On April 6, 2019, in between Smith-Steeb Hall and Park-Stradley Hall, I volunteered at the Smith-Steeb/Park-Stradley Sibs and Kids Carnival Extravaganza. From 2-4, I aided B.A.S.S with setting up the decorations, organizing where table and trashcans were placed, placing out the food, and replenishing said food when it finished. This included: setting up tables, putting trash bags in the trash cans, taking out the trash when it became full, setting up the food on tables, and helping set up the speakers and popcorn machine. I mostly working under the senior members of B.A.S.S and doing aiding them with whatever they needed me to do.

This relates to IA, as it was organized by one of our favorite members of IA, Ellena Yohannes. She and B.A.S.S and the members of Park-Stradley’s organization helped design and fund such a wonderful event. In addition, I was able to work with other IA members, such as Kara, when volunteering as we had the same shift hours. Due to its location, many first and second IA years attended the event, thus I was able to interact and catch-up with them. Moreover, I was able to interact with the families of many of my fellow Smith-Steeb residents. This was a great way to socialize and catch up with people I had not seen since the beginning of the year.

From this event, I was able to hone my organization skills and socialization skills. I was talking and coordinating with others that were volunteering. We had to present the food in a logical and clean way in order to maximize the number of things that could be placed on the table but also reached by people lining up to pick out which foods they would like. In the beginning, it was a struggle to find out which foods would/would not be able to be placed on the table and what kind of tableware would be needed in order to serve it. In addition, I was interacting with those that attended the event and answering any questions they had about the event. There were several families that I knew that came to the event, so it was fun to talk to them and catch up with how they had been.

One question I had about the event is I just wonder how B.A.S.S has so much money in order to fund such an event. The amount of food and activities they had available was amazing. It’s amazing how much a large college like OSU can contribute to seemingly small events hosted by the dorms. Even more unbelievably, almost all the food was consumed and we even ran out of water (something that seemed impossible when first setting up for the event). I believe we had an incredible turnout and that the people I worked with were just as surprised as I was.

Overall the event was a lot of fun, I got to interact with people I know from both Smith-Steeb and Park-Strad. It allowed me to be involved with an on-campus event that I probably would not have attended.

On March 3, 2019, in the glass classroom in Smith-Steeb Hall, I went to an academic event called “Current Events Convo” with Sam Stelnicki. In this event, we talked about the current events happening around the world during that week. As we initially started the meeting, Sam had us play Kahoot, which questioned us on the topics that we were going to be discussing. There were five main topics that we focused on: the recent skirmishes between Pakistan and India, the Nigerian presidential election, North Korea and Trump, Brexit, and Venezuela. Sam went more in-depth for each topic and we discussed our own thoughts about each situation and what we believed would happen next. This relates to international affairs, as all of these topics are of interest for the United States to watch and pay attention to. As a country known for keeping and protecting democracy, it is important that we stay updated with other countries and how their decisions will impact our own. By keeping an eye on allies and other countries, we can learn from them and also intervene when necessary.

Through this event, I learned a lot of information about the Pakistan and India conflicts and the presidential confusion in Venezuela that have been going on recently. There has not been a lot of coverage by American news for these events. I find there to be a lack of international news unless it affects the United States directly. This event did a great job of covering the gap that many mainstream news providers fail to cover. Sam gave us a lot of background information for each event, explaining the hows and whys for each topic. I never knew that Pakistan and India had history when concerning the territories of Kashmir and Jammu. In addition, I did not even hear about the difficulties of the Nigerian Presidential election. It was interesting to learn how only 1/3 of the population voted, which was an all-time low for the coutnry. Since coming to college, it has been difficult balancing out school work, my social life, and keeping up with current news. A lot of the time, college seems like a bubble, where the only things that can affect you are the things you are doing right now, at the moment.

Other than the issues between North Korea and the United States, I haven’t had a class that covers these kinds of topics. In my International Conflict and Cooperation class, we talked about the effects of using shame and deterrence when discussing the North Korea threat with nuclear weapons. In order to stop the threat of North Korea, the United States, historically, has used deterrence, shame, and economic penalties. So far, these have worked, but have not stopped North Korea from continuing to expand their arsenal. This has been a growing concern for Americans, however, President Trump’s recent approaches have not been working either. So for now, the United States will just have to wait and see what North Korea will do.

Overall, I enjoyed the event and I learned a lot from Sam and fellow IA members.

