April 2014 – Page 2 – Postcards from GW

The Start of the Cherry Blossom Festival

AdminApril 7, 2014

In 1912, to celebrate the nations’ then-growing friendship, Japan gave 3,200 cherry blossoms as a gift to the United States. Planted along the tidal basin and only blooming for 2 weeks of the year, the Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the best times of the year in Washington DC. Last week the weather was terrible, with hail and snow still hitting the city; however spring has now finally arrived! One of the events to celebrate the festival was a huge pillow fight held under the Washington Monument. After taking a few photos, I knew I had to get involved so grabbed a spare pillow and got involved! The only difficulty I had was hitting certain people like this 8 year old boy who nearly knocked me off my feet! Albert and I also decided to hand out free hugs which was a lot of fun.

Walking back home, every monument was swarming with people trying to enjoy the Capital. It is always interesting to listen to the tour guides tell the history of each monument and its significance, particularly when listening to Vietnam veterans discuss the wall. Saturday evening was the fireworks festival, so I went down with Albert, Adam and David to get a good spot by the water. Some of the cherry blossoms have started to bloom a little, but the best site of the night was the beautiful sunset we got to see.

I love being down by the Jefferson memorial, and have decided that it is my favourite monument of them all (although it is the furthest walk which is annoying!) Unfortunately we weren’t in the perfect spot for the fireworks, and they only lasted 15 minutes, but we were still able to see some great ones above the trees.
Although the main area for the cherry blossom trees is by the tidal basin, GW is lucky enough to have a few on its campus, and on Sunday morning I managed to find a few of them already in bloom:

For dinner this evening we headed into Virginia to get some Korean Barbeque
which was delicious, but always leaves me wanting to lie down for an hour or so – luckily its Sunday! It can be really difficult to really enjoy being in DC when I am bogged down with papers, work and exams, which is why I was glad this weekend I was able to relax and have some fun!

Contrasting experiences and constructing new horizons

AdminApril 7, 2014

By inepalacios

April 6, Sunday Afternoon. Healy Lawn at Georgetown University, the ground. I can feel the sun on my skin. Finally the weather has permitted me to not use a coat. Like every Sunday after a fun weekend, my assignments are a lot, but I could not permit myself to stay in the library or in my room. So here I am, getting to know a new university, hearing a couple of Georgetown students singing one of my favorite Norah Jones’ song. It is a perfect time to turn back and reflect on what has happened in the last days.

An hour ago my friend from California, Khaterina, left D.C.

As my friend Jeru, she was studying abroad in my home university. But unlike Jeru, Kathy was in Buenos Aires for a whole year. We shared a few classes and many friends. Her visit made me miss all of my college friends: our discussions, meetings, joking, interests and stories. Definitely this weekend was a piece of those. It was also an opportunity to speak native English for more than two ENTIRE days. It was a moment to compare our experiences: my cultural shock in the US and her cultural shock in Argentina. It was also a time to learn about her daily life, an opportunity to add little improvements to my own daily routine. Cooking and eating healthy, listening to beautiful music, using key websites to take advantages of new spots ... these are all things that I enjoyed learning from her. Her style of life is one I think many people would envy. Chatting with Kathy was an opportunity to learn more about the expectations of an American student: how competitive the job market is here and how “efficient” the American student seem to be: 4 years of college, study abroad experiences, many internships, a lot of leadership experiences, community services activities, at least more than two languages and only 21 years of life, or even less. If I have to think in the typical Argentine 21 aged, they would have a couple of years studying at the university, several more years to graduated, maybe one (often no) job, maybe some sports. It automatically makes me think in how much my country needs, how we need to improve and change at least our system of education, to be more efficient, we have a free college system and even in that way we are worst?. I don’t want to say that here everything is perfect, but at least the American cultural models of life available for the majority of the students are better, I think that they are permitting people to be more competitive, more dreamers, more ambitious, at least for the majority of them.

I know the Argentine social problem is more complex than the way that I have presented it, but at least my experience is giving me the opportunity to take the good aspects of US and use them to improve my own reality, at least to put in practice in my life. At the same time this experience implies to value the aspects that I am missing of Argentina, and the challenge to get a combination of the best of both countries.

This weekend was also good to explore more of Foggy Bottom, to eat delicious and healthy food, to going out to a hipster club, to walk around the neighborhood of U street and its market of organic food. I had also the chance to see the fireworks above the Potomac River but most importantly to share all of that with Katherine. Thank you Kathy for your visit! I enjoyed share this week with you!

If I have to choose the best activity that we did, I would say an Argentina exposition of Art. It was paradoxically that Kathy was who found this exposition to go. But at the same time it is understandable, knowing that Kathy is someone who really know how take advantage of every place, to be more explicit probably Kathy knows Buenos Aires better than me. So, I was in that exhibition called “Territories and Subjectivities Contemporary Art from Argentina”, I was enjoying each of the pictures, trying to understand each of the author’s ideas, I realized I was deeply immersed in the art. I remember a few years ago when I said that the arts exhibitions were " not my thing". Katherine argued that I could understand them because I knew the context of the pictures, and I could appreciate them. I don't know what changed my mind, but I know that now I have a new activity to enjoy. I can say a new value from my exchange experience.

