was a big parade in Chinatown featuring dragons and great dancing!
... and then it was time to celebrate with a pot luck party. I am not the best cook so Vanessa and I made some pasta together and took over a chocolate cake – there was so much food and of course some fortune cookies too! Vanessa and I also got to try our friend Ian’s world famous chocolate chip cookies – and they were the best I’d ever had. We had a great time and a lot of fun meeting new people. I was treated on Sunday to crepes, thanks to French Pancake Day courtesy of Christina; she even let me make a few (with supervision of course) and they went down a treat!Sunday however was the big event of the weekend – The Superbowl! Now in the UK it is a little difficult to watch the Superbowl as it doesn't start till 11pm, so to see it through, you’re up half the night. Luckily being in the US I was able to sit down with everyone at 6:30 ready to watch the greatest game of the year! I went over to my friends in Chinatown where the guys had turned on the grill and made some fantastic homemade guacamole. There were over 20 people crowded into the living room to watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the Denver Broncos. I was supporting the Broncos, which as you have probably seen from the scores, wasn’t the best choice. Unfortunately for my friend Paul, this is his home team, so it was a pretty sad night when Seattle won 43 to 8. The half time show though was incredible, with Bruno Mars dominating the stage and the commercials were brilliant too. Check out the Budweiser Advert – best one of the night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB7QRyF4p4
So as you can see, most of my weekend has been spent eating a lot of food, but also getting to spend some time with amazing friends!

Das Weekend.

AdminFebruary 5, 2014

By nimames

I have been feeling lately that all my blogposts revolve around food and I would like to point out that I do not have a relationship solely with food and I do in fact have friends; people that I have met only 3 weeks ago but proud to call my friends.

This week has been one full of excitement to say the least! I got to celebrate my birthday with wonderful people in three folds. First there was a get together Thursday at my place. Although it wasn’t technically my birthday (my actual birthday was on February 1s), my lovely roommate suggested throwing a party because she wasn’t going to be in town for my birthday weekend. I was really happy to introduce the diversified group of the spring 2014 exchange people to both of my lovely roommates. In the end, the evening was full of excitement and joy and I was really happy and touched to see everyone again.

It also happened that the following day, was the Chinese new year and what a better way to celebrate it than to go to nice Asian restaurant. We promptly headed to Nooshi and had really amazing Asian food. I ordered noodles with chicken, caramelized onions, peppers and pineapples. The salty of the chicken and the sweet and sour of the onions and pineapples elevated the dish to a whole new level. In other words, it was heavenly. Once our tummies were full, we were all craving ice cream so we decided to walk to Georgetown and get some delicious ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s.

I’ve been in the US for over 3 weeks now and I’m always amazed at the array of choices you can get; either at the grocery strode, the coffee shop down the street, and the ice cream parlor. It ranged from cookie dough; berries, vanilla and Oreos, to chubby hubby and scotch scotch scotch. We then walked to the notorious DC cupcakes from which my friend Zenia got me these mouth-watering cupcakes.

Although I vowed not to talk about food anymore, I keep reverting back to my food experience in DC. I guess it’s because food is a huge part of my experience here and it’s even more worthwhile when I get to share it with the lovely people I meet !

This weekend has been a great weekend not because it was my birthday and I turned 21 but it’s because I got to share precious moments with people I love and appreciate. And I hope that next weekend will be as fun and rich in emotion as this one had been, and I’m sure it will because although we come from different places, we speak different languages and we have various customs and habits, we still are in this together and this is what ultimately unites us !