On January 29, 2019, the glass classroom in Smith-Steeb, I went to a non-IA event called ‘Coffee & Diversi(tea). In this event, we talked about the impact of imperialism and colonialism on developing countries exports. This was shown by learning about the Coffee & Tea industries of developing countries. Throughout the event, we were able to taste various different kinds of teas and coffee that are fairtrade. At the end of the event, we focused on the different types of products common to each developing country we talked about.  This event relates to the topic of International Affairs, as it has to deal with the stereotypes we place on developing countries. There seems to be a trend of blaming developing countries for their poor economic affairs. Westerner looks from an outside perspective, as we can see that they have bountiful amounts of natural resources. However, through this event, I learned that many of the reasons as to why these countries mostly export raw goods are due to the effects of colonialism and imperialism. When Western countries entered into Asian and African countries, they took control of their natural resources and forced them to provide these resources for Western countries benefits. Western countries never allowed the developing ones the chance to make actual money, through things such as manufacturing or having their own industries, thus when these countries gained independence, they had nothing left for them to rely on financially.  Now, their economies rely on the industries that Western countries left them with, including raw materials and caffeinated products.  Thus, it is very difficult now for these countries to sell their goods at an equal price to Western brands, therefore the speakers talked about how it was essential to support fair trade. Fair trade allows for coffee and tea makers in developing countries sell their goods at a high enough price that they can actually make a living wage.

This kind of information is very similar to my Canadian Political Systems class, where we discussed how Canada was set up as a puppet state of the crown to start the fur trading business. Canada’s territory has now been continually exploited by Westerners for their own gain while aboriginals have been kicked off their land. Which is very similar to the developing countries we were learning about in this program. They were occupied only to be used for the gain of a larger Western superpower. However,  this is a slightly different story than the other developing countries, as Canada is obviously not one. This is due to Westerners settling down in the country, instead of using it as an occupied territory. Also through this class, we learned about a theory called the dependency theory, while slightly out of context, I believe that it truly applies to this situation. Regions (or in this case countries) are rich or poor depending on if they are the periphery or core. The core enriches itself at the expense of the periphery. They sell goods with high-profit margins using the resources of the periphery (in this case the developing countries). Thus, claiming industries (coffee & tea) due to their political advantages (taking over the countries).

Overall I found this event very informative and a lot of fun! I hope to find more connections between my current classes and events like these, they really help put my schoolwork into perspective.

On November 17, 2018, in the Archie M. Griffin Grand Ballroom in the Ohio Union, I attended African Night 2018: The Untold Story. During this event, I watched multiple acts, including singing, dancing, and poetry that celebrated and showcased African culture. This relates to International studies as the purpose of this event was to have a cultural celebration that provides a platform to show the diverse expression of African culture. By doing so, this event was able to teach and show the diversity within African countries. Many of the groups that attended were students organizations made with the purpose to express and carry on traditional African cultural experiences and teach them to others.

For this event, I gained more knowledge about the different types of African cultures. I believe in the American schooling system, we tend to overlook African culture and history other than the perspective of a European-like country. So events such as these ensure that Africa does not become the forgotten continent. In addition, I was able to support my friend Ellena in her performance with the Eritrean and Ethiopian student Organization. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to this event last year, so I promised Ellena I would come this year, so I’m glad I was able to come out and support her and her organization this year. It was a lot of fun to see Ellena in her element representing her heritage.

This event did not relate to any other topics I have learned in other coursework. Since my freshman year of high school, I have not gone over any subject that related to African culture or history. Thus, I believe that it is essential to attend events like these in order to gain more knowledge on this subject. I hope that eventually one of my political science classes will cover something to do with African countries or culture.

There are a lot of questions I wish to ask the many student organizations. I think it would be interesting to see the number of people in these groups who are first-generation Americans or if they joined these groups to find more about their heritage. In addition, it would be more interesting to learn about the dances Ellena performed. I wonder if they had any significant meaning or were they a combination of dances from different traditional Eritrean dances. In addition, I wonder if the event always runs as late as it did this year. The event started an hour late and the groups were completely out of order.

Overall I am extremely happy I was able to attend the event this year. There were a lot of cool groups that performed acts that I have never seen before. I hope that I will be able to go next year to see Ellena perform again, I also hope to meet more of the members of her group because Ellena was too busy getting ready to perform to introduce us. In addition, I can’t wait until Taste of OSU so I can watch Ellena perform again.

