Ohio’s Immigrants and Refugees

I attended the discussion panel for Ohio’s Immigrants and Refugees at 10am on Friday October 9th. I just have to say, the entire panel discussion was so personal and heart felt at some moments it brought me to tears to hear the stories of struggle and perseverance that these women had while trying to make a livelihood in the US, some of them without even having proper documentation. I especially liked hearing the story from Daniella Pierre-Bravo and her story of pursuing an internship in New York that was unpaid and working 4 side jobs just to be able to eat. All these stories really put into perspective just how easy I have had it in my life, and how blessed I am to have been born in the United States and to have the opportunities I have had up until this moment in my life. I think it is important for us as international affair scholars to recognize that these stories are not anomalies. There are hundreds and thousands of stories like these all around the globe and many exist in our own country. To know what is going on in the world and to recognize that not all of us have the same benefits and advantages in life is so important in understanding how the world operates and I think this discussion panel did an amazing job at doing that.

Ice Cream Social Event September 27th

I attended the IA ice cream social event on Sunday, September 27th at 8 pm led by Grace Brownsberger. We met in front of smith steeb and then journeyed to short north where we ate some ice cream from CRMD.

It was the first time I had been there and found out quickly that CRMD is unlike most ice cream places you would typically find. The ice cream they have there is unique in the sense that each of their ice cream flavors are colored differently than you would expect them to be. I found this quite interesting and such a neat idea for ice cream.

Along with this great first experience at CRMD, I was able to meet some first year IA students as well as catch up with a couple of second year IA students I hadn’t seen in person since the good ol’ days of 8th floor smeeb last spring (before COVID of course). It was a great experience to get out of the dorm and go grab ice cream with some old/new friends, and although it doesn’t seem like much, I cannot express enough how surprisingly refreshing it was to do something as simple as grab ice cream with friends. This pandemic has really changed the dynamic of how people hang out and I am glad that we are taking the steps to try and continue in person events, I know i greatly appreciated it.

Spring Involvement Fair 1/16/20

I attended the spring involvement fair at the Union on January 16th from 4-7pm for the campus event. Its always crazy to me all the different opportunities and clubs there are at OSU for students. Although there aren’t as many groups present as there is at the other involvement fairs like during welcome week, I feel like this experience is just a little more intimate for the students, making it easier for people to talk to groups and clubs that they are actually interested in instead of trying to rush around and visit each stand/group there is. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay too long due to procrastination of homework but the time that I was there, I was able to learn about a few neat groups that exist on campus that are geared towards helping the community which I think is extremely important today. I think these are such a useful tool and should get more recognition across campus as being involved in groups here at OSU is very beneficial. It was also cool to see Elizabeth there with her club handball team there at their own table trying to recruit new players for their team. I really enjoyed going and seeing new clubs and groups I didn’t know about. Next year I plan on joining at least 2 more groups.

IA Breakfast Social Event 12/4/19

I attended the IA breakfast on December 4th, 2019, for the social event from 9:00 Pm – 10:30 Pm at the smith side kitchen. It was really nice to see almost all of IA at one event coming together with ACES and PSL to enjoy some food made by the leaders of IA, ACES, and PSL. I enjoyed eating some eggs and bacon as well as sipping on orange juice and mingling with some people from IA as well as PSL. I ended up talking to a couple of people from PSL that I met over fall break on our joined trip to DC and catching up with them on how there semester has been which was really cool. Steven was whippin up the eggs like an absolute monster which was highly entertaining as well as Sir Kevin, leader of PSL, was putting that work in with the bacon. I think this event was especially useful and well timed since it was coming up on finals week and I had been very stressed about my first round of finals as a college student. I hope we have more events like this one in the near future, because its a chill way to meet people and just enjoy the company of others.

13th Movie

I watched the movie 13th on November 17th for a campus event for IA. The movie focused on the discrimination racially that is evident in our prison systems today in the US based off the overwhelming statistics of African Americans and the percentage that they make up in the prisons across America today. In many ways, it was difficult to watch and realize that this is the reality that we live in today. The movie goes through the history of the US and the way African Americans were treated post civil war and the 13th amendment. The laws that were put into place and the things surrounding media were basically inhibiting and putting a false label on the African American communities in the US. Through the 20th century, many things changed that benefited African Americans but as equality was being found in some areas, other areas found a way to again discriminate the African American community. I didn’t realize just how much influence something as simple as a movie had on the American community and how portraying African Americans as savages and criminals ended up giving birth again to the KKK and along with that, almost justified hate crimes against African Americans. Seeing all of these little variables cumulate into the reality we live in today where the majority of prison populations consist of African Americans is just hard to comprehend. Not in the sense that its difficult to understand but personally, its hard to accept that this is the reality that we face today, and that its very disturbing. This has given a new light to me on the matter and how much of an issue it really is today.

