Inauguration Celebrations

As many of you know, the U.S. Presidential Inauguration took place this past Monday, January 21st, as President Barack Obama was sworn in for a second term. This special event welcomed upwards of 800,000 people to Washington D.C. for the festivities.  The ceremony, parade, and numerous inaugural balls were a huge success!

Current student, Sheng Peng joined the celebrations on the National Mall and took these amazing pictures to commemorate the emotion and excitement of the day’s events.  Check them out below!

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Elliott School Ice Skating

Recently, over twenty Elliott School graduate students joined the Graduate Student Ambassadors for an Ice Skating night at Georgetown’s Washington Harbour. Just a fifteen minute walk from the Foggy Bottom Metro, the rink is one of the largest in the area and opened for the first time in November. The students were able to enjoy skating around the Harbour, with a wonderful view of the Potomac River and a beautifully lit Kennedy Center. The decorations around the rink reminded people that there is a lot to do outside of the library!  While studying is very important, it is also important to get your head out of the books and enjoy the holiday season!

The students who attended ranged from first time to yearly skaters. The more “experienced” bunch helped first time skaters become acclimated to the ice and a few minutes later they were off skating on their own! It was a great way for first and second year students to get to know one another. Despite a few, non-serious, falls, everyone had a great time!  Now everyone is back to studying and wrapping up the fall semester!  Wish them luck!

Check out a few pictures from the night!

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Discovery Space Shuttle

What an exciting day!  We could not miss the opportunity to walk down to the Washington Monument to watch the Discovery Space Shuttle fly over.  Here are a few iPhone shots we took as it appeared just above the trees and flew by a few times right over the Mall.

Happy Thanksgiving

The leaves have turned their crisp yellows and reds, it is dark at 4:30pm, and there seem to be no students left on campus. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with friends and family. Personally, I will be participating in a local “Turkey Trot” three-mile run with my cousins, watching the Macy’s parade, and attempting to make gluten-free stuffing for the first time. Wish me luck! Is there anything for which you are particularly thankful? Comment and tell us!

If you’re not familiar with Thanksgiving Day, here is a little light reading to help you out. Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Get a jump on your application when you have a quiet moment after all the turkey, parades, and football.  Start filling out the form online and be sure to enter your recommender information and send them requests through the application ASAP so they can get started on their letters now.

Tonight’s Open House

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Open House for Prospective Students tonight! It was a pleasure meeting you and telling you all about our graduate programs.

Professor Sean Roberts, Program Director for the MA program in International Development Studies, speaking with prospective students in the City View Room.

Student photo submissions #11

Hello everyone! My name is Jonathan Kirk and I’m going to be studying in the Latin American and Hemispheric Studies program. I’ve lived and worked in DC for most of my life, so I make sure to take advantage of every opportunity to get out of the city and travel that I can. This summer I went to the United Arab Emirates for my best friend’s wedding.

Traditional Dance – The men perform a traditional war dance before the wedding. As you can see I looked a little out of place wearing a suit.

Henna – My wife had henna done for the wedding. It took a few hours to complete, and it lasted for weeks afterward.

Burj Khalifa – Here is my friend and I at at the top of the tallest building in the world. There is a special elevator that takes you directly to the top with no stops in under a minute. My ears were popping the whole way up.

View – Here’s the view of Dubai from the top of the Burj Khalifa. Almost doesn’t look real.

Hot Springs – Here I am at a hot springs park. The heat keeps everyone away during the day, but as soon as the sun goes down the place becomes packed with families.

Student photo submissions #10

Hi, this is Jieying Xie from China. You can call me Tracy. I’m in the International Affairs MA program. Hope to meet you guys soon at GW.  Here are some places I really recommend you guys to visit in the future.

This is my hometown Hangzhou, China. The picture was taken in famous West Lake. It was named world heritage site in 2011. The Leifeng Pagoda is a tower by the West Lake in Hangzhou which was originally constructed in the year AD 975.

The next one was taken at my undergraduate university, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I took this photo in the most beautiful season Fall. Once a badger, always a badger.

This photo was taken in Seoul, South Korea. The Han River goes through Seoul. It was really beautiful when you walk along the Han River before sunset.

