Campus—10/8/2019

On October 8th, I attended the Global Engagement Night—Fashion Around the World. During this hour I was able to learn a lot about fashion in different cultures and countries. Specifically, I learned about traditional clothing from Greece, Malaysia, Colombia, Nigeria, El Salvador, and the United Arab Emirates. We learned about the different aspects of their traditional clothing. We talked about the time period, colors, fabric, and meaning of every part that went into the creation of the clothes. We also learned about the 5 fashion cities, which are London, Paris, New York City, Milan, and Los Angeles. Additionally, we played a game that basically allowed us to look at our own fashion sense. We would go to the side of the room that represented us. For example, one question asked if we preferred colorful or neutral colored clothes. These questions allowed me to better understand what type of clothes I like, as well as understanding my fashion sense. We also broke up into groups to talk about how we express our culture through fashion and explain what fashion means to us. To me fashion is a form of self expression. It helps to express your feelings, emotions and personality.
Learning about this relates to International Affairs because International Affairs relates to different cultures and people. Learning about other cultures and countries traditional clothing will be helpful in the future when one works with people of a different background. One question I had during the presentation was, how has fashion impacted society? With fashion shows and fashion trends that occur all around the world, it is noticeable that fashion is a big part of society. This event made me truly think about how I express myself and my culture through my clothes. It also made me want to go through my closet and reevaluate some of the clothes that I have. This event intersected with my personal goals because I want to be more in touch with my fashion sense, so this was a perfect event for me to go to.

Professional Development—10/7/2019

On October 7th, I attended On The Front Lines: Performing Afghanistan, specifically the Chia Khana Social Hour at the Wexner Center of the Arts. During this social hour I learned a lot about the Afghanistan culture and current issues going on in the country. First, I learned that after 18 years, the war in Afghanistan is at a point where there may be a peace deal. The United States and Russia are both trying to negotiate with the Taliban in order to end the war. Moreover, one of the presenters talked about a very prominent social issue in Afghanistan, which is women’s rights. Women are still struggling with having a voice in and outside of their home. Women are slowly getting more rights, but there still is a lot of progress that Afghanistan is working towards. On a different note, I learned about the change in the designs of the rugs that Muslims pray on. There was a significant change, in the rugs’ design after the Soviet Union came into Afghanistan. After the war, the rugs were filled with guns, tanks and other weapons of war. This was to depict the war and the damage it caused on the country and its people. Afghanistan has more to it than just war; it is a very unique country. The information I learned from this event relates to International Affairs because learning about this country’s culture and issues will help if I ever work in Afghanistan or with its’ people. Being informed about this country will help to avoid saying ignorant and rude comments. It will also be nice to interact with people from this country and have a nice conversation about their culture. One question I had during this event was, how probable is it for women to gain more rights in the future? Additionally, this event impacted me in a very positive way. I learned more about this culture and how grateful I am to have the rights that I have. This also made me look more at Afghanistan’s culture and history, rather than just thinking about the war that has taken over their country. Similarly, this peaked my professional interest because in the future I want to create a nonprofit and I think that fighting for women’s rights would be a great start or idea for a nonprofit. Lastly, during this event I was able to eat Afghanistan snacks and have tea as well. My favorite snack was the crackers and assortment of cheeses.