Washington – Page 15 – Postcards from GW

The Beginning of An End.

AdminApril 28, 2014

For the past few weeks there has been this weird feeling building up deep in my guts. Slowly gathering each day waiting for a build up that is inevitably going to happen … the day I’m going to leave my cozy little apartment in Ivory Tower, leave the streets of Foggy Bottom, my classes at Elliot, taking the metro for the last time. Leaving the United States altogether.

When I first got my acceptance letter to GW, I was ecstatic. Not only because I got accepted to one of the greatest school in the United States but also because this university happened to be in Washington DC, a couple blocks away from the White house, the Lincoln Memorial and a walk from the Capitol and the Washington Monument. I was eager to set foot in the United States, a country that I only dreamt of visiting not only living in one of its greatest city, it capital no less, for a period of four months. However, the feelings of happiness were being tinged with little apprehension and fear. I was going to delve into the unknown, a place where I didn't know anybody, thousands of kilometers away from the place a called home. As the days of my flight approached this mixture of sheer excitement and fear only grew stronger and when I set foot at the busy Dulles airport at 10 pm on a cold a rainy night, I knew everything would be alright.

Days, weeks and months have passed where I had the great opportunity to meet incredible from all over the world that I’m proud to call my friends. I settled into my room, figured out my classes and learned to use the washing machines for the first time trying not to shrink all my clothes. Planning trips and getaways was perhaps one of the most challenging things I had to do mainly because there was so much to see and so little time ! I am nonetheless happy and content with what I managed to visit in the US. Trying to race the clock and fit everything one should see in New York in a mere four days was rewarding, exciting and exhausting. I absolutely adored the rhythm and tempo of the City that Never sleep and loved how the very feel of the city would change when you’d turn around a corner or change boroughs. Baltimore proved to hold my personal record of best seafood I’d had and although it the weather wasn't very clement that day it had been an enjoyable day nonetheless. The much anticipated Spring Break in Puerto Rico was the culmination of everything I wanted it to be and exceeded my wildest expectations: deliciously fresh food, paradise-like beaches, warm humid weather that made my hair go cray cray, and the great company that I was blessed with.

My time here at GW wasn’t me trotting around the country although I really wanted it to be. Classes were interesting as they were intriguing especially one of my acting classes in which I got to push boundaries in myself that I didn’t even knew existed. The ride was also bumpy like everything in life but I learned to deal with it and ultimately overcome it a learn from the mishaps and the failures and hopefully it had made me a better, stronger person.

A handful of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from the Exchange office back at my hometown university Alakhawayn University, asking us all exchange students abroad to write a little paragraph describing our experience abroad. These messages were going to be shared with other students who wish to go on a semester or year abroad and it made me ponder about my time here. My exchange experience has been about being in new places, meeting new people and discovering new things. But it has been much more than that. In fact this experience is also about getting to know yourself. When you’re put in situations that you’ve never been before, whether you have to deal with difficult classes, figuring out your budget, planning trips, approaching people, dealing with an illness, feeling homesick or just feeling bad and vulnerable. You end up learning from everything and ultimately growing as person. It’s also about sharing the little things with the people you’ve met that have become your friends; being able to just hang out in comfortable silence or make jokes or tell your day or even rant about a bad day. That’s what’s exchange is all about, knowing yourself to know people and build ties with them that grow over time. The shyness and politless of the first week is slowly replaced by regular movie/pizza nights, inside jokes, new songs and even a group name and printed t-shirts !

None of this would have been possible without the support both financial and personal of my parents whom I have terribly missed especially in situations where I’m lost and I need advice. Also, the amazing Exo Leaders group and Shawna and Hilary who have tirelessly worked to make our stay here as confortable and enjoyable as possible and made sure we didn’t need anything. To my beloved exchange group, guys it’s been a great ride, you will be terribly missed and I hope to see you soon. To my peeps, the “running” club, oh you guys, a reunion is most definitely in order, I want to take you back with me because I’ve grown so used to your presence. To everyone my path happened to cross I say thank you. My life has been blessed with you presence and know that I will never forget you.