STEP Expo

On Wednesday, November 20th, I attended the STEP Expo at the Union for the Academic/Campus event. At this event, I was able to witness some of the experiences other students have been engaging with through various Endeavors and services abroad and locally. STEP offers students the opportunity to receive up to 2,000 dollars to use on practically any activity they desire to participate in. This is something super cool that I did not know existed until very recently. Offering students the ability to study abroad and further expand their knowledge in any subject area they choose is something I am extremely interested in since traveling abroad can be a bit pricey sometimes. I know now that there are multiple avenues to receive money in order to study abroad through the College of Fisher and STEP. I will for sure be checking out and applying for grants in order to study abroad. This relates to IA because as scholars, being aware and knowledgable about what is going on in the world, the best way to get a better understanding is to be there in person witnessing things first hand, as well as having background information for future purposes in the real world.

American Factory

I attended the showing of the American Factory on October 20th at 8 PM. This is an academic event. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, we were forced to relocate to the 8th floor common area where we partook in the watching of the movie. We ran into a speed bump and realized the amount of lumens in the common area was inhibiting the picture from the projector to be visible. So in an attempt to reduce the amount of light in the common area, we decided to cover the lights with a black adhesive tape that reduced the quantity of lumens in the common area. With a viable setting to watch the movie in, we proceeded to watch the movie. The beginning of the movie made it very clear that they wanted the company to be an American company that would benefit Americans and give people jobs. This is relative to IA because this company is combining the efforts of two different countries to benefit both countries. The way the Chinese workers have to adapt to the US and the culture is similar to the idea of assimilation which many people go through when immigrating to other countries. This event was very informative about the drastic differences that exist in the world and how one company had to work to overcome those. This also brought me closer to a lot of the IA guys because we had to work through various technical and light issues to make this event happen.

World Trivia Night

I attended the World Trivia Night in the sky-lounge on Sunday October 6th at 7:30 PM. This event was a social event. This event was a way to meet a couple of people from IA and just enjoy a chill Sunday night. The competition aspect was fun but it also improved my knowledge of countries geographically. I didn’t realize that countries were so difficult to identify based off their geographical shape. It definitely taught me a new appreciation for geography because I went into the event thinking it would be pretty easy to identify countries by shape but boy was I wrong. I gained some more information academically and learned the differences between some countries that have similar flag patterns and how to distinguish them. This relates to international affairs pretty directly. Being knowledgable on something as simple as a countries flag can make a huge difference and all the details that pertain to a country are important. Overall, I think this event was super useful and fun. Everyone can enjoy doing a couple Kahoots and having some friendly competition on a Sunday night, and learning a thing or two about some countries along the way doesn’t hurt either. These should be a weekly thing and maybe even a requirement in itself to get people out of there rooms and interact with others.

Welcome Back Cookout

I attended the welcome back cookout on Thursday august 29th from 6-8pm between the smith-steeb and park stradley dorms. This was a social event where I was able to just kick back, relax, eat, talk, and hangout with the people in International Affairs with me. This event served as a way for me to get to know more people that are in International Affairs with me. By operating as an open and relaxed environment, people were able to just hang out and eat and mingle with one another. This relates to International Affairs because we all had that in common and all participate in it together. I hung out with Tyler, Elizabeth, and Kat for a while when I got to the event after my last class on Thursday. I grabbed a double cheeseburger, played bags, and just talked with all of them. I learned that we disagree on the name of the game bags. All three of them call it corn hole but I call it bags just because thats what I have always called it. Personally, I gained more relationships with people through common interest and having fun, as well as meeting more people in the program that I did not know before.

Student Wellness Presentation

I attended the student wellness presentation on Tuesday August 27th in Mendenhall lab 100, which was an academic event that informed us about the various services and programs that the student wellness center offers on and off campus for Ohio State students.

This event impacted me greatly due to the fact that I was not aware of the wide range of services that the Student Wellness program offers for students here at Ohio State and the fact that almost all of them are 100% free of charge. The things that this group of people are doing for students on campus is absolutely remarkable and that I have access to all these services provides some peace for me as a first year student on campus.

This event relates to international affairs in the sense that both of us are trying to understand issues that are impacting people in certain areas. While the international affairs program is focusing on issues around the world, the student wellness program is focusing more on the Ohio State campus and the issues that many college students face each day. Based off this, they have created and instituted programs to address specific issues or problems that students have on and off campus.

I acquired a lot of information that could turn out to be very useful to me in the near future here at Ohio State as well as personally, I feel more at peace knowing that if I am ever struggling with some issue or problem, I have the necessary resources available to help me with anything I am going through.