I took this photo this summer in Osaka, Japan. Of course, this is a city famous for its delicious food and beautiful scenery. This street is called Doutonbori. It is a place which is worth to visit.

Student photo submissions #9

Huiquan Liu is an incoming student from China in the Global Communications MA program.

This series of photos features me on a visit to the Xilin’gele Desert, Xilinhaote City, Inner Mongolia this July.  I was traveling with my mother and some of her friends’ families.  I stayed in the desert for two days. On the first day, I toured the desert via a desert surfing coach alone. The driver, a local, was driving the coach at such a fast speed that none of my companions were willing to sit on it.

I lived in a Yurt Camp and got up at 4 in the morning to watch the sunrise. It was freezing cold and I had to wrap myself with a blanket.  I watched the sky from being completely dark, scarlet, bright red, to red and yellow in the end when the sun comes out in full.  I was filled with glee that the sun was so close to me in the first time in my life. Watching a natural phenomenon from its first phase to the last refreshed your ideas about nature and yourself.  A lot of windmills. The wind on the desert was strong. Though it was summer, I had to wrap myself with layers of clothes.

Interestingly, though the sun had already come out, the moon still hung on the other side of the sky! You could see the sky divided into two zones- one is lit by redness, the other still dark blue.

I was feeding a camel at the gate of the yurt camp. Camel is a truly gentle animal. That camel was so hungry. When it was chewing the grass, I was frightened a bit at its speed and was afraid that it might get my fingers.

Then I went out for a horse ride. The horse was apparently hungry and tired. These days not much grass was growing in the grassland because of worsened weather. I stopped in front of Aobao, where Mongolian lovers date before they get married.  I continued to ride and was invited to dine at a Mongolian yurt deep in the desert- different from the camp I lived in. The food was very simple, cheese and milk tea. It’s surprising for me to notice that a portrait of Genghis Khan was hung on the wall of the yurt. However, when I come to think about it, nomads still admire Genghis Khan, just like families in many parts of China still have a portrait of Mao Tse Tong at home.

Graduate Student Orientation

The Office of Academic Advising and Student Services hosted an orientation full of information for our new graduate students today.  The incoming class got to hear from faculty, staff, and students about their programs and student life.

We love helping at this event and seeing all the people with whom we’ve been working throughout the application process.  Welcome, everyone!

Here are a few shots I took today from inside and atop our building.

-Christine

Student photo submissions #8

Hello everyone!  My name is Nicole and I am an international student from Germany who will be studying in the Master of International Studies program (MIS).

Before coming to DC I spent my summer in Ontario, Canada, where I visited past exchange students and my host family from my youth exchange in 2003/2004.

The first picture was taken in Algonquin Park, Ontario where I spent a weekend with all past exchange students whom I hadn’t seen for 7 years. We stayed at a camp and we got to experience the Canadian wilderness without running water and electricity. That day we went on a 5-hour canoe trip, portaging over two lakes. You can see how tired I am

The second picture is from my first skydiving experience over Niagara Falls, just taken on August 15th. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

The last picture shows me with a Canadian flag in downtown Toronto. I drove to Toronto to spend the day with a great friend exploring the city, including the old Distillery District, China Town and Kensington Market.

Student photo submissions #7

Hi everybody, my name is Yulia Usmanova, I am from Uzbekistan – a country in Central Asia, which used to be part of Soviet Union. (This year on September 1st we are celebrating 20 years of independence of our country). I am about to start my MA in International Affairs and am very excited to become a part of GW community and bring a little piece of my country with me. I am very excited to meet you all in couple of weeks!

Here are some pictures of my home country.

Picture #1: The picture is taken in the old part of one of the most historic cities of Uzbekistan – Samarkand (Samarkand is over 2000 old, it used to be situated on the silk road, and was Uzbekistan’s cultural and economic center). This is the Registan square. The three Madrasah were built between 1400 and 1630. Registan is one of the most famous historic sites of Uzbekistan.

Picture #2: This picture is also taken in Samarkand (in the old part of the town – the new part looks very modern ) This is me and my friends on the ancient steps of the ancient Madrasah

Picture #3 – is also taken in Samarkand – we watched those girls working on hand made rugs and carpets – it’s such a hard job, but the rugs turn out fantastically beautiful!!!