As corny as this last post must sound like and I know it is corny, I will allow myself a little bit of corniness because the words I’m writing now sitting in my desk, tears pickling the corner of my eyes, are true.

Thank you GWU, DC, for hosting me, it has been a blast and I hope to come back soon..ish.

Shamrock Fest and Visiting Friends!

AdminMarch 25, 2014

By hannahbethdray

Spring Break was the most incredible week, full of amazing food, great friends and a lot of relaxation! Unfortunately though, I came back home to lots of snow and four papers to write! For this reason, I was unable to celebrate St Patrick’s Day on Monday. Luckily we were able to celebrate this weekend at Shamrock Fest! Two of my friends Georgina and Tamara from school have come over from the UK to visit for two weeks so were able to join us in green and celebrate! We were packed out in green and luckily the weather was on our side and it was beautiful! The festival was being held at RFK Stadium in South East DC, so after joining other green wearing Americans, we had arrived! After exploring everything the festival had to offer, including carnival rides and various Irish paraphernalia, we watched a couple of Irish bands to play.
Georgina and Tamara were suffering a little from time difference jet lag so we went to experience some good American food: Pizza and Funnel Cake!!

I also managed to switch my tiara for a flashing one due to my English accent (the perks of being an exchange student). It was a little crazy getting back from the festival as everyone was travelling back at the same time, but we had an amazing day!

Today was Tamara and Georgina’s first day of being tourists in DC, so what better way to start than see all the monuments! Overall we walked 5 miles today and my feet are really feeling the effects of this. We saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Vietnam among others, and the girls had a really great time

although I was at one point being followed by a squirrel who would not leave me alone! The day was ended with a trip to Chipotle – I felt I had really earned my food by that point!
What I learnt from today was that having lived in DC for 7 months now, I have really got the hang of the area; I don’t feel as much of a tourist anymore, although I do still sometimes have my moments of getting lost on the metro!

Time to share exchange experiences, Pepi!

AdminMarch 3, 2014

By inepalacios

Beginnings of April, 2013. “I want to study abroad”, I said. “I want to do it too,” he said to me. We were just finishing a weekly running training when I received this wonderful piece of news from my friend Pepi, who was planning to do an exchange semester too. I remember that in this moment the process of application was tedious and long, and also a little lonely. If I had friends from Political Science that were applying to do an exchange, it was an uncomfortable competition, because there were few vacancies and we know that the university that one get would be the same university that the other would lose. But in the case of Pepi the situation was different. Pepi is my friend but he is studying Bussiness Economics (I am studying Political Science), so we were not competing between each other.

Since this moment it was a long process of preparation, of talks, worries but also good expectations. There were too many things to plan: plane tickets, insurance, budgets, applications, travel plans. Pepi applied as his first option to the University of Richmond and I applied as a first option to The George Washington University, fortunately our home university gave us the opportunity to go to the universities that we wanted. He was one of few friends who I could talk all the time about the exchange, who understood me with each step, who lost a lot of hours helping me with the English exam, with applications and other things.

Pepi came here to visit GW this past weekend. Among my routinely activities, my assignments, midterms preparations I found time to organize tours around DC, neither the cold neither the work stopped us to have a terrific time in this amazing city.

Among other things, we shared mates the first night with Timo (my Argentinian colleague here in GW), a few delicious empanadas (typical argentinian food) that we found in Adams Morgan, the Argentinian Embassy visit, sharing with him one of my classes, walking to the White House, going out to dance in the city, having popular food of Washington, etc. The whole weekend and all what we did were enough activities to realize that all of our plans from a year ago (a trip we both envisioned and dream about for a long time) got real.

Although, it was not so much time, it was enough to think about what is happening these current days of my exchange. About all of the experiences that we have to take advantage. It made me turning back in the time, remember how we wished this trip and realize that this experience seems to be better that I could ever think. It made me realize that I have to continuously put my joy and willingness to enjoy every instant.

As a way of not losing our habit of running (and also to keep in shape, of course) we went running through the favorite DC destinations: the memorials and all the monuments. At the end, the summary was a great and enriching afternoon after going through all the historical monuments of the foundation of the country. Among pictures, a wonderful rain, walk, run, memorials we had a good time to catch up.

