Immigration Lawyer Lecture on February 7, 2017

On February 7, a lecture by a former Hope College student took place in the in Mass about the Immigration Law and current political situation regarding immigrants. The lecture was divided into three sections, Immigration Law, Refugee and Asylum Law, and How do we protect refugees? I found the first part the most fascinating and interesting to me.

She started to talk about the border openness 100 years ago in United States. The first official order on who can and can not was passed in 1954. This is also the origin times of the term alien, a person who is not a citizen of United States. Therefore legal alien are immigrants who came to the United States legally, where on the other side illegal alien are people who enter to United States illegal. Also, presenter talked about two main ways how people are able to enter United States legally. Firstly there the option of a travel visa, which is limited to 3 months of stay in the United States. In order to get a travel visa, people need to prove that they have enough assets, usually money, that they have a reason to come back. The second main way is the work visa. In order to obtain Work Visa, the applicant has to prove advanced (Bachelor Degree) and work opportunity. If the applicant did not has Bachelor degree, one can not come and work in the United States other than seasonal work.

In the case that the alien stayed in the the United States illegally for 6 months (6 months after one’s visa expires) and is caught then one is banned from entering the United States for 3 years. If alien stayed in the the United States illegally for 12 months (12 months after one´s visa expires) and is caught then one is banned from entering the United States for 10 years. She briefly talked about the Children on the U.S. Saint Louis 1939 or the U.S. Accession to U.N. Refugee Protocol 1968. Lastly, she also mentioned how children, born in the United States, are becoming orphaned, when their parents who are in the United States illegally get deported, but the history of immigration law and immigration law itself attracted me the most.

The biggest lesson or the reflection that as an international student, it will be very hard for me to stay here after Hope College. She really emphasizes the fact that applicants for worker not only have to have bachelor’s degree, but they need to be better than American workers. In the other words, if I will get a job it does not mean I will be given the permission to stay. The employer that will offer me the job, has to apply for permit and make a case that my skills are essentially. She actually referred to the agriculture workers in the presentation, but similar process will be happening to me as well. I just realized the difficulty of staying here after college, not even considering the fact that President Trump is in the office and his views do not help at all.

Prague Christmas Market 2017

Even though it is the start of a Spring, Prague, the capital city of the my home country, the Czech Republic, has something spectacular. In every bigger city in the Czech Republic there is a Christmas market. There are always very Christmasy, relaxing, and romantic, but the Prague Christmas Market is in the league itself. It was ranked as the number 1 Christmas Market in the world by CNN.

The market happens on the Old Town Square in the heart of Prague. Its historic square dates to 11th century. The biggest attraction is an astronomical clock in the town hall called Orloj. There is a sad and amazing regarding the clock. The sad one is they blinded the builder of Orloj right after he made it, in order to prevent him of making it somewhere else. The positive news is that, Orloj has been working since it was constructed in October 9, 1410.

Prague´s Chirstmas Market
Prague´s Chirstmas Market
Prague´s Chirstmas Market from the air
Prague´s Chirstmas Market from the air
Astronomical Clock called Orloj from 1410
Astronomical Clock called Orloj from 1410

International Food Fair at Hope, a.k.a. Czech Cuisine

This past weekend, on Saturday, there was an international Food Fair where international students were making foods from their home country. Unfortunately, I was not be able to able to attend, so I will talk about what Czech cuisine looks like.

All my not-Czech friends who tried Czech cuisine, they either really liked it or do not eat at all. The meal is usually very heavy and includes a meat and some type of sauce. Czech cuisine has one unique quality and that you can put it in the fridge for 2 days and reheat it and still tastes relatively good as when it is made for the first time. It is because in the history were living very economical life styles in farms many times and they were trying to use their resources as much as possible.

Like Italians developed pasta or Japanese sushi, Czech developed “czech dumpling” it very different than the Chinese one. We three types of dumplings. One is called “Bramborový” which is an adjective of potato, because the dumpling is made from potatoes. Then we have “Houskový” which is an adjective of bread roll because this type of dumpling is made from bread rolls. The last type of dumpling is called “Ovocny” or fruit dumpling because it has fruit inside, but people put there a lot of things like Nutella or jam. But if Czech person offers “Ovocný” knedlík one refers to a sweet dumpling.

Other popular meals are called Svíčková or Knedlo Vepřo Zelo.

