About Jasmine Zamprogno

When I heard that it was a tradition at ISH that students would host Cultural Nights, I was determined I would do one for Australia. A more daunting challenge then you think, whilst Australian is a beautiful, diverse, multicultural country, it is difficult to celebrate one thing that makes Australia, well, Australia. We do not have a singular cultural dress or music or food. But that does not mean we do not have a culture to share with the rest of the world, and so, on 26 January I armed myself with a flag, some Vegemite and an inflatable kangaroo, and was ready to show my fellow house mates the best of Australia I could offer (or at least, the best I could find in Washington, DC).

Here’s how it went down.

Food

As the traditional barbeque (a “sausage sizzle”) would not make much sense in the middle of an American winter, I opted for an array of Australian snacks. With mostly sweets to be found at World Market, I let my house mates know that they could feast on chocolate-covered honeycomb bites, ANZAC biscuits, Darrell Lea liquorice and – most importantly – Tim Tams, if they humoured me and tried some Vegemite first.

I am delighted to say everyone rose to the challenge, and all who came to the cultural night tentatively smeared Vegemite on a cracker and nibbled at one end, unsure of whether they were going to like the famed spread or not. In the end, Vegemite received its usual mixed reception, but Tim Tams and Bundaberg Ginger Beer won the day.

Australia treats to try

Music

Earlier in the week I had procrastinated from my assigned readings and curated a play list of Australian classics that would form the background music for my cultural event. The greatest part of this turned out to be the international knowledge of most songs, but not that they were in fact Australian artists. I am happy to confirm that John Farnham, Tones and I, 5 Seconds of Summer, the Veronicas and Keith Urban are indeed all Australian.

Slang

As a little bonus activity, I had a game ready for the residents, ‘Guess the Australian Slang’ with the promise of a small soft toy kangaroo as a prize to the person who guessed the meaning most slang terms. Many put in their best effort, and whilst terms of British origin such as ‘bloke’ (a man) were frequently guessed correctly, more abstract terms (cark it, fair dinkum, uey and yakka) left many scratching their heads. I’ll leave you to take your best guesses!

Imparting some facts and wisdom

Knowledge

Truly though, the greatest part of the cultural night was how open and willing my fellow house mates were to learn about my country, its history, politics, culture and the ongoing bush fire crisis. Residents asked me serious and thought-provoking questions and many asked if my family were safe from the fires.

It is moments like these that remind me what a treasured community ISH is.

Just me, a happy little Vegemite tearing into a packet of Tim Tams

Studying in the US presents an interesting conundrum: do you stay inside and finish the paper that’s due in only a few days, or do you locate your scarf and gloves and venture outside in search of winter Christmas magic?

Christmas in Australia means a barbeque on the beach. In America, it’s the winter wonderland that Michael Bublé sings about. Sadly still no snow just yet, but when the sun sets early, the lights come on, the warm drinks come out and the Christmas music abounds.

Despite having to study right up until I got on the plane for my little Christmas break in Colorado, I made sure to soak in as much of the DC Christmas spirit as possible. These were a few highlights:

1. Georgetown GLOW: Georgetown encourages DC residents to brave the chilly nights by setting up a number of light installations. You can see all of them within a quick walk around the neighbourhood before you hide from the cold in a bar with a warm cider. Below are two of the Georgetown GLOW installations.

2. Christmas trees out and about: DC is sprinkled with Christmas trees. Of course, there are the famous ones: the National Tree at the White House and the tree at the Capitol building. However, there are others to be spotted too: for example, the red and white tree at the Canadian Embassy or the tree Georgetown put up in the library (presumably to lift the spirits of stressed students). I even attended the lighting of the Christmas tree at City Center! Below are the trees at the Canadian Embassy; the Capitol; and at City Center.

3. Christmas carols at the Kennedy Center: Thanks to a generous ISH friend, there were a number of free tickets provided to Christmas with Choral Arts, a DC choir that put on a program of a number of Christmas carols. Nothing quite gets you in the spirit like being encouraged to sing a long with an auditorium full of your fellow concert-goers.

