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Highlights from our 2018 Spring Garden Party

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On May 22 not even torrential rain could stop nearly 250 guests from celebrating spring and ISH-DC’s mission.  Foreign Ambassadors, Members of Congress, alumni, Board members, and friends joined our resident scholars from 28 countries for our annual Garden Party.  This year, we were especially pleased to welcome leaders from International Houses across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Romania who were here for the International Houses Worldwide Director’s Conference, which you can learn all about here.

Guests, including Laurette Jaeger, wife of His Excellency Kurt Jaeger, Ambassador of Liechtenstein; Isabel Vital, wife of His Excellency Domingos Fezas Vital, Ambassador of Portugal; and His Excellency Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu, Ambassador of South Africa.

Guests were able to see firsthand the community we have built and our strong focus on cross-cultural understanding.  This was also an amazing opportunity for our alumni to share the long lasting impact that living at the House has had on their careers as well as their personal lives.

ISH-DC Resident Scholars Rose Twagirumukiza from Rwanda, Boban Markovic from Serbia (alumnus), Maria Tilander from Sweden, and Tamara Schranz from Austria.

Our residents were able to connect and have inspiring conversations with our guests that are extremely successful in their career fields. This opportunity to network with various Washingtonians and diplomats is a vital part of their experience living at the House that prepares them for the future.

The Garden Party was a wonderfully successful event. It may have been dark and storming outside, but residents, alumni and guests alike lit up the house as they shared their love for International Student House of Washington, DC.

ISH-DC Executive Director Tom O’Coin, Congressman Alan Lowenthal, Deborah Malumed, ISH-DC Board President Cynthia Bunton

 

International Houses Worldwide (IHWW) Executive Directors Conference in Washington, DC

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International Student House of Washington, DC (ISH-DC) recently had the privilege of hosting the Executive Directors from Alberta, Bucharest, Chicago, London, Melbourne, New York City, and many more cities around the world for the annual International Houses Worldwide (IHWW) Directors Conference.

IHWW is a consortium of 17 International Houses (“I-Houses”) unified by a common mission: To provide students of different nationalities and diverse cultures with the opportunity to live and learn together in a community of mutual respect, understanding, and international friendship. This mission is achieved by daily interaction among our resident scholars through programs and community life designed to foster diversity of thought and experience. This dynamic flow of ideas elevates our communities as places where students and scholars from around the world can all share discoveries, approaches, and points of view.  I-Houses are home to 9,500 residents annually, graduate and undergraduate, from more than 125 countries.  Collectively, almost 350,000 individuals are alumni of an I-House, creating an unparalleled alumni network.  Many alumni have lived in more than one International House, and the friendships that they have made during their stays last a lifetime.

The Executive Directors from around the world spent the week engaging in a number of substantive conference sessions focused on shared opportunities, during which the Directors had the opportunity to participate in extensive dialogue to critically and constructively address common issues and practices.  This annual conference is an important time for International House leadership to come together and support one another as they look toward a strong future of a growing, robust, and diverse community of resident scholars and alumni.

During their time with us, the Directors also had the opportunity to enjoy a modest number of cultural activities unique to Washington, including a tour of Mount Vernon, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State.  They also had the privilege of joining His Excellency Geir Haarde, Ambassador of Iceland, for an evening reception at his residence.  Ambassador Haarde graciously welcomed the group into his home and spoke eloquently of his time as resident scholar at ISH-DC, and the strong life-long bonds he established here in the 1970’s that remain to this very day.  Ambassador Walter Cutler, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Zaire, and Mrs. Didi Cutler, ISH-DC Board Member, also warmly welcomed our IHWW leadership to their Georgetown home for an evening reception following a substantive day of conference sessions.

These International Houses around the world promote dialogue and understanding through shared spaces and experiences, and the exceptional leadership of each individual I-House ensures the mission thrives and remains strong.  ISH-DC was honored to host this year’s Directors Conference, and we look forward to the coming years as we continue to work together and support each other in our shared mission.