Knedlo Vepřo Zelo is made of Bramborový knedlík, pork meat, and cabbage
Knedlo Vepřo Zelo is made of Bramborový knedlík, pork meat, and cabbage
Bramborový Knedlík
Bramborový Knedlík
Houskový Knedlík
Houskový Knedlík
Svíčková na smetaně is made of houskový knedlík, beef meat, vegetable sauce, and whipped cream and cranberries for a decoration.
Svíčková na smetaně is made of houskový knedlík, beef meat, vegetable sauce, and whipped cream and cranberries for a decoration.
Ovocný Knedlík
Ovocný Knedlík

Hope College Hockey 2016–2017

As in every year since the early 2000s, Hope College has had a men’s ice hockey team. Last year, we finished with a great record of 20-5, but unfortunately we lost against the Central Michigan University and did not make it to Nationals.

This year has been different. Our record has been 20-9-1, which is by 4 slightly worse than last year, but we have had some big games that we did not have last year. On Friday, December 2, 2016, we beat the number 1 team and our main rival, Calvin College, 4-2. Last year, we lost both games against Calvin.

This weekend, we are played sudden death playoffs and hoping to get to the national tournament at Columbus. The first game is against Lawrence Tech on Friday, February 24, at Lansing. Unfortunately, we lost 2-1 in double OT. The game started at 8 p.m. and ended in 12:15 a.m. We were the better team, we outshot them, but it is hard to win of you do not score goals.

Nevertheless, next year is another season and we will be trying to break two years of not making the national tournament.

Global Ambassador Program: International Film Screening

For the past three or four weeks, I have been a member of the Global Ambassador Program for the international center at Hope. Our goal is to raise awareness and interest in studying abroad. In the case you are interested in this program, you have to study abroad, which is a requirement. Currently, we have about 14 members who has studied abroad as well.

Over the period of we will be organizing multiple events. We will be organizing movie nights, where we each member will be playing a movie from the country they had studied. There will be movies from Ireland, France, Iceland, Spain, Scotland, Chile, Mexico, and here are the dates and locations.

All movies starts at 7:30 pm.

  • Thursday, March 2 – Fried Hemenway Auditorium – Rams (Iceland)
  • Thursday, March 9 – DePree Cook Auditorium – The Intouchables (France)
  • Wednesday, March 15 – DePree Cook Auditorium – Machuca (Chile)
  • Thursday, March 30 – DePree Cook Auditorium – Sing Street (Chile)
  • Thursday, April 6 – Fried Hemenway Auditorium – Soldados de Salamina (Spain)
  • Thursday, April 13 – Fried Hemenway – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (US/UK)

Also, we will be organizing a large event toward end of the year, where students who studied in France will be making French food or students who studied in Chile will be making food from Chile and etc. We are not sure of the date at this moment, but it not happening before spring break, so we will be let you know in advance.

Senior Struggle #5: Being/Remaining Healthy

Happy Monday, Readers! I hope the weekend treated you well and you had a relaxing time full of rejuvenation.

Speaking of relaxation and rejuvenation, I feel like every person I’ve encountered lately has either just gotten over, is just coming down with, or is right in the middle of a cold. This semester is taking its toll on people, and the question at the forefront of my mind right now is: how does a student, especially a busy senior with so much on their plate, stay healthy physically and mentally?

  1. The first step to staying healthy is knowing your body and the signs of illness or exhaustion. For me, I know my body well enough to know that whenever I get just a twinge of a sore throat, it’s time to put my preventative health skills into action and slow down.
  2. To prevent illness, you need take care of your body. This means giving yourself “me time” so that you have time to regroup from your busy day-to-day life. This also includes getting enough sleep at night (7–8 hours) and eating a healthy diet. Trust me, if I only get five hours of sleep each night and eat french fries every day for dinner, my body pays for it and I feel gross at the end of the week.
  3. The only way to combat that gross feeling is to exercise. Finding your balance of how many times per week and for how long is tricky, especially when you’re going from place to place so often; however, being active at least three days a week is usually what I try to aim for. Sometimes (ok, let’s be honest – most times) that doesn’t work out and I end up working out only one or two days, so I try to be active and walk to class from my off campus house instead of driving. I’ve discovered that any activity, no matter how small it is, helps my body feel good.
  4. Finally, if you do get sick, give yourself time to recover – don’t rush the recovery process! Contact the Health Center if needed, but resting is always a good idea. Besides, who doesn’t want an extra couple days to sleep?

