Hi everyone,
So I’m writing this post while I’m sitting on my bed, looking outside the window. Guess what? The sun is shiiining outside, it’s very warm and I had to unpack my fan to turn it on for a bit! You would think that it’s still September/you wouldn’t even suspect that it snowed last weekend! Three semesters and I’m still not used to this New England weather! Haha. Well, anyway to recap my week since I last wrote to you:
(1) Tanner was very informative. The presentations were all in the science center this year (as opposed to Pendleton Hall, the home of social science departments on campus) and some students really inspired me to start researching what I’ll do next summer. I’m not sure if I want to do research, an internship, volunteer work or just travel but my best bet is to find something related to my interests. But first, I should contact someone at the Center for Work and Service (CWS), our career services office on campus. I need to work on my resume because I was told that it should not be longer than a page since I’m an undergraduate. As you can imagine, I’ve done way too many things that I consider important and I don’t know what to leave out of my resume. At the same time, I’m not too worried because the people who work at the CWS are really helpful and the CWS itself is a wonderful resource. A group of about 20 of my friends were able to travel to Barbados for volunteer work during spring break last year thanks to a $1000 grant from the CWS. Another friend was given $5,000 to go teach in a school in Uganda. One of the presenters at Tanner was given $3,500 to work for a non-profit organization here in the US. In addition to that, students who are chosen to be a part of the Madeleine K. Albright Institute for Global Affairs have to fulfill work experience placements during their year as fellows. To tell you the truth, structures like the CWS, the W Network and the Albright Institute are part of the reasons I chose to apply and to come to Wellesley. I think that regardless the field I major in and am interested in, I can always find one, two or more alumnae or staff members at Wellesley who can help me find work experience of some sort in that field. So once I get my resume approved, I’ll check out the list of organizations and firms the Tanner presenters worked at (it’s usually listed at the back of the handbook put in students’ mailboxes the week before Tanner) and will send a few emails/make a few phone calls to get started on Project “let’s make a difference in the summer of 2012!” 🙂
(2) The other big part of my past week and weekend was WASA‘s (Wellesley African Students Association) annual Mamaland show that took place on Saturday night here on campus. Mamaland is an African cultural show that features performances ranging from Pantsula, a dance from South Africa (parts of which appeared in Beyonce’s big hit “Girls run the world”!!) to belly dancing, gumboot (another South African dance) and Azonto (a Ghanaian dance). We also had spoken word performances, songs by the newly created a capella group Color is Music and a fashion show featuring African outfits. Our guests were treated to typical African food during intermission and, of course, I got to eat some jolloff rice (Nigerian dish), chicken and fried plantains. We had quite a bit of food leftover so I’m set for the next week or so in terms of good food to remind me of home! Hehe…
Jollof Rice
Fried Plantains
During intermission, students who represent IAMASTAR and Pangea Schools also spoke about the work they do. Pangea Schools was created by a Wellesley student, Lindsay Haskell ’14, to promote education in Malawi, a small country in south-east Africa. She recently kicked off the $1.90 campaign at Wellesley. She and her associate believe that if every person in the Wellesley community donates $1.90, they will be able to build a school and furnish it! I think it’s an amazing campaign and I fully support it! If you’re interested in learning more about it, check out http://pangeaschools.org/Home.html
I don’t know much about IAMASTAR and heard about it for the first time a few weeks before Mamaland, but I know that the students who spoke about it want to raise money and awareness for the famine in Somalia, a country in East Africa. As an African and somebody interested in improving the health & well-being of fellow Africans, and someone hoping to change the image of my home continent, I think that what IAMASTAR does is fantastic and I’ll check it out and donate money. Check out http://www.iamastar.org/about
So anyway, I didn’t really take pictures last week so I just picked two cute pics from the ones my friend Adjoa posted on Facebook last night. They were taken at Punch’s Alley, our pub on campus, during our after-party. I’m wearing the top part of an outfit my mom made for me with a modern variation of the Ghanaian cloth known as Kente Cloth. The bottom part is a long skirt and it’s quite tight fitting so I changed into something more comfortable to dance the night away! :p
Mamaland After Party in The Pub- photo credit Adjoa Boateng ’14
Mamaland After Party In The Pub- Photo Credit Adjoa Boateng ’14
Alright, that’s all from me- have a nice week! x