ISH-DC Thanks Robert J. Abernethy for Investing in our Students

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ISH-DC is very pleased to recognize Robert J. Abernethy and the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions for their very generous renewal of financial support for ISH-DC’s scholarship initiative.  Mr. Abernethy’s gift provides residential scholarships for graduate students living at the House and attending Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).  Over the past four years, twenty-six graduate students from 18 countries have benefited from his generosity.  Without this critical support, these students would not have had the financial means to benefit from living in ISH-DC’s intercultural community.   Our Abernethy Scholars have graduated from SAIS and pursued successful careers at The World Bank, businesses, and nonprofit organizations around the world.  All of them carry the lessons learned and friendships made here at the House with them.

Cultural Nights at ISH: Strengthening the ISH Community, by Resident Scholar Rakesh Gupta

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“The House promotes inter-cultural dialogue, encourages life-long connections, and fosters global citizenship.” “Our mission has proven to be more important than ever, given the times in which we now live.” These two sentences taken from the ISH DC website lives up to the experience as a resident at ISH to say the least.

ISH is a place that facilitates its residents to make beautiful connections and relationships; benefit and contribute to and from each resident. The resident initiated national celebrations and festival celebrations are only a few of such examples.

Mexican Night
Italian Night

The recent events of the past months at the house include the Ferragosto day, Mexican night, Bollywood night and the Octoberfest, apart from all the other cookouts that happen at our very own ISH. These present themselves as the unique and rich public goods created and initiated by the residents and generously facilitated by the management with resources and infrastructure. Residents are excited and look forward to these events almost the entire week before, building up to the hype and exceedingly delivering on expectations. These events are charged with positive energy, perhaps enabled a tiny bit by culturally appropriate beverages (will not alter the outcome of the events, so keep the Mezcal and artisan beer coming!) accompanied with delicious food. Oh, did I forget to mention the dancing? The hours of dancing that follow almost all events is icing on the cake!

Every event contributes and enriches to the rich diversity that ISH offers that we as residents appreciate and learn from. This is enabled by the distinctive and continual different groups of residents that ISH hosts comprising of brilliant, well-rounded, tolerant, open-minded, interesting and fun people from across the globe.

These events which bring the entire ISH community together have also led to smaller groups for various purposes – helping each other on assignments, weekend getaways, Thursday Frontpage alliances, Saturday El Centro groups, board game nights, resident salons, kayaking on the Potomac, whisky tasting, running club, movies groups, movie nights, yoga classes, French classes, volunteering, museum going groups, and several others.

This is all very welcome as these ultimately generate positive externalities and contribute to the immense and growing social capital of the ISH community. My stay here at ISH since March 2017 has reminded me several times of what my then Rector at the Norwegian Folk School where I spent a year as a Youth (Norwegian) Peace Corps, that the intangible experiences of inter-cultural dialogue and relationships that we make will have lasting effects on us as individuals. This is very true with my stay here at ISH, and I’m very glad to be a part of it. So, ISH has got everything going right especially with these events that bring almost all residents together, kudos on that!

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Rakesh Gupta NICHANAMETLA RAMASUBBAIAH is working at the Development Research Group division of the World Bank in Washington DC. He is also a PhD candidate at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / Paris School of Economics. He holds a Master degree in Quantitative Economics from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS-Ulm) and Paris School of Economics specializing in Public Policy and Development; a University Diploma in Applied Mathematics from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; and an Executive MBA from Alliance University.

His primary field of research is microeconometrics of development economics, with a particular interest in impact evaluation. He’s currently working on questions of intergenerational mobility across the world at the World Bank. Previously, he was working on early childhood development, social sectors budgeting, child poverty and Monitoring and Impact Evaluation of programs as a UNICEF Fellow at Economic Policy Research Centre in Uganda. Alongside, his PhD funded by the French Agency for Development (AFD) and Chaire Energie et Prosperité is on social capital and subjective well-being as an extension of the capabilities approach. He has also worked on the statistical foundations of coherent, composite, multidimensional development indicators, including Relational Capability Index.