Although I’ve only listed four ways to help keep you healthy, only you truly know your body and know what is good for it when you start to get sick. Keeping busy has its benefits, but make sure that if you do get sick, you take time for yourself to recover so that you can get back on your feet in a short amount of time.

Until next time!

Being healthy is something that’s important to everyone – especially people with busy lifestyles.

 

Break for Winter Break

Happy Monday, Readers! I hope you all have transitioned back into school and homework smoothly after coming back from Winter Break. We’re in the final stretch now until Spring Break – hooray!

I’ve decided to take a break from writing on a Senior Struggle this week to tell you about my Winter Break – it really was an amazing few days filled with friends and outdoor activities!

For Winter Break, my housemates and I decided to visit Minnesota, where one of our housemates is from. We decided to visit her house because we had all been to each other’s houses before except for hers and wanted to see where she was from before graduation rolled around and we were out of time and weekends. So we packed up the car and drove ten hours to Minnesota, passing through Indiana, Illinois, and (what felt like) the huge state of Wisconsin.

Once we arrived at her house, we headed straight for her families cabin even farther north of where she’s from. It was so good to get away and play endless board games, read, play with their dogs, and just relax. It was even better because there was limited cell phone service, so we were forced to unplug for a short time – it was amazing! One of the activities we did was snowshoeing across the lake her cabin is on. I had never been snowshoeing, so the experience was new and exciting.

After spending a few days there, we came back to her house to spend some time with her family. We explored the nearby city of Minneapolis and saw what the city had to offer. One of the highlights of her hometown tour was Minnehaha Falls – a usually frozen over waterfall just shooting off of Minnehaha Creek. Because of the warm weather, the waterfall wasn’t frozen over, but that made it even more beautiful!

After her hometown tour, it was time to head back to Holland. Ten hours and many snacks later, we arrived back at Hope ready to take on the coming weeks. It was a restful and relaxing break and I hope yours was just as adventurous as mine!

Until next time!

During break, we got to snowshoe across the frozen lake – it was beautiful!
Dogs make everything (even breaks) better.
Flowing Minnetonka Falls.
On day three of our trip, we got to explore downtown Minneapolis. This is the skyline!
I loved getting to travel for one last break with my best friends!

Happy Monday, Readers! I hope you all have transitioned back into school and homework nicely after coming back from Winter Break. We’re on the final stretch now until Spring Break – woohoo!

Weekend in Switzerland

Sharon Creech is one of my favorite authors. Of all of her books I read in the library growing up, one of my favorites is Bloomability. The novel follows Dinnie as she navigates living with her aunt and uncle in a new country and attending an American boarding school in Lugano, Switzerland. She tackles homesickness, goes on adventures, and makes friends who come from all over the world. One friend, Keisuke, creates some of his own words while learning English, including “bloomability,” his twist to the word “possibility.”

Back then, this book inspired me to add Switzerland to my list of places to visit. Now, the concept of “bloomability,” the opportunity to grow, is one of the many ways to describe studying abroad. My friend Emma, who studied in Chile this fall, gave me a scrapbook for Christmas labeled, “Erin’s Bloomability Book.” She explained how studying abroad really is a time where you will “bloom,” grow in ways you wouldn’t in your comfort zone at home.

While I have weeks of bloomability ahead of me, this weekend I had the chance to travel to Switzerland. Though I did not visit Lugano, I found the same peaceful beauty in Interlaken.

Me standing in front of Lake Brienz with the Swiss Alps snow covered in the background
Lake Brienz. Yes, it really is that blue!

I went with three girls from my apartment and a few other students from my program. We traveled through a company called Bus2Alps that designs trips specifically for students studying abroad. So we got on a bus around 8:00 p.m. on Thursday night and arrived in Interlaken around 7:00 a.m. Friday morning.

I went on a snowshoe tour guided by Peter who’s a fan of Pittsburgh because Jaromir Jagr played for the Pens. He’s from the Czech Republic and lives in Bali teaching surfing most of the year except for a few months in the winter spent in Interlaken teaching snowboarding, skiing, and leading tours. We took a cable car from Isenfluh to Sulwald where we hiked up the mountain listening to stories about the farmers that live there and the towns that can be seen down in the valley below. The second part of the hike, running and falling into the fresh powder on the way down the slope back to Sulwald, was the most fun I’ve had in awhile.