4. ISH decorations: Of course, there was nothing quite as special as the ISH Christmas decorations. I spent as much time as I could in the Great Hall, soaking up twinkling fairy lights and garlands. We even took a moment to take some ISH family photos, to commemorate those who had been with us for the semester.

Some of the ISH Fall Semester family

I am now on my little Christmas break but I cannot wait to come back in January. From all of us at ISH, happy holidays!

As a greeter at this year’s International Student House Global Leadership Awards Dinner (see, I was greeting guests with the ‘shortened’ version of the title!), I met every guest as they entered the Whittemore House in a flurry of handshakes, coats and warm smiles. I had been looking forward to the dinner since I arrived at the House and was excited to be the one to greet our guests at the door – this way I would be able to say I at least met every person attending.

This was the 10^th year of the dinner being hosted by ISH, and our first at the Whittemore House, in order to be able to accommodate the growing number of guests who wished to give to the House and meet the students. We had been assured that the guests were eager to meet us, and indeed they were. I received so many pleasant comments and encouragements from those who came through the door. A highlight included a lovely conversation with Congressman Mark Meadows, who jokingly said he had not seen me at the recent State Dinner at the White House honouring Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. I also found myself a little lost for words when I greeted a princess.
All too soon it was time for dinner, a delicious three course offering, interspersed with speeches. I was moved by the tone of the speeches by our honourees, Congressmen Rick Larson and Mark Meadows. From opposing parties, they light-heartedly acknowledged their differences, and the general partisan mood in America. However, not only did they count each other as friends, they agreed there was something that they could always work in harmony on: students. Both had been introduced to International Student House through their spouses, and had become champions of the message of the house: inclusion, diversity and scholarship. They called it ‘soft diplomacy’: if students from countries around the world could live under one roof, share meals and their lives, then those were lessons we could both share with America, and bring home with us.

I was very, very proud to be an ISH resident in that moment. It reminded me that even something as simple as us all going about our days in harmony with one another should be celebrated. We students walked out at the end of the night with our heads held high, having all met a wide range of incredible and interesting people who had been eager to share their stories and wisdom with us.

I hope I can one day return to the dinner as an alumna and share my stories with the next generation of ISH residents.

“I didn’t think Australians were interested in politics.”

So said my Customs Officer as I anxiously waited for her to process my arrival at Honolulu International Airport, en route to Washington, DC. She had asked me why I had chosen to attend Georgetown. Flustered, I gave a quick response: I said it was a because I had received a scholarship, and because I was interested in politics.

It was a true answer, and she was certainly mistaken that Australians were apathetic about politics.  However, later, as I landed bleary-eyed in DC after almost 20 hours of flying, even I was questioning my motivation: was ‘I’m interested in politics’ really a worthy justification for my decision to pack up my life and move to the other side of the world?

Luckily for me, I had chosen to live at International Student House, where an interest in politics was almost a condition of entry. Not only had many of my fellow residents also moved across the world to DC to chase a dream, they had no such qualms that being an Australian meant I would be disinterested in politics.

“Compulsory voting? Interesting. Do you think it works?”

“What do you think about that controversial woman – red head – Pauline Hanson?”

“Your most recent election was also won by the conservative party. Are there parallels between the political climate in Australia and America?”

Of course, in amongst questions on affairs of state, there was always going to be a general curiosity about Australian culture.

“Level with me, Vegemite, what exactly is it?” (In their defense, this was due to the fact on my very first day in the House I had worn a t-shirt with Vegemite on it.)

The already infamous Vegemite shirt (featuring a jar of Vegemite which I will bring to breakfast so fellow residents can try)

These questions were not at all unwelcome. In fact, I thought it was excellent that my fellow residents were so curious, as it showed that we all wanted to learn more about each other and the world we lived in.

I felt a similar energy when I attended my first day of orientation at Georgetown Law the next week. My fellow classmates were eager to learn, to be inspired, to better ourselves, and this was true even if we didn’t yet know the how, when, or why.

Georgetown Law Campus

Out and about during Orientation Week (note I am once again wearing the Vegemite shirt)

I am now approaching the end of my second week in DC, and whilst I feel settled and sure of myself and my choice to move here, I still don’t have the ‘right’ answer for why I have chosen Georgetown, and in part, Washington DC. I just know I’m exactly where I am supposed to be.