His other work experience includes: ESSEC Business School (IRENE-CODEV) on social capital and relational capabilities research; launch team of Uber in Paris; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on fiscal impacts of environmental policies; Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) on a banking and credit services study; United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) on environmental policies’ distributional impact in the Asia Pacific; and also at Goldman Sachs as a hedge funds analyst.

“Meeting you has given me hope.” A letter from former Resident Scholar Anna Lena Freya Michel

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What remains?

Two eventful months in the capitol of the United States are over. During these two months, I have been living with young people from many different countries.
A short, emotional, and educational period of my life has come to an end.

The last eight weeks were a big challenge. I got to know all these people and was drawn into such interesting conversations, but sadly, only until I got to meet the next, new connection. There was not much time to reflect; no time to become more familiar with these fascinating people; no time to pay them more attention. Two months is so short. Due to my short stay, we did not have time for trips or common hobbies. Nevertheless, meeting you has changed my world. It is time to pause and ask: What remains?

The answer is hope. Meeting you has given me hope.

What, hopeless?

Sure, I am from wealthy Germany. I am a European. One could take that feeling of hopelessness as unjustified complaining. But I have been scared about our future in these past years. Terrorism has reached France and Germany, too. We, the committed Europeans, had to discover that Europe, our peace project, is in danger. On top of that, 200 refugees are drowning in the Mediterranean Sea every week, trying to escape to a life worth living. Alternative facts are eliminating the foundation of legitimacy for our democracies:  truth. All of this makes me want to give up on my studies. There is no way I can just do nothing. I want to take action. But how? It feels like everything I am trying to do does not help. Before I travelled to the US, I was feeling truly hopeless.

First Lesson:  Modesty

Raghuveer, from India, grew up in a town without electricity. It was pure coincidence that he learned English and had the chance to become an Indian lawyer. The majority of children in India do not learn English and, therefore, cannot attend university, as English is the language of instruction. He left India for the first time to complete a master’s program in Washington, DC. Once, Raghu said to me, “I have come a long way to be here, Anna.” He certainly had.

Jiawei works for the United Nations. When he left China and came to the US, he had to form dumplings in a Chinatown restaurant for two years. No one knew he had the potential for more than that, he told me. People had to be convinced to believe in him.

Other housemates accept living far away from home because they cannot practice in the professions they strive for in their home countries. Who needs a skeptical economist in China?

Although you have achieved that much while still young, you are down to earth, open-minded, friendly, and never restrained. We can learn a lot from you. Modesty – that is my first lesson.

Second lesson: Strong women

Even in Germany, women do not yet have the same opportunities as men. Too much self-confidence, especially in young women, is not appreciated, only smiled at. Outward appearance is more important for woman than men, in all areas of life. Until now, I had not yet decided how to position myself in that context. Should I play by rules, be cautious and work for my aims and convictions silently? Or should I speak up for myself?

At International Student House DC, I found women of my generation acting as role models. There are Senni and Sara, two Finns who are experts in International Politics. They are self-confident, stand up to their bosses and initiate bigger projects. There is Lisa, who defends Russia – her Russia – conclusive and engaging, giving an impression of her enormous potential. Her presence is so powerful, that former US Vice-President Joe Biden could not hold back in telling her that she herself could bring change in Russia. Next is Aura from Mexico, who takes a stand for Human Rights as a lawyer in South America. Then there is Tian from China who when meeting four unknown, high-ranked experts at the International Monetary Fund  – frankly speaking – blew them out of the water. Rose, who had to live in refugee camps before she was granted asylum in the US, followed up learning English and catching up in school with university degrees and finally her first great job at an NGO. Acting confidently, being determined, not yielding to male sensitivities – that is your way and it is now mine too. The second lesson is learned.