Another fun activity of the week was a quick and unexpected meeting in the door of metro with one of the guys who has been going to the Homeless shelter where I volunteer. I said hi, and after catching up he happily told me that he found a house to live! This information made me so happy. Although I wont see him again in the shelter, it was beautiful that he shared this great news with me.

Another great visitor left her marks in my exchange story, another week happened quickly; a hundred new ideas and are on my mind. Time is short and there are thousands of events, activities, and adventures that are still to be lived.

The life of an American as seen by a British chick…

AdminApril 3, 2014

By hannahbethdray

The countdown has begun…I only have 3 and a half months left in the US. The weather is getting better FINALLY and spring has appeared. April in DC is the time of Cherry Blossoms, Festivals and beautiful weather. So I feel like I need to experience as much as I can while I am still here. The first step was finally going to see a professional basketball game. As you’ve seen on my blog before, I have been to a lot of games at GW, but being in an arena is a completely different thing. The Washington Wizards were playing the Phoenix Suns. Although the Wizards were down by 23 points, they managed to pull it back and only lose by 6. We had cotton candy (candy floss) and ice cream – way too much sugar!The girls spent the rest of the week seeing all the sights of DC including the Zoo and Georgetown. We headed out to Chinatown in the evening to visit a country bar (some people class DC as being the edge of the South) and experience a real American bar.

On Saturday I tried to think of the most stereotypical American place to take Georgina and Tamara for dinner – where better than Hooters! I had also not been there myself after Trevor and I made a deal in September to go there at some point. The wings were huge and the place was full of men watching sports – us English girls felt a little out of place. We watched as multiple people had birthdays and had to stand on a chair while the Hooter’s girls danced around them. And surprisingly I was apparently turning 22 again that day as my friends had told the waitresses it was my birthday! Embarrassing photo of me having to dance like a chicken on a chair: There is also a video but I hope that never sees the light of day! Saturday night I also got to experience something new: A Graffiti Party. All white t shirts and a lot of sharpie pens! (Note to self, sharpie takes a long time to come off skin!
Various parts of my shirt includes: “you sound like you’re from London”, “US saved Britain during both world wars” and a rainbow drawn by Maddy. Maddy and I also perfected our Sorority girl pose that evening:

Sunday morning saw the girls head to Union Station to begin their trip to New York and me head to the shower to get the Shamrock and Flower off my cheeks! I spent most of Sunday afternoon in shock as it was once again snowing (luckily it didn’t settle) and trying to catch up on work – I need another Spring Break! I managed to have a break on Tuesday night when I went to see the Washington Capitals take on the Dallas Stars in my first ice hockey game and I loved it! The atmosphere was even better than the basketball game!
So this week has been one of firsts: First basketball game, first ice hockey game, first trip to Hooters and first Graffiti party. Overall a successful week!

Spring Semester – it wasn’t a lie!

AdminApril 3, 2014

By aaront162

When I stepped off the tarmac at the airport some three or so months ago, the whole “winter” thing was pretty innovative and unique for someone used to a climate which tends to move between sort of warm, to warm or scorching hot “cook an egg on the sidewalk” heat waves. However, as amusing as it was to randomly snowball fellow exchange students as we walked down the street, the snow sort of lost its appeal when the stinging cold of constant and seemingly never ending winter days dragged on. And on. And on. I do believe that if I ever hear the words “polar vortex” again, I will either go crazy or curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forward in front of a heater (hard to tell which reaction I will have at this point). So alas, Spring has finally come. Yes, it actually has (well sort of if you excuse the fact that it sort of snowed/sleeted/hailed only a few days ago but none the less) and I do believe we have left the snow and freezing wing behind. So finally, the “Spring” semester is living up to its name and the warmer weather has itself brought about a sort of pleasantness which perhaps has come at just the right time – right after Spring Break, a little after the end of the mid-term stream of assessments and just before the next onslaught of assignments and exams leaving a small but well appreciated window of opportunity to do “spring-like stuff”. First off, it is quite simply the really small stuff – the fact that you can walk around without so many layers of clothing that you resemble the Michelin rubber tyre man or the Pillsbury dough boy. Secondly, it is the fact that you can actually begin to appreciate DC as a city with spectacular yet casual walks down to the monuments in the early morning or late at night no longer come with the danger of frostbite induced amputation which is always a good thing. Thirdly, I hear that DC is a pretty big thing for this whole “cherry blossom” business and indeed, soft pockets of light pink are beginning to gently appear in amongst the walkways and boulevards but more so than anything else, the great capital city finally seems to be coming alive after a long winter hibernation and festivals are coming up left right and centre. Finally, things just seem to be settling into a nice and pleasant pace all around, tempered perhaps by a certain lingering and not too distant realization that a semester really is short and time does actually fly by very quickly.