International Student House Washington DC

Providing an Enriching Experience for Student Residents

2018 Off to a Great Start at ISH

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Several changes have come with the new year at ISH. Many residents moved out in December after completing semester study abroad programs or internships. While familiar faces remain, there are a lot of new additions to the ISH community. As introductory questions and conversation start up again between new and old residents interesting discoveries are made. For some who recently moved in this isn’t their first time living at ISH DC others have lived at international student houses in other cities around the world.

One of the first questions I tend to ask after the preliminary name, nationality and reason for being in DC is whether or not this is the first time someone has been to the United States. Responses range from people having completed their undergraduate in the U.S. to participating in an English immersion exchange program during high school to being first-timers.

In addition to getting to know the new residents, January has been a month of many opportunities to share U.S. political culture. For example, one of our Sunday dinners was soul food themed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day. There was also an ISH game night, which involved a variety of well known board games and card games. Several weeks later on the night of the state of the union address, several of us gathered in the TV room to watch the speech. Experiencing these historical, political moments with international company is a unique experience as an American. Talking about U.S. politics in a house with so many people interested in foreign affairs and global politics never fails to be interesting.

State of the Union watch party

One of the new residents decided to take advantage of the chatty, internationally minded nature of the ISH community by starting a new discussion group. Once a week a group of us will be meeting to discuss articles on issues of global importance. The first article is Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the Torture of Others”. The new readings series in addition to our weekly “salons” (a similar venue for talking about global affairs and culture) continue to make ISH an intellectually stimulating place to call home.

 

Zinna Senbetta

About Zinna Senbetta

Country: USA
School: Georgetown University
Field of Study: Global Politics and Security
Bio: Zinna is an Ethiopian-American student at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service where she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Politics and Security. She is originally from Wheaton, Illinois but most recently lived in New Jersey where she completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with a minor in French Language and Culture at Princeton University. Zinna studied abroad at the Sorbonne University in Paris in the spring of 2016 and interned at an international law NGO in Paris called the Union Internationale des Avocats. The summer of 2016 she was a campaigns intern for the Young African Leaders Initiative Network Program under the Bureau of International Information Programs in Washington, DC. Most recently she was an intern for the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Capitol Hill. Zinna is a 2017 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellow and will focus on Public Diplomacy as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer upon completion of graduate school. She hopes to concentrate on issues related to the rights of women and girls, education, and human rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.

International Student House of Washington, DC | 1825 R Street, NW | Washington, DC 20009

International Student House of Washington, DC is a private, non-profit 501(c)3 organization located near Dupont Circle in the heart of Washington, DC. Donations will help support our mission to provide an exceptional residential experience to a highly diverse international community of graduate students, interns and visiting scholars. The House promotes inter-cultural dialogue, encourages life-long connections, and fosters global citizenship.