On October 26, 2018, outside of the Cartoon Room in the Union, I volunteered at the Indigenous Languages and Cultures of Latin America symposium. In this event, I spent my time checking-in and aiding/directing those who attended this symposium in conjunction with the Teaching and Learning Indigenous Languages of Latin America. This relates to international studies as this symposium was to serve as a way to exchange ideas and research ‘on methodological, theoretical, pedagogical, and practical issues from inter and trans-disciplinary perspectives’. By doing so, the symposium ‘contributes to the teaching and learning, dissemination and preservation, study and advancement of indigenous languages and cultures of the region’ (quotes are taken directly from the symposium’s webpage).  Many of the presentations at the symposium focused on the idea of indigenous languages have contributed to directly affecting areas of government and the economy worldwide.

From this event, I gained skills on how to professionally interact with others, even those who do not speak English as their first language. My job was to aid those who were attending and speaking at the symposium, so I was asked a lot of questions from non-Native speakers and had to either help them myself or call over the coordinator for the event, Heather. There were several technical emergencies during the period I was volunteering, which required my partner and I to call technical services from Ohio State to have the issue resolved. However, most of my job required to me to just aid people with directions and locations of the bathrooms.

The topic of the symposium is something that I have never learned about or taken a class on. The subject matter would be very interesting and informative, but I did not have time to slip into one of the lectures, nor do I specifically wish to learn more about the indigenous languages of South America. It seemed like a very niche area of study, however, the participants and speakers were from all over the country and world. It was interesting to see all of those who were attending and look at their names and what school they came from to represent. In addition, all the members knew each other, which I guess one would expect to see for such a small field of study.

One question I have for one of the speakers is — short story time: during my shift one of the speakers came up to the registration table and asked if she could store some books underneath it until her time to speak, which I told her of course, and then she responded with guard them with your life. Since she said to guard them with my life, but I would like to know why. What kind of books were they and were they super rare/expensive???

Overall, the event was very intriguing to know that OSU has such events for small niche sections of academia. This really brought to my attention that OSU is one of the larger colleges with lots of events and opportunities available to students and faculty alike.

On September 24, 2018, Room 101 in Smith-Steeb, I went to Sam’s academic event on “Current events conversation on Trump’s foreign policy”. In this event, we discussed Trump’s recent actions towards North Korea, most specifically his actions toward a treaty to bring forth the denuclearization of North Korea. Sam first gave us a quick background on American and North Korean relations, then went straight into what has happened between the two countries as of late. This topic relates to the topic of International Affairs as Trump’s interest in North Korea is an interest of our “home country” towards a foreign country. Trump’s actions toward North Korea could change the world, with deadly consequences. With increasing tensions between the United States and North Korea could cause catastrophic events for the United States and some of our closest allies (i.e. South Korea and Japan). Academically, Sam’s event has brought light to the start and causations of the tensions between North Korea and the United States. It is easy to hear about recent events involving the two countries, but I never really knew the history behind the war. Sam’s brief description/history lesson of the two countries helped clear up why the United States feels so threatened by a small country such as North Korea. Learning the previous presidents’ thoughts toward North Korea has also shown me how radical Trump’s actions toward North Korea are present. Trump is attempting something that no United States’ president has ever done, reach out to North Korea first. This led to a major discussion of, is what Trump doing helping or hurting the United States. Usually for international politics, reaching out to create peace first is a sign of good diplomacy, however, many scholars and military personnel looked down on Trump for putting North Korea on an equal level with the United States. This topic relates to one of my previous classes, ICC (International Cooperation and Conflict). In this class, we spent a majority of our time on questions about why countries do what they do and why do some countries choose conflict over cooperation and vice versa.  Most countries do not want war, so in order to prevent war from breaking out, countries will use deterrence to ensure that if another country to attack them, there will be punishment. My lecturer liked to use North Korea as a prime example of deterrence and a country that prefers conflict rather than cooperation. Cooperation would mean giving something up, and this type of country, one that relies on the people believing that it is the superior country, cannot give in to demands. This course really helped me understand why North Korea does what it does even though their country is in a dire state, economically and politically. If I had the time, I would have asked everyone’s personal opinions on Trump’s actions with the leader of North Korea. I would love to hear why people approve or disapprove of how Trump has given Kim Jong Un lavish compliments, even though the Kim regime is one of the worst dictatorships in the world and