Global Meet & Greet

Global Meet & Greet is a bi-weekly event initiated by the International Students and Faculty Services (ISFS) in partnership with Office Education Abroad (OEA) at Ohio University. Starting from this quarter, the event aims at bringing international students together so they can meet, talk, have free food and fun.

Held at Walter International Educational Center (room 106) which is a new home of ISFS, the series welcomes many international and domestic students to share their culture with each other on a given theme. For example, the theme of this week (Nov 9) is Thanksgiving which is one of the most important holidays in the U.S.

Decorated with thanksgiving postcards, students can write down their thanks to sponsors whose generosity made the event happen. "I really enjoy the food, especially pumpkin pie. It helps me understand about the traditional food they have in Thanksgiving Day", said Yahan, a Chinese student in Biology Sciences.

"The aim of the event is to bring international and domestic students together so they can socialize with each other. And also for us, we can provide necessary information they need regarding travel abroad opportunities and other international students issues", said Jascene Dunkley, Graduate Assistant at ISFS.



Participants said it is not the first time they attend the event and they definitely don't want to miss the next one which is on Nov 15 from 4-5pm with the theme of Finals Week.

Ohio General Election on Nov 8

Ohio General Election will take place tomorrow (Nov 8). Ohio's voters will decide the fate of candidates and issues on their ballot, according to the State official website.

Senate Bill 5, known as limiting collective bargaining rights, is equivalent with Issue 2 in the referendum, remains as a hot topic in agenda.

Advocating activities and campaigns, with the enormous support of social media are being conducted everywhere for a NO on Issue 2.

Ohio University students can vote from 6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at the following places:

1. Baker University Center

2. Jefferson Hall Library

3. City Hall

4. Community Center

View Where to vote in a larger map

Going to India

It was such a great news when the International Entertainment Education 5 (EE5) Conference awarded me a scholarship worth $1,500 to attend the conference in New Delhi, India from November 17-20.

The conference will bring communication professionals, artists, public health practitioners, entertainers and students together to share their experiences working in the field. The theme of this fifth conference will address social and health issues that affect the world’s most vulnerable groups: women and children.

Entertainment Education is a communication strategy of purposefully creating messages that are both entertaining and educational and embed in oral traditional communication, media and innovative technologies to address social issues. EE aims at changing people's behaviors towards social change and transform lives of people.

Get Ready for Drinks at Halloween Block Party in Athens?

Athens, Ohio, has been called one of the most haunted places on earth. Being famous for its annual Halloween Block Party, this year the city is expected to welcome thousands of people from all walks of life on Saturday, Oct 29, starting from 7pm in uptown city of Court Street.

Besides music, costume competitions, dance...attendants can't miss having beers in one of many local bars in Athens throughout the night. How do Red Brick Sports Pub, Casa Nueva, Tony's Tavern, The Pigskin, Jackie O's Pub&Brewery...to name a few prepare for upcoming Halloween night?

Below is a map with location of each bar and their preparation for the exciting event.


View How Bars in Athens Prepare for Halloween? in a larger map

In contrast with my initial thought, among 11 researched bars, only Casa Nueva has Halloween Bash on the same day and Red Brick Sports Pub has promotion and dressed up staff; the remainders are only concerned about security (Pigskin) and serving capacity of the staff given the huge amount of customers (Buffalo Wild Wings, Cat's Eyes, Jackie O's). Many of them will close as usual with no extended hour.



Bartender of Jackie O's is concerned about available food and drink to serve its maximum capacity of 299 people.



Anyway, Halloween is still in the air at Jackie O's and Casa Nueva with decorations of pumpkins.

Từ Ảnh cho Google Maps

(Casa Nueva)

Từ Ảnh cho Google Maps

Từ Ảnh cho Google Maps

(Jackie O's)

Homecoming Parade in the Street of Athens

Homecoming week started off on Oct 10 but its peak was the parade on Oct 15 in the main street of downtown in Athens: Court St.

Having people waken up on Saturday morning is not easy; however, if you happened to stop by Court St. last Sat, you would see hundreds of people gathered on the two sides of the street. It seems that they have been there for long. The reason was known and confirmed: people longed for the parade, one of the most exciting events in the small town of Athens.

The opening of the parade was the march of about a hundred students with trumpets.

Followed by were marching groups of student organizations such as African Students Union or International Students Union and local organizations.

Athens News, a local newspaper, have consolidated comments of students via social media such as Twitter with the mostly used hashtag: #OUHC 2011.

Below is one of the videos shot at the event:

Athens in the fall

Athens, the small city (it is actually the college town with the presence of Ohio University) located in Southeastern Ohio, is most beautiful in the fall.

The scenery turned yellow and red just over a night. Leaves falling down from the tress that made a marvelous carpet on the surface of roads. It tells us the fall is coming with mild wind, sunlight and a little bit chill. It is actually the most pleasant season of the year, not too cold and gloomy but yet sweaty like summer.

Here are some pictures randomly taken at OU campus and Stroud Run State park in Athens.

From Occupy Wall Street to Occupy OhioU

Occupy Wall Street protest has headed to Ohio University campus under the name of Occupy OhioU on the occasion of Homecoming week (Oct 10-16).

The first event took place on Sunday, Oct 16 at the lawn nearby Alden library. There was about 20 participants including OU students and local people. The students set up tents with an attempt to "occupy" the area 24/7 the upcoming week. Participants formed as a circle and took turn to share their concerns over the protest at Wall Street and its spread to the entire country.

One student brought an article from a blog which indicated JPMorgan Chase bank donated $4.6 million, the biggest donation in its history, to New York Policy Department to strengthen security in the city.

OU President, Roderick McDavis, said the demonstration didn't bother him and he thought it was great to have students and faculty to express their thoughts and feelings on the issues of American time.