Third lesson:  Joy of life is homemade

Who always carries a smile, a friendly word, and is up to something fun? Italians! There were always at least seven Italians at International Student House at a time this summer. They are easy to recognize:  if they do not know a word in English they immediately start a loud, unmistakable discussion in Italian. Of course, I have already heard that we Germans are more of a quiet, reserved, not excessively friendly people. My time together with you these past weeks has forced me to acknowledge this for the first time in my life. You express such a zest for life that it feels incredibly good to be close to you. Each and every one of you has to be taken into one’s heart immediately. There is not a single person in the house who you do not greet with a broad smile. Andrea Mansi, an exceptional comedian, also provided many laughs. Whether it is Roberto, Nicolò, Paolo, Michaela, Carlo, or others, you are always ready to go out and have a good time. One day I curiously walked into the Great Hall because I had heard beautiful music. My very talented friend, Sun, played the piano while seven Italian men listened. I witnessed the same scenario when the second group of Italians arrived. You love art and life. At my last night, we all sat together in the Great Hall and were playing music. At some point Guiseppe took a guitar and started jamming some Italian song. Every Italian in the room immediately started singing or dancing. It was a manifestation of the pure joy of living. This does not mean that you are not professional, though. All of you either study, work, or are in a PhD program. You are diligent and successful. But you do not incessantly work on your degrees. You enjoy every second. Your joie de vivre – I put it into my bag and took it home with me – it is my third lesson. Thank you for every laughter we shared, and for opening my eyes. Ci vediamo a Roma. See you in Italy.

Lesson four: There is no such thing as THE Americans

We Germans have a complicated relationship with the US. On one hand, there are people who admire the US so much so, that they would rather live in the “Land of Opportunity” than in Europe. On the other hand, there are those who despise America. I am not talking about justified criticism now. I am talking about widespread, fundamental resentments.

Some issues are reasonable to discuss and oppose, like massive gun-violence casualties, the unequal healthcare system, social injustice, and Guantanamo. However, a lot of Germans only see the negatives. The election campaign of 2016 and Donald Trump as the new President strengthened the all-embracing criticism of the US, our partner, and seemed to support the second group. When I returned to Germany a few days after the attack in Las Vegas many people said, “Thank god you got back home safely from those maniacs. These Americans are all crazy and dangerous.” The first thing I responded was that there is no such thing as the Americans. I have met many engaged, intellectual, kind-hearted, young Americans. David, Alex Beck, Rostaam, and Matthew, who you can always count on to be reading a good book, or to answer any question on domestic or international politics eloquently and adeptly.  Manuela, Alex Plum, Rose, and Cameron, impress with their empathy for different languages and cultures. Cameron speaks Japanese and Chinese, was in Japan during the Fukushima earthquake and helped foreign journalists report from Japan with his language skills and cultural knowledge.  These are all young Americans who are not blind with national pride (yes, that is the widespread stereotype about you). They are aware of America’s shortcomings, too, and are idealists who care about other people and fight for different policies. I met young Americans who carry the spark of Kennedy and the Obama-charm. From a European perspective, these are Americans one can imagine a trustful and efficient collaboration with in the future. Simplification and generalization only benefit the enemies of democracy. Lesson four is having experienced a more nuanced America.

Hope

When a Chinese laughs with a Taiwanese at the breakfast table; when Jonathan explains how he will create jobs at home in Nigeria as soon as he gets back; when Cem states that most Turks love democracy so much they will not stop fighting to protect it, then hope remains. I met so many inspiring personalities at International Student House, people who fight in every corner of this world to make it a better place.

Our generation is the first one who is mobile on such a high scale and able to easily make friends around the world. Our generation is the first that, with the help of social media, is capable of maintaining these contacts and can call on them – if needed.

We have to cope with the same global challenges, have to fight for more justice, liberty, and the preservation of our livelihoods. The International Student House offers an exceptional opportunity to find worldwide allies to tackle these challenges together. It definitely lives up to its aspiration of global peace promotion through bringing together youths from around the world.

When it comes to me, the time spent at ISH has given me back hope for a (more) peaceful future.

Many thanks to all of my fantastic housemates, ISH-employees and the members of the Board.

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.