International Student House has a way of turning the average Saturday night, even the average Thursday night into something extraordinary- a music fest, a culinary feast or a fun philosophy contest.

Besides our resident salon which happens at least every other week, none of our events have a set rhythm to them, and yet no month goes by without several.

Cultural nights are our kind of party

Picture 1: Oh, the stories our great hall has to tell! Of many cultural nights for sure. Here it glistens in fairy lights, ready for Bollywood!

It usually starts with a small talk conversation in the hallway, library or dining room: “Hey, next week is Mexican National Day, let’s do something”- and once the idea is out, enthusiasts take care of the logistics. Usually, those whose home country has reason to celebrate, approach house leadership about possible dates and times and organize food, drinks, music and a live act of dancing, singing, origami or a quick presentation on whatever topic they prefer/the celebration centers around. Then the invite goes out to all residents and the blackboard boasts a colorful new poster.

This month, one of those nights was Bollywood night. Someone said: “We love these movies, let’s celebrate that! “ Soon, an e-mail was sent out announcing: “Next weekend, we’re going to India- at least for a night!” And so it goes:

Bollywood Beats for Indian Night

On September 9, we had a wonderful Bollywood dance party. I had noticed last year that quite a few residents enjoyed watching Bollywood movies and we felt it was high time to all get together and learn some new moves.

Picture 2: Quick! A picture of amazing food, before it disappeared within minutes 😊 . Delicious!

Raghuveer, Meghna, Gayatri and others did a wonderful job of turning this Saturday night into a Bollywood frenzy. The Great Hall was decorated festively, and we were thrilled to find a buffet of delicious snacks next to the bar: Homemade Mango-cardamom lassi, vegetarian and meaty samosas and more!

Last but not least, many residents brought out their finest traditional outfits, bringing the color and elegance of Bollywood to life.

Picture 3: “Bring clothes you can dance in” was the advice, and so we did! Notice XY’s beautiful dress in the background.

The motto “Snacks and Drinks and crazy moves” really did set the tone as we learned dancing moves together. Joyful rhythms and group dance at its best let everyone shine. Even working at the front desk right below our great hall, one could feel the vibes! I think the pictures give you some idea- there was bliss in these beats and moves; as one resident put it: Boy, I have not danced like this in years. Needless to say: We all eagerly await the next Indian Night.

Picture 4: So, you think you can dance? Absolutely! And this was a small group compared to later songs … Fun!

Note: A big thank you to our resident Tran Thi Thuc Huyen for the pictures!

I have been living at ISH for less than two weeks, yet I feel very at home here already. The experience of getting to know more about the House and meeting other residents happened simultaneously with full days of orientation for my graduate school program at Georgetown. Though I met many residents in the dining hall and common areas in the early days, what stands out in my memory as my official welcome into the ISH community was my first Sunday dinner.

Every Sunday at 1pm sharp, everyone in the house comes together for a family style meal. When I came downstairs and found a seat at a table with food, plates and silverware it made me think back to meals I would have with my family growing up. As someone who has been a student, living away from home for over six years now, it is not often that I share a meal with people sitting around a table at a specified time. And it was very cool to see so many members of the ISH community together at once. While I appreciate the flexibility of eating dinner during the week at whatever time works best for us, there is something special about Sunday dinners. At my first one each of the (many) new residents stood up and introduced themselves and outgoing residents stood up and said something about their time at the House. After a moment of silence (per ISH tradition) we all sat down and began the meal, passing around dishes of delicious food.

Meal times have really been a key way for me to get to know people at ISH. I have really enjoyed sitting down amongst people I have not talked to much yet and learning about their story – where they’re from, what they’re doing here in D.C., how long they’ve been at ISH. I have found that my interest in international diplomacy and foreign service is commonly shared by many residents of the House. Though I have learned a lot about U.S. foreign service through the Rangel Fellowship program, it has been interesting to learn about public service careers in other countries. Every time I catch up with friends and family from home I tell them about the most recent interesting fact I learned at ISH, like that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is the largest embassy in the world or that Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

I have had the opportunity to get to know more residents outside of meal times as well. Last weekend I went with a group of ISH residents to see a Redskins (American) football game. I would have never guessed that my first time going to a NFL football game would be with a such an internationally diverse group. Though I am not a big football fan, the time to chat with residents during the journey to the stadium and the experience of watching the game together was a great time. Another memorable event was a discussion hosted at ISH featuring Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, about the constitutional issues at stake in the investigation of the U.S. President. There is always so much going on at ISH, I look forward to meeting more people and the many fun events to come.

 

After having a great experience at ISH from 2015-2016 as I studied at Johns Hopkins SAIS, I choose ISH again as my home in DC. Even as a returning resident, I still feel excited about my life at ISH, nervous about my new roommate, and happy that I am back.

When I arrived at the door, I met with old friends that I made while I lived at ISH. At that moment, the only way to convey our feelings of surprise and joy was through ISH style hugs, which went beyond words, beyond languages and beyond culture. I said to myself “yes, I am back home.”

There is no foreign language at ISH!

