Recently, I participated in a service event on February 10th and 13th with the Accounting Association at Ohio State University. My friend, Jennifer Huang, is the VP of community service and the social chair of the Accounting Association. She invited me to participate in creating and delivering Valentine’s day cards for the residents of the Ohio Living Westminster-Thurber Retirement Home. I helped her buy the supplies, create cards, and deliver them to the nursing home.

We started this project by finding an affordable store with art supplies near campus, which proved to be difficult. After visiting stores like Blick’s Art Supplies we eventually found a dollar store that offered more options. Jennifer bought construction paper, stickers, glitter, glue, and postcards. A couple days later we met in her dorm to create some examples for the Accounting Association members’ Valentines Day cards. The next day, Jennifer went to the club meeting and led the members in creating cards. Then on February 13th I accompanied Jennifer to the nursing home to deliver the cards. Unfortunately, we had slight trouble navigating downtown Columbus to find it. When we arrived at the nursing home we went and talked to the activities coordinator who gave us instructions on who to give the cards to. Jennifer and I went to each dining hall in the retirement home to offer cards and chat with the residents. Many loved the cards and were happy to know Ohio State Students were thinking of them. We even met a couple alumni!

There were some difficult moments when they could not understand us or vice versa. It was especially difficult in the memory unit where many residents had dementia or alzheimer’s. However, I have experience with this as 2 of my grandparents suffer from the disease. There were also some really sweet moments when the residents expressed their gratitude and complemented our artistic skills. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the retirement home had cats. They were extremely cute and friendly. Overall, I found this experience rewarding and enjoyable. I love being able to use something I enjoy (making cards and doing anything artistic) to brighten up someone’s day.

This relates to the topic of International Affairs because it involves learning how to interact with a group of people who are unfamiliar to you. People can be unfamiliar to you and be culturally different in many ways. It can be through gender, sexuality, race, or generation. The main aspect that made those at the retirement home unfamiliar to me was the generational gap. The cultural environment in a retirement home is very different from the cultural environment at Ohio State University. To be successful in your interactions there you need to make adjustments in how you communicate, you need to engage in different activities, and you need to react differently in certain situations. These are the same skills that are important in being successful in the field of International Affairs.

On February 4th from 3:30-5PM I attended a lecture on “What Does a Feminist Peace Look Like?: Columbia’s Struggles Over the World’s Most Inclusive Peace Accord” for my extra non-IA scholars event. This lecture was given by Sara Koopman in room 014 in the Psychology Building. Sara Koopman focused her presentation on the Colombian War, its effect on already disadvantaged groups, and the steps taken to forge peace. Her presentation also included a focus on how the struggle over land impacted this war. Land was taken from the indigenous and poor in Columbia forcing them to flee further into remote areas with little access to the government. This made them easy to take advantage of by criminal actors looking for cheap labor to grow the crop used to make Cocaine. Koopman related this to the history of the land we were sitting on in the Psychology building. She acknowledged the violence committed to steal this land from the indigenous people of America.

The Columbian war has had horrifying effects on the people of Columbia. The amount of people displaced, violently attacked, disappeared, and killed is estimated by the government to be in the millions. Koopman explained this number is not an accurate reflection of the circumstances. Many people were afraid, intimidated, or ignored when reporting the crimes committed against them and their families. As a result, the majority of crimes went unreported. She also explained that disadvantaged groups like women, indigenous people, and the LGBTQI community were disproportionately affected, they bore the brunt of the war. Ninety percent of those disappeared and killed were men. This left women to pick up their families’ lives, find safety, and come up with a way to support themselves. In Koopman’s opinion this was the most difficult aspect of the war to cope with. This war has been long lasting and has been fought by many different actors. Control over land and drugs has influenced the greater part of the violence.

I found this lecture extremely interesting and informative. The topic directly connects to what I am passionate about and it encompasses material covered by previous courses I have taken. Peace resolution studies is an undervalued field with a large impact on conflicts around the world. Koopman addressed the importance of negotiations for peace and why it was crucial that these negotiations included disadvantaged groups when creating resolutions. I am interested in pursuing a line of work that allows me to aid in this task of building peace, especially for those who have typically been left out of the solutions. One person I have discussed my interest with and the implications Peace Studies can have on my academics and career is Teri Murphy, the Peace Studies Coordinator at OSU. She also attended this event. Previously, I have had a discussion with her about how I can use Arabic and a law degree in this line of work. She gave me a lot of applicable advice including how to get useful experience.

I attended a non-IA event, the International Friendships’ Lunar Party, on Feburary 1st at the Ohio Union from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. This event showcased Chinese traditions, food, and customs relating to their New Year Celebrations. I ate dumplings and spring rolls, I practiced my calligraphy by writing happy new year in Mandrin, I made origami, and I listened to presentations about the origins of Chinese customs. I even got to participate in a large scale kahoot game which tested my knowledge of Chinese culture. Throughout the evening I enjoyed getting to know people from different backgrounds and I enjoyed learning about a holiday I previously had little knowledge about.

One thing that somewhat surprised me during the event was the heavy presence of a Christian theme. There was a booth for bibles, a women asked to pray for my friends and I, and there was a skit portraying a biblical story. I did not realize that International Friensdships’ was a religious organization. As a non-religious person this originally threw me off slightly but, the people were very welcoming and I had a Chinese friend with me who was able to explain the non-Christian related customs used to celebrate the new year. Because the main religion in China is Buddhism I am disappointed they did not mention or attempt to include non-secular or Buddhist traditions. I felt the Chinese New Year Celebration was not the center focus, the center focus was Christianity. It seemed to mislead many international students who wanted a way to celebrate a holiday that is important to them while they are far from home.

Another thing that suprised me were the assumptions made about my friend and I. A couple volunteers asked us if we were conversation partners. Others were suprised when she explained that she is from Michigan and not China. I know they were understandable assumptions based on the event we were attending but, they still made my friend uncomfortable. Additionaly, I was confused by the mistakes made in the flags used in for a photo booth which gave students from other countries the chance to take pictures with the flags of their nationality or home countries. One of my friends who participated in this photo booth is part Eritrean and part Eithopian. Both of the flags for her countries were wrong. One had a purple stripe when it should have been blue and the other displayed a crest associated with a cruel dictator. It would be helpful to international students if they were able to review their flags and explain which ones are appropriate.

This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because it gathered people to learn and celebrate the Chinese New Year, a holiday Americans generally know little about. This event gave others like me with minimal exposure to Chinese culture the chance to experience the unfamiliar customs firsthand. Experiencing unfamiliar customs firsthand is a valuable experience. I can use this experience to enhance what I am learning in my courses. I can also use it to connect with and form deeper bonds with those from China.

Overall, I appriciated the opportunity to learn more about the Chinese New Year. I do hope however to experience a more authentic and inclusive celebration of Chinese culture. For, I have interest in learning more about cultures and religions that are very unfamiliar to me. Christianity is a large part of American life so I am very familiar with it. I would like to expand my world view through experiencing other religions and their veiwpoints.