Picture #4 – My friend and I trying on traditional Uzbek clothes The clothes are very colourful, as you can tell. However, in everyday life people don’t wear too much traditional clothing, unless they live in a small village. In cities people just wear jeans and T-shirts

Picture #5 – My friends purchasing some fruits for our dinner later ) There are pears, peaches, grapes, plums and apples. They might not be sold in the most fancy way, but they are soooo delicious – fresh and very juicy!! )

Student photo submissions #6

My name is Erika, I’m an international student from Canada and I’m in the Global Communication MA program this year! It’s great to see what you’ve all be up to. I can’t wait to meet you all within the next couple weeks!

Here are just a few shots of what I’ve been up to over the past year or so. In the fall, I spent the semester in DC at the Canadian Embassy. There was a really neat festival taking place on H street, here’s just one of the creative cars that were being displayed:

I live in the East coast of Canada just north of the state of Maine in the province of New Brunswick. We often get quite a bit of snow during the winter months. Here’s a snowman my dad and I made for fun:

This summer, we visited the quaint seaside town of St. Andrews where you can whale watch and feast your eyes on lobster and other succulent seafood. Here’s a picture by the dockside:

Student photo submissions #5

Valérie Guillamo (from Paris, France)

MA International Affairs Candidate

This picture was taken in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan, in March 2011. Last spring, my friends and I were travelling in the Middle East and were invited to stay in the desert for 11 days with Bedouin families. In the picture, Mahmoud and Naif, our two Bedouin guides from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and I are trying to shape the first letter of my friend Charlotte’s name. We had the most memorable and beautiful time during our stay with the Bedouins in the desert.

Student photo submissions #3

Today’s pictures are ready:

I am Wenyan Wang, from China. I am an MA candidate in the International Trade and Investment Policy program.  Here are my pictures taken in this summer vacation. Looking forward to seeing others’ sharing.

At the seaside of Xia’men, China, an elder man was fishing alone. When I took a glance at him, I think of the novel The Old Man and the Sea as it shows me something relevant to persistence and loneliness.

This picture was taken in Wuhan, China. The bus broke down on the street, and all passengers got down and pushed the bus to restart. Remember it was extremely hot there, so it was very kind hearted of them to do so.

Student photo submissions #2

Here is our second post of student photo submissions:

My name is Yue Wang, and please just call me Luna.  I’m in the Asian Studies MA program and I come from China.  I’m looking forward to becoming a part of GW!  Have a good day. o(∩_∩)o

This photo was taken when I went to Kumbum Monastery located in Xining, Qinghai Province in this July.

Photo 2 was taken in Gannan Tibetan autonomous region. I was standing on the road and there were yaks not far from me.

Student photo submissions

Thanks to those of you who have submitted your photos. We will be posting them over the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for yours. Now, here is our first set of pictures:

I am Li, Jianya from China (MA in International Affairs). My friends call me Thena. It’s very inviting of our school to let us show our summer holiday. I have traveled to Inner Mongolia this summer, where the savage beauty has mesmerized me totally. Attached are my pictures to share with everyone.

This picture with me sitting on a stone has in the background herds enjoying their times on the grand, green field. It is amazing to see the green horizon blended in the color of the sky.

The one with the blue chair is taken in a small town on the boarder of China and Russia called Shiwei in Chinese. You can feel the tranquility of their life.

The last one is taken in the White Aspeen Forrest. You can see those trees that had grown so tall. They must be standing for such a long time telling the stories of travelers passed by.

Call for student photos

 

We have students enrolling this fall from many different countries and with wide-ranging life experiences.  I get to hear many stories about their travels, so I thought it would be interesting to start our Elliott School graduate admissions blog with posts from our incoming students.  This will be a great opportunity for you to see some of the interesting things your classmates have done and share something about yourself. They can be photos from your travels, volunteer work, events you attended, what you did this summer, etc.  Please include with your photographs: your name, your degree and program, where you are from, and a description of each picture. Can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to! —– I’ll start the process with one of my own.  This picture was taken in Avkat, Turkey.  My husband got to participate with the women making bread.  They get together once a month to knead, roll, and bake it.  I don’t know if he was helpful to their process or perhaps slowed them down a little.  I think it was at least a little entertaining for everyone because they could not stop laughing.  It was an amazing day.

-Christine