At international student house DC, there are residents from all over the world, for example, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, India, the US, and how do people communicate with each other? It is true that everyone can speak fluent English as most of the residents are studying, interning or working in DC. However, at the same time, people enjoy speaking, hearing and practicing another language, such as French, Chinese, Spanish, German, etc. At ISH, there is no foreign language, no foreign culture. Every one of us is a member of the unique family and every one of us contributes to the unique culture at ISH. At dinner time, in addition to inspiring talks on international relations, we can also hear different perspectives on food culture, clothing culture and living culture. It is so much fun to hear about different customs in different countries.

For a returning resident, what more to gain from the experience?

Many people might be curious and ask me “Jiawei, you have lived here for a year and you know everything about ISH, what else can you gain from the experience?” My answer is that there is always something new at ISH. Maybe the menu of the food stays the same, but there are always new residents or returning residents coming from everywhere, new events and activities at ISH DC and new ideas about life. Hence, even for a returning resident, I find it fascinating to meet new people, get to know their stories and make new friends. If you have any question about the life at ISH DC, feel free to contact me at [email protected] and I will post the answers here on the blog.

Sunday family style supper

As soon as I found out about ISH I knew I wanted to live there. Before my four-year undergraduate experience, I lived and studied at an international boarding school in Montezuma, New Mexico called the United World College USA (UWC-USA). UWC-USA consists of a campus of 200 students from over 80 countries. The experience of living in such a diverse environment caused my worldview to be simultaneously challenged and expanded in a life-changing way. Ultimately, ISH’s similar mission of fostering cross-cultural exchanges and forming global connections is what makes me most excited to move in and become part of the community.

Aside from the diversity of nationalities and personal stories behind how ISH residents and staff ended up in Washington, I appreciate the fact that ISH students attend a variety of universities. I am curious to compare and contrast my graduate school experiences with others at ISH, each of us with a unique perspective based on our concentration, extracurricular interests and university affiliations. Personally, I decided on Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service for my graduate studies because I will be entering the U.S. Foreign Service after I graduate through the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship program.

Another feature about ISH that I look forward to is getting to know the neighborhood where it is situated. I have spent the past two summers living and interning in Washington D.C. but I am not too familiar with DuPont Circle area. I look forward to exploring and discovering what the neighborhood has to offer. Foggy Bottom and U Street, the areas where I’ve lived in the past, were very different environments, so I’m curious to compare and discover more of the greater DC metro area. And I couldn’t be happier about living in a city with so many Ethiopian restaurants, an aspect of my Ethiopian-American culture that I love sharing!

I committed to living at ISH several months ago, and it’s hard to believe that the seemingly distant August 15 move-in date is so close. I am very excited for what is to come now that ISH will become my home in a matter of days!

I have been travelling in different villages of Rajasthan in India since February. I was occupied with a story of a kid who was working towards his dream while struggling for all kinds of basic amenities. He kept telling me every day while I documented his story that I should not worry about my housing in Washington, DC. He had more faith in me than I had in myself. In the month of May during a hot afternoon, I was waiting for my bus to go to Jaipur City. I was trying to find a signal on my phone to make a call to my friends who were supposed to join me there. I climbed up to the roof of the bus and the very next moment, I got an email. It was from ISH-DC and I could feel my heart rate racing as the mail was taking too much time to load due to the slow speed of the internet. These kinds of emails are not necessary to be fully read because two words are enough and they are either ‘congratulations’ or I ‘regret’ to inform. Luckily, for me it was “congratulations”.

I missed that bus as I wanted to take my own time to get back to the reality that I have made it to International Student House. I really wanted to stay at ISH-DC ever since I was admitted to GW Law and I had gathered various positive reviews from my seniors from India about it. I am the kind of person who prefers living within a community rather than renting a separate apartment and ISH-DC was a perfect stay for me. Since my childhood, I travelled to different places around India as my father had a transferable job.  It helped me settle in quickly among a diverse group of people coming from different regions and cultures. I am already excited and looking forward to meeting other housemates who will be from different parts of the world. In addition, I also felt safer about going to DC once I got the acceptance from ISH-DC as it gave me that sense of security of living with a community without worrying about anything.

I am already reading and doing research about Washington, DC to prepare myself in advance so that I don’t miss out on anything. I have been fascinated by the information on Capital Bikeshare, Free Museums, DC’s Green Side and the walk on pedestrian.  Washington is known as a pedestrian’s dream, and walking by far will be the best way to see the city for me. I will look forward to exploring the city with friends from both ISH and GW Law.

The past few months have passed by so quickly that now I’m left with only two weeks before I land in Washington DC. It’s a mixed feeling where I am both excited and nervous to leave India and move to a distant country. I am avoiding these thoughts by having dinner and movie plans with friends and relatives almost every day. These goodbyes would have been incomplete if I wouldn’t have had dinner with my friends and well wishers from law school one last time. Hence, I travelled all the way from Delhi to Bangalore to meet them and share the happiness before I leave for Washington, DC.

Goodbye meal with my friends in Bangalore

This will be the first time that I will be missing all the festivities of India for a year. Due to the same, I am looking forward to celebrating festivities in DC especially Diwali and Christmas. I also look forward to catching up movies with housemates every Thursday and other days, in cinemas, in the city and meeting guests from different embassies at the House.

During this one year, I want to keep writing about my experiences and capturing them in still and moving images to embrace these memories for a long time/forever. I am hoping and looking forward to meet you all at International Student House.