Tomorrow he has to go back to Richmond, I am still feeling that I could have shared more time with my friend, but I know that It is a good excuse to meet up again in the coming weeks here in Washington or in Richmond where he’s studying. But most importantly, in exactly a week and after the midterms, we will be enjoying together of our recently planed Spring Break in Miami.

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.

Dr King and painting playgrounds

AdminJanuary 24, 2014

By aaront162

There is little doubt that Washington DC presents itself, to those looking inwards from the outside, almost purely in terms of the magnificent white marble and granite grandeur of the White House, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. On a warm August afternoon in 1963, on those very steps of the Lincoln Memorial, looking out towards a crowd of over two hundred and fifty thousand people, Martin Luther King delivered a speech that has been etched into our collective memory of the struggle of that era – a movement which not only fought for the rights of African-Americans but was so powerful that its call for fairness and equality that it resonated far enough to the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa and inspire the Freedom Rides which symbolised the Indigenous Rights movement in Australia.

So some fifty or so years on from Dr King’s speech, the sun drew westward towwards the horizon on a rather quiet winter afternoon and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Day of Service slowly crept to a end. A day which should leave someone with a sense of accomplishment – a basic enough sense of having made a difference to lives of those not afforded the privileges which others are born into – ended in a strangely dejected manner. There is little doubt that the intent was harmless enough and no doubt at all that the enthusiasm was there but by the time the one and a half hours of speeches and pep talk that began the day finally needed in the ballroom of the Marvin Centre, by the time the nicely printed shirts and packed lunches of the day were distributed, the mood had already taken a turn towards what seemed like more than anything else, a misdirected effort. We had painted a fence but barely so, patches of new paint barely covering the old, that is, if covering it all - we left it a half finished job with seemed to be a poignant symbol for the day in itself. By the time we came around to cleaning up the scraps of coloured paper or cleaning the pale green, blue, red and orange paint off the brushes and rollers, a misdirected effort became an opportunity lost.

When I first came to Washington DC, I took a routine bus service to New York City. Moving outwards from Union Square station, there was an unmistakable movement from the exquisitely well kept parks that surrounds the national monuments and wide avenues to the crumbling shop fronts, graffiti strewn across their walls and their windows plastered with dusty and sun bleached “for lease” signs. It may be a certain cynicism which some characterise as quintessential to the Australian attitude but it was hard to connect how the several hours we had spent painting an otherwise well maintained wire fence made any sort of impact upon this almost second world within the boundaries of the city. Again I have no doubt that all all intentions were good but on my way to Georgetown, walking past a homeless woman camped alongside the banks of the Potomac, a plastic sheet draped across scrags of tree for a makeshift shelter, I realized that DC from the inside is truly a city of confronting contrasts - that barely beneath the pristine surface, as clichéd as it may be, the city embodies the very essence of a “have” and “have not” cross section of society.

Inside the very city where Dr King’s words continue to resonate in rhetoric, it seems as though these words inevitably fall silent upon the nameless faces of the poverty and disadvantage which nestles itself in amongst the city's street, in between the cracks of its grand halls, columns and domes. As much as many celebrate what has been achieved by Dr King and his legacy, much more needs to be, and indeed, could have been done to genuinely hold fast to and honour Dr King’s vision of fairness and equality in America.

First week of Classes…

AdminJanuary 22, 2014

By hannahbethdray

The first week back at school is always difficult to get back into; you’re trying to get to all your classes as well as seeing all your friends you've missed for the past month. So my first week has been all about catching up with people, lots of food and going out. And the first event of the week was the GW Basketball game! Our school team have been playing brilliantly this past semester, so it was no surprise that this game was sold out. Luckily though, I managed to get a seat and had a perfect view of the game.It was my friend Christina’s first game of the season as well, and she showed her school spirit perfectly with her GW sweater.

The final score was 76-66 to GW, with the team making our school proud. Hopefully next week I will be able to travel up to George Mason University to see their next game.

