Students not paying attention to fliers posted around the SFUAD campus are surprised to hear pulsing bass emanating from the cafeteria the evening of Jan. 23. The Multi-Cultural Foods Expo, put on by Student Life, has taken over the Grill. The event begins at 7:45 p.m. and is accompanied by a live DJ with karaoke. The gate opens just a few minutes later than usual with students lining up for an evening snack. In addition to standard Grill fare, Bon Appetit provides a spread of international food, featuring cuisine from Scandinavia, Costa Rica and Mexico. Fried plantains stand on a plate above open-faced shrimp and salmon sandwiches. A burgeoning bowl of rice and beans is complemented by Salsa Lizano, a sauce commonly found in Costa Rican dishes. Dessert is a delicious tres leches cake, a type of sponge cake popular in Central and South America. Amidst the dishes and warming trays is a tree of plastic flags from Canada, Finland and Mexico, among other countries. “It’s just a little welcome back treat,” says David DeVillier, assistant director of Campus Life. “They’ll keep it coming if we run out.” I am attending this event as part of my work study job in the International Office. My supervisor is Global Partnership Manager, Radi Simeonova. She hopes the event will help bring more awareness to the number of international students attending SFUAD. “There are two ways to think about it,” she says. “First, there are our international students who transfer here to obtain a degree. Then there are our students who come for short programs, either for a semester abroad or a three-week program.” Currently, SFUAD has 30 international transfer students and 67 semester abroad students. Of those 67, there are 40 who have returned this spring for a second or even a third semester. Anna Sainz, who has been studying abroad for three semesters, has enjoyed her time at SFUAD so much that she plans on transferring to the school. As 8 p.m. approaches, DJ Diego DeAguero begins inviting students to sign up for karaoke. He and his assistant Camille Gonzalez sit at a foldout workstation, lit from behind by neon floor lights. DeAguero lives in Santa Fe, but provides his services all over the state of New Mexico. This is not his typical venue. “Usually everyone’s at the bar,” he says. Alvie Hurt sits at a table just a few feet away from the DJ’s karaoke books. Hurt is a transfer student, currently in his fourth semester at SFUAD. He began school in Vancouver, Canada, but transferred to SFUAD after his freshman year. Beside him sits Priscilla Steele, an exchange student from Costa Rica who is here for her first semester. Neither one of them seems particularly interested in singing. They plan to leave before the karaoke begins. They do not appear confident in their ability to perform, nor are they enthused about the idea of doing so in front of a crowd. They aren’t the only ones. “I sing terribly. Seriously, terribly,” says Fernanda Sanchez. She sits at a long table, overflowing with her friends. Some of them pull up additional chairs. Sanchez is from Mexico and is taking classes in photography, graphic design and ceramics. Despite her low estimation of her vocal skills, this does not stop her from singing along as students begin stepping up to the mic. As Contemporary Music major John Church begins belting out the first song of the evening, I try to ingratiate myself with Sanchez and her friends. I rarely take the time out to get to know our international students, choosing to stay in the comfort zone of my small circle of friends. Derek Morales, a domestic student from Connecticut, spends most of his time with international students. When asked why, he responds, “They’re more down to earth.” “This is the Mexican table,” says Anna Sainz, pointing out that everyone seated around her...
From São Paulo to Santa Fe
posted by Sandra Schonenstein
Sandra Schonenstein and Chris Stahelin continue with their profiles of international students. This week: Brazil. Both Thiago Ricco Dias (by Schonenstein) and Victor Rodrigues (by Stahelin) are from São Paulo, Brazil. Originally an advertising major, Dias is studying graphic design at SFUAD, and has sports photography in his mind for the future. Rodrigues f is a film major, who also does a bit of photography. He greeted Santa Fe saying, “Hi Santa Fe, my name is Victor and I love it here” in...
For the Flag
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/Photos by Michelle Rutt It was a Girl Scout camping trip and patriotism was lesson number one. Salute the flag of the United States of America, count the stars, sing the anthem, pledge your allegiance. As a Girl Scout I was very good at the triangle fold- holding both ends of the flag, folding twice vertically then tip to edge until the last corner can be tucked in. A fellow Girl Scout was not good at this and she accidentally flung a flag into the mud. Our scout leader rushed to pick it up, but the mud had seeped through the stars, it was damaged beyond repair. We were instructed to spread the flag over a picnic table and once this was done our leader set the corner ablaze. I stared as the stripes burned in the evening light, until there was nothing left. It was a retirement ceremony, our leader explained. It looked tragic, but I stood by, like loyal subject over a defeated king. Sappy maybe, but I was a Girl Scout and I was proud of my flag. John Rodriguez stands proud under his US flag too. Literally, Rodriguez stands beneath the US flag and beneath the Brazilian, German, Australian, British, and Mexican flags that he’s hung from the ceiling by his office at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. After some greetings beneath the flags, I asked the former International Director who’s idea it was to hang them. Rodriguez smiles. “It was my idea.” Currently director of Campus and Residential life, Rodriguez says he placed flags in areas like administration and the upper floor of the library to “encourage the concept of one student body,” even though, he explains, students come from everywhere. He looks up...
The International Buzz...
posted by Charlotte Martinez
Story by Charlotte Martinez/ Photos by Michelle Rutt “There are three categories,” Emily Powell, advisor for the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, begins when describing Laureate’s Network programs. Powell’s desk in Mouton, as her advisees know, is tidy so little impedes her elbow space as she counts. “The first we call International like a student coming from China, for example. Then there’s the network students who come from Laureate Universities.” Her third finger extends to complete the categories, “and there’s study abroad, where our students go somewhere else.” Now in its third year of international immersion, SFUAD’s new owner, Laureate, provides an exchange of students on a world scale, inviting cultural as well as academic advancement. Currently, most of SFUAD’s network population comes from Mexico. “Some from Brazil,” Powell says, “only four from Turkey and one from Italy.” “One from Germany, China, Russia, Syria…all over.” Pablo Torrez, the International student coordinator, continues. His tasks of setting up visas and transferring credits connects him most to La Universidad del Valle in Mexico, but both Torrez and Powell believe this is due to Santa Fe’s proximity. Torrez hopes more bridges will extend to Santa Fe in the future, that way “everyone can learn from everyone.” He calculates that SFUAD’s International population, currently 11%, will continue growing as the school does. Of course, school exchange is also influenced by options. Juliana Ruette, a second semester student from Brazil says that there were very few choices offered in her previous school, “which was in a city close to Sao Paulo.” She wanted to leave Brazil, so she googled Santa Fe and thought, “what the fuck! It’s so brown!” Agreeing that Santa Fe would be better than Brazil, she planned on attended SFUAD for one semester then escaping to California. Those plans changed. With marketing...
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