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Late Night Breakfast

The Late Night Breakfast was held in the Smith Steeb basement in the kitchen on December 4th from 9 P.M. to 10:30 P.M. This event was a social event where breakfast was served to both International Affairs Scholars and the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars group. This event impacted me mainly because it was a good time to bond with all my friends and make new friends from both scholars group. It was a great event because everyone had a great time and the food was fresh and delicious. Since the food selection was so large, I only chose the grapes, the bacon, some orange juice, and eggs. I also recorded some memories as I took a picture of my friend Ben Mahoney with Kani Jones. The late night breakfast was an event that introduced me to the PSL scholars group since I had not encountered them before. I think Steven and Kevin did a great job to make sure the event ran smoothly and soundly. I think it was a great thing to see how many people attended the event since it showed how strong the bond was between the communities. Overall, the event was during a stressful time but it eased some of the tension some of us had because there were a lot of laughs and memories made.

13th documentary showing

I attended the showing of “13th” which is a documentary under the campus category that took place on November 21st. It was held in the Glass classroom on the first floor of Smith Steeb. The documentary was greatly detailed and had a lot of good information about extremely important topics such as the portrayal of African American males. The most interesting part of this documentary to me that really shifted my perspective was the fact that White ancestors made their history but African American ancestors didn’t get to choose what their history was. This event is directly related to International Affairs because the whole documentary has a background of diversity and the inequality that causes a certain stigma and result. Diversity and inequality have seemed to be a major topic that has caused complex and extensive discussions in our classes and meetings. The documentary showed me what I already knew was happening with racism in the country but gave the context and results in a detailed and deeper analysis. This relates to one of my classes called wage inequality since one of the topics we talked about was the difference in wage between African American and White workers in different time periods. One question I have is if policy can solely fix disparities or if society has to work outside of legislation as well?

Columbus Zoo Lights

I attended the Columbus city Zoo Lights event which took place on November 15th and was held between 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. This event was placed in the social category. I was with a group of my friends from Smith floor eight and we also met with two girls on the same side and floor. There were multiple animals on display but the main attraction of the night was the lights that were put on trees, bushes, and different sculptures in the zoo. This event relates to International Affairs because a lot of the exhibits were themed after countries or continents that displayed the animals. While many of the exhibits were closed, we saw many animals from foreign nations such as elephants and rhinos. This event impacted me because it was very insightful to zoo culture. To make money, since many of the animals are shipped to warmer areas, the Columbus zoo set up amazing lights so they could have an income for a short period of time. It saddened me a little that animals like the rhino were sitting in one spot the whole time and the concept of observing these species seems immoral and twisted. A question I have after this event is how much money did the Columbus Zoo make when the lights were on compared to a regular winter day without the lights?

Fashion around the world discussion

The fashion around the world discussion was on October 8th and presented in the Enarson building. This event was a campus event that focused on different fashion styles in countries around the world. The event impacted me by showing me how the people in the room with me viewed different fashion styles and how different cultures used colors, fabric, shapes, designs, and more to uniquely form recognizable clothes that aren’t similar to any other culture. We were asked to guess which fashion trends came from which country and I was surprised at how little I knew about the cultural clothing relative to a country. This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because it was an internationally based multicultural discussion done by people of different beliefs. The agreements and disagreements of our peers in the room were related to the objective of being globally aware and recognizing perspectives as a member of International Affairs. Personally, I gained much insight into how people looked at my culture’s fashion as well as the reasoning behind why people enjoy or dislike a certain outfit. A question I had about the discussion was if there was a correlation between religion and fashion and how that correlation has evolved over the years.

American Worker Documentary

The American Factory documentary was originally meant to be screened in the Smith Steeb basement but many of us could not hear it or see it due to the technical difficulties so we relocated to the common area of floor eight. The showing was on October 20th and is an academic event about the migration of Chinese factories and workers to the United States. The movie was based in Dayton, Ohio and analyzes the effects of Chinese factory migration to the United States. New jobs for a struggling town in Ohio were created but certain problems were presented such as the cultural disparities of Chinese and American workers. This documentary impacted me because it showed us that even with certain economic boom, there are still social problems between different cultures. This relates to the topic of International Affairs because it gives complex insight into the good and bad side of introducing two cultural groups from different countries to each other. From this event, I came back to the idea that a foreign culture may not always be happy with their situation in another country due to a feeling of alienation and some people may not be accepting of different cultural values. This event also relates to my Capitalism class that outlines different businesses and the combination of things such as cultures and people. A question I had about this topic involved how morally different it was for those Chinese workers and even the company CEO to accept the idea of moving operations to the United States.

Mini-Involvement fair

The event that I attended was a non-International Affairs organized mini-involvement fair on the lawn of the Smith-Steeb on September 11th. The fair was a campus event where multiple Ohio State student sponsored clubs introduced themselves to the International Affairs students so that they can open doors to more opportunities and encounters that enhance their overall experience at the Ohio State University. The clubs that were at the fair almost all had foundations in international studies with many even offering volunteering opportunities abroad through membership. The impact this event had on me was extremely important because it allowed me to converse with passionate leaders of programs about how my major and these clubs are codependent on each other, emphasizing that there was a place for me to fit in. I gained a lot from this event involving aspects of both academics and professionalism. It allowed me to understand what it means to be involved as an adult and college student, has influenced me to step out of my comfort zone and be a part of something bigger, and opened the door to taking initiative, being empathetic, and helping others. The most important part of the mini involvement fair though was, from an objective standpoint, the fact that there was a club for any specified group of people with certain interests. All the clubs that were displayed had a unique attraction that allowed everyone to find at least one club that they felt included in and comfortable with. The mini involvement fair was very beneficial to me and many others by allowing us to connect, interact, and feel comfortable with people in and out of the program.

International Affairs Cookout

The event I attended was an International Affairs Cookout outside of Smith-Steeb on the lawn on August 31st. The cookout was a social event where almost all of International Affairs came together to meet, hang out and bond with other students of the same program. This event impacted me by allowing me to comfortably engage myself with many people so that I could feel more involved in the program. Along with this, I became friends with multiple people with similar interests as me in and out of the program. This event changed my perspective on how I would interact with many of the students because it allowed me to recognize that we could be more than just colleagues. While this event was mainly introductory, it still had many qualities of the program because it brought people closer together and made it easier to find and collaborate on opportunities with peers. I think the most important thing about this event is the fact that it wasn’t as critical to the program as other events can be which allowed us to introduce ourselves and have a comfortable bubble to interact with so that we can efficiently collaborate on events that have deeper implications and value relative to the program. Ultimately, the cookout had a great social impact on everyone in the program and allowed everyone to create networks to ease the transition into their first year and the International Affairs program.