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Saturday we went on a day trip to Zurich. This is definitely the most calm city I have ever visited. And I have never seen a river running through a city be so clear that you can see the rocks and lost phones beneath the water. We climbed to the top of one of the towers of the Grossmünster church for an incredible view of the city.

Sigmar Polke designed these windows made of semi-precious stones
One of the beautiful windows in the Grossmunster church
View of the lake from the tower.

Back in Interlaken we went out for cheese fondue and bought chocolate. Interlaken is probably not alone in their pride of Swiss dairy products that is highlighted by the presence of cows for decoration throughout the town.

Cheese fondue at one of the hostels in Interlaken

In the morning I walked to Lake Brienze with a friend, bought some chocolate to take home, and had hot chocolate before getting on the bus back to Rome.

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Overall, Switzerland’s beauty was unreal. The peace and calm of of Interlaken was a welcome break from the hustle of life in Rome. I am looking forward to the bloomability of traveling there again someday.

Thanks for reading,
Erin

Senior Struggle #4: Being Prepared

Happy Monday, Readers! Welcome back to talking about topics that seniors struggle with especially during these last few months before graduation. This week’s topic: being prepared.

Whether its being prepared for class by having your homework done, being prepared for the days you don’t get home until after 12 hours, or being prepared for what comes after college, I’ve noticed that being prepared is something that every senior is worried about. For myself, I know that if on Sunday nights I haven’t done my homework up until Wednesday and picked out my blog post theme, I am not prepared for the week and am left picking up the pieces throughout the week. I feel like that’s the case for many people, and if you add looking for a job for after graduation (so that you can be prepared for after college), all the looking ahead and preparedness is overwhelming.

One way to curb this overwhelming feeling is what I like to call “spreading out and staying on top.” Many of you probably know this tactic, but I wanted to reiterate it now because this semester, I’ve benefited from sticking to it greatly. The way to master this technique is to list everything you have to do for the week. Write it down. It physically helps to see what you have to do when it’s written down. Once you see what you have to do, make a game plan and break those tasks down into maybe five chunks. All those tasks at once and in whole chunks are overwhelming, but if you divide them up and spread them out throughout your week it makes you feel more accomplished. Another thing that helps is, if you’ve finished all of your tasks for one day, continuing to work ahead so that you can take some of the pressure off other days. I used to think, “now that I’m done with today’s tasks, I can relax!” While that might be a good way for some people to function, what helps take my stress away is working ahead.

On a bigger scale, another way to become prepared for life after college is to be prepared when it comes to looking for and securing jobs. The biggest time to feel unprepared is during a job interview, but if you can master your answers for most questions beforehand, you’ll feel better prepared and less nervous. A resource students can use to help prepare them for job interviews is setting up a mock interview at the Career Development Center. In doing this, students will be asked questions normally asked at job interviews and will be given feedback on their answers. This will help students be less nervous going into an interview and to help them know what’s coming.

Being prepared is something everyone needs to learn to do. Hopefully these points have helped to alleviate some stress about it!

Until next time!

How many people feel all the time.

Rome: First Impressions

It’s hard to sum up one week of a somewhat overwhelming amount of new things, but I’ll use pictures to make up for a lack of words.

Flying over the Alps.
Italy showed off its beauty long before we stepped foot in it.
Peace from the Italian countryside.

After three hours of sitting on the plane waiting for Delta’s computer system to come back online, the flight from Atlanta to Rome went smoothly. Even from the air, Italy was a stunning sight to take in and it still hasn’t stopped impressing me. A little less than 9 hours later and I was walking through Rome’s Fiumicino airport with two other students in my IES program. We waited for a shuttle that took us to our respective apartments in the Prati neighborhood of Rome.

Castel Sant’Angelo
The Tiber
One of the many statues along the bridge crossing the Tiber River.
View of the Vatican City .

Just while walking to the IES Center from my apartment I pass Castel Sant’Angelo, get a view of the Vatican, and cross the Tiber River. It’s not just the sights that are impressive but, of course, the food is as well.

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Tomorrow we will go on a walking tour of Rome for a few hours and Monday classes will begin. Tuesday I have a meeting with the company I will be interning for and my apartment spontaneously booked a trip to Switzerland next weekend! There’s a lot of exciting new adventure ahead this week alone and I can’t wait to see what this semester holds.

Ciao,
Erin