The weather as you may have noticed has also turned bitterly cold – I had three layers on the other day, just to run to 7/11! However this meant it was the perfect weather on Saturday evening for a trip to Georgetown and to the ice rink that has been built in the fountain. Now I absolutely love ice skating, however I was surprised to find out that half my friends had never skated before, so were in need of a bit of coaching.We all fell down at least once (but that’s half the fun of it!) and had a great time, finishing the evening off with a burger. The rest of my week has been filled with food, making fajitas for my friends and also going out for brunch on Sunday afternoon with the girls – a perfect first week back to school!

Brace yourself America, I’m coming !

AdminJanuary 2, 2014

By nimames

Our planet houses, feeds and keeps alive 7 billion people. It has 6 continents, almost 200 countries and a variety of peoples and ethnicities. There are over 27 million flight hours each year. Almost 3 million Moroccans live outside of their home country, 20 000 of which live in France only. An even greater number of people travelling aboard can be counted each year. One of them is me, Nîma Mesbahi, a 20 year old Moroccan going to Washington DC for a semester.

I have been to a traditional Moroccan school, a French high school and I am now studying at an American style liberal arts university. I can speak Arabic, French, English and dabble in Spanish. Sometimes, I think about identity and what makes us who we really are. Is it our color, language, nationality, religion? Or is what music we listen to or what books we read ? Or maybe is it everything. But when I really think about it language, identity and nationally may diverge but cultures meet, overlap and converge. There is no such thing as a unique culture as every nation has been influenced by another one at some point; forever graving a mark, an imprint that would later become its official seal. Morocco for example, is most famous for its exquisite mint tea served in silver teapots with almond pastry. Little do people know that the tea used to make the renowned atay originally comes from Mainland China and the teapot was designed and manufactured in Manchester, England. There are endless examples of how habits and cultural specificities that we think of as being unique to one particular country are in reality the result of a boiling melting pot that dates way before the Internet.

One must admit however that the handy little invention called the Internet has enabled each and every one of us to become connected and wired to each other. Bound by the age of technology, we have become one; sharing a common quotidian, and a common life. Nevertheless, and as much as the various interactions we are part of seem important to us, a hardware computer stands between the real experience and us. Living in DC for a semester would most definitely be the real thing: an opportunity for me, a young Moroccan to experience a whole new life. It is something akin to taking a veil off, a veil separating us from experiencing true cultural interaction.

This process of taking the veil off and embracing, even for a semester’s time, a whole new life is quite frightening to say the least. I have never left home for more that a month and to be frank, going on exchange to the United States would most definitely be one of the scariest moments of my life. When I first go accepted to university and had to move out to another city leaving everything that I had carefully built around me over the years, was truly intimidating. But, I survived; I adapted to my environment and managed to get myself a bunch of crazy people I call my friends. To say that I'm going to miss them would be, well, kind of cheesy, but true nonetheless. I have grown accused to each and everyone of them, with their quirks, weird habits, incredibly loud laughs and what not.

The idea of having to do it all over again, in a new city, a new country is nerve wracking, but when I come to think of it, one cannot live a full life without taking risks, and I feel ready to leave the cocoon that my life currently is and delve into the depth of the unknown. I would expect this particular experience to be fruitful and enriching. Living in a country thousand of kilometers away from home, meeting new people, sharing cultures and ultimately growing up. Growth is what I expect and look forward to the most. Maturing and flourishing into a more confident, self-assure and determined young Moroccan student who has been fortunate enough to fully live this experience. Making new friends, tasting the famous American food (hot dogs !!), seeing news landscapes and making forever-lasting memories.

Weekends

AdminNovember 18, 2013

By falseconscious

Weekends are very useful to recharge and reinvigorate the body and soul; once the Monday morning sun pokes you in the eyes, you get up not regretting the two free days you had. Here’s what I did over the weekend that cost nothing at all.

Cupcake Mornings

If you might have noticed, I have made Saturday morning cupcakes a ritual. To be honest, I’m not that big a fan and have often ditched cupcake trips for the allure of sleep. However, it is good to start a day with friends who you miss during weekdays being busy with classes and assignments. The caffeine buzz and sugar rush from a cup of coffee and a caramel fudge cupcake gave me the energy to do more for the rest of the day.

As usual, myself, Reza, Shiying, and Boyeong went to Georgetown Cupcakes upon their reveal of the “super secret” free cupcake of the day on their Twitter account. Usually, there would be a queue outside. That morning, the universe aligned (yes, I watched Thor 2) and we strolled in and ordered cupcakes and coffee.

Our favorite place to consume the cupcakes is not in the store itself, but across the road and further downhill where there will be a red bridge over a drain waterway. Sometimes we will go further down by the Potomac and look at rowers, ducks and people struggling to steer their kayaks.

We had to walk back to Foggy Bottom Metro to take the train up to the zoo, which was a mistake as we could’ve just walk to Dupont Circle and save the trouble of transferring lines which is a hassle during weekends thanks to scheduled maintenance.

The National Zoological Park

We did not choose the option to go to the zoo during the orientation week and it was about time we went there before any further changes to the weather. It was a pleasant day and I may have acclimatized to the “cold” because anything above 10 degrees (Celsius!) feels warm now.

This zoo is part of the Smithsonian Institution and does not have admission fees. It charges $2.00 for a map – but you won’t need it because there are information boards with the map on it showing the different trails and the locations of the different animals.

Some of the animals aren’t from this side of the world. This leopard from Southeast Asia is resting in the cold. There are heated areas in each enclosure for the animals to get warm and they can choose to stay in indoor spaces as well. Rest assured, these animals are taken care of quite well. Here are some of them:

I discussed the feasibility of Socrates’ Kallipolis with a panda.

He preferred Aristotle’s conception of a just city.

I refuse to take pictures of the gorillas and the orangutans because they have human-like features and behavior I stood and questioned the gaze I had looking at them behind glass windows as they were waiting for food. Someone outside said: “I don’t mind looking at cats, lions and zebras, but these monkeys look like humans and I don’t feel comfortable”. I agreed because I know, humans used to treat other humans in the same way – like how Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman was treated. In some other parts of the world, some females are forced into prostitution and put into “fish tanks”. Some people still look at others as inferior versions of humans as well.

At the end of the trail, we figured out a “walk” to Columbia Heights Metro station was shorter than the walk back to the station we came from. We were right about the distance and the trek there was awesome. Coming from a tropical island, the sight of falling orange and yellow leaves was breath-taking. What also took my breath away was the hike up Columbia Heights. My lungs obviously haven’t been used for exercise in a long time.

I ended the day with a trip to the Lincoln Memorial. The Washington Monument is no longer illuminated at night, which I assume is because of a pause in construction. I already expounded the no-cost beauty of going to the memorials at night in my previous posts.

Georgetown Soccer

Apparently the artificial turf in Georgetown University is open for use for free as well. I did smirk at the Hoya Saxa on the way up – oh what has GW made of me.

It is a beautiful pitch on a hill with airplanes flying over once every few minutes or so. I bet it looks pretty during the day. Being on a hill also meant we were exposed to whatever nature gave us – thankfully it was just ball-trajectory-altering winds that night. Reza and me played with a group of Kazakhs who were either graduate students at GW or working around the area.

Soccer catharticaly relieved me of pent up frustrations, energy, passion and emotions. My team lost 10 to 8, but it was a close match and we had a lot of fun. A few of the Kazakhs studied in Malaysia and could speak some Malay. One of them said “Nasi Ayam Goreng satu” which meant “one plate of fried chicken rice” I was instantly overwhelmed with memories of food from home. I exclaimed in pleasure that I missed fried chicken rice.

The Secret Cinema

Immediately after washing up, I went to this secret cinema, which I will reveal only if you ask me personally. In this secret cinema, the secret seats helped me rest my severely aching muscles. (I got hit in the face with a ball, but the force was so hard it wasn’t my neck that hurt, but my arm, which I suspect dislocated slightly as my body, less the arm, jerked backwards from the impact). We watched Thor 2 that night. I would love to reveal why this cinema is so special to those interested. I wanted to post a picture showing why it’s so special but it will reveal why the cinema has to remain a secret.

Raise High

AdminNovember 11, 2013

By falseconscious

Last week, the GW Men's Basketball team started their 100th season with a game against Radford at the Charles E. Smith Center. It was an opportunity once again to have a taste of American sports and culture. I began my evening with free food and drinks at the tailgate party where the entire 22nd St outside the Charles E. Smith Center was closed off.

Tailgating is a social event that originated from the United States where there will be consumption of alcoholic beverages and grilled food on and around the open "tailgate" of a vehicle. This social event, which can be organized without any vehicles with tailgates, may occur before a sports event - football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer - and may also be held during weddings and barbecues.

The tailgate pre-game that night started in the late afternoon, and assuming there will be a crescendo of participation peaking nearest to the game, I went down the street to the Center much later and queued up with my roommate James who was very eager to get a grilled burger. On such a cold night, being near a flaming grill provided much comfort as I observed hungry young Americans committed to the barely moving queue, some staying longer at the tables to sneak a hot dog as well, to the dismay of those far behind in the queue. There was a band playing songs familiar to most who were present, contributing to the overall American ambiance.

The game was more exciting than watching people eat. I sat behind the "Colonial Army", which I assume is similar to the Kop or Forza Milan, but less "Ultras" and more happy-students-just-having-fun. Thank god the words to the GW Fight Song or "Hail to the Buff and Blue" were displayed on the big screen. A guy wearing a yellow colonial hat at the front said something along the lines of: "This is the Colonial Army... you have to be loud otherwise you have to sit somewhere else". Owing to a terrible experience in the past when I wore a Liverpool jersey to a local Arsenal Fan Club hangout, I gave a worried look to James and memorized the song in one seating. It didn't really matter and no one was kicking me out for just sitting and clapping, but it was nice to participate in whatever quantity of school spirit that possessed the crowd. It certainly was more fun than when I watched a pre-season game between Miami Heat and Washington Wizards.

Here is a video of one of the songs that we sang along with to cheer the team on and have fun ourselves. We "woah-oh"-ed to the "chorus" - if you can call it that - of Kernkraft 400:

After the resounding victory and a satisfying late dinner, we went back to our room and every once in a while, one of us would have this song in our head and start humming it and we'll hum it together for a minute.

I had fun and hope to see the team for another victory this Tuesday.

Take me out to the ballgame!

AdminSeptember 23, 2013

By falseconscious

Baseball is not a popular sport in Singapore but we know what it is because of Hollywood movies that range from cheesy ones with dogs that can catch to the movie that I watched on my plane ride to DC: "42".

"42" tells the story of Jackie Robinson who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. I may be biased because my life experience has made me a little tender towards any stories that tell a story of discrimination, but I would recommend it to those who haven't watched it or those, who like me, would have avoided watching baseball movies if not for the fact that I was terribly bored on my 20+ hour journey. Aside from the emotional story, that movie also got me interested in baseball and its rules particularly because the legendary player in the movie played quite interestingly.

So, when the opportunity came for me to watch a game with fellow exchange students, organized by the Office for Study Abroad, I was totally up for it. The Office also kindly arranged for an after-school session of learning how to play baseball so that "noobs" like us could actually understand what would be happening on game day.

Playing "Wiffle", with baseball rules.

Game day itself was an experience. It was different from watching baseball on the television or in the movies. From where I was, I couldn't really see the dust being kicked off the ground. The huge mega screen showing replays from various angles, the crowd's cheers and the music was what helped me guess what was going on. The Nationals led initially, but were very inefficient in that they had twice as many people on the base than they had number of runs. (My attempt at reporting what happened during the game may not be interesting).

I am very much used to the faster paced soccer games (that's football by the way) but I enjoyed sitting in the cold and guessing "balls" from "strikes". There was much less activity (it may be that it was not a particularly interesting baseball game) and I prefer playing it myself than just watching, but the slow pace meant that any good hit that propelled the ball up in the air guaranteed a little excitement, a small urge to witness a home run and I would edge a little bit off my seat. If it wasn't a magical hit, I would just sigh and sit back down, continue eating my fries, mutter how I could swing the bat better and make small talk about how cold it was sitting all the way up. If it was a good hit, especially a home run, even if it was an error by those on the field, I would, for a few seconds, become a baseball fan.