Thinking ahead -- applications for winter interterm India program are due soon!

Hi everyone! Just a reminder from Susan Rivera that if you want to do the amazing Project Dharamsala you need to sign up soon!

Project Dharamsala: We are now accepting applications for Project Dharamsala, an International Service Learning Course that through the combination of academic study, service work, and cultural immersion explores the history, culture, and social justice issues of India and Tibet with a focus on education, religion, politics, development, and human rights issues. For more information on the program and how to apply, please join us at one of our Dharamsala information sessions held at the I House (corner of Warren & S. Josephine) Thursday, April 7 at 4:00 PM or Friday, April 15 at 1:30 PM. The last day to apply is April 25. For additional information, please visit our website:http://www.du.edu/intl/abroad/isl.html, or contact us atisl@du.edu.

Festival of Nations

Happy spring, everyone!

A lot of exciting events will be coming your way this quarter, including the Quarterly IIC Dinner on Friday, May 6 at 7pm! The location has yet to be determined but we are thinking of doing Chinese hot-pot. If you have any preferences or location recommendations, please let me (Anna) know.

Also, we need volunteers to help staff the IIC booth at the Festival of Nations! This FREE DU multicultural event will be held on Saturday, April 16^th from noon to 5pm at the Driscoll Student Center. Students who have participated in it in the past say that it is a lot of fun – what’s not to like about constant performances, booths hawking ethnic food, and excited kids? :) This event is a rare opportunity to spread information about the IIC program while interacting face to face with the DU community.

What we do is up to you, but so far we have a couple of ideas for our booth:

1.) A large map on which people can mark where they are from and where they have been.

2.) A big “peace poster” on which we write the word “peace” in as many languages as possible and have participants guess what language it’s written in.

3.) A slideshow of photos of IIC students on international travels and adventures.

Feel free to share any more ideas you have! And please drop a line if you can volunteer for an hour or so to help.

Great opportunities that involve free food

Hello, IICer's! Best of luck with finals week.

Just wanted to notify you of two delicious and fascinating opportunities coming up soon.

March's International Luncheon Featuring Greek Cuisine

Tuesday, 3/8 from Noon to 1

International House

Come enjoy Greek food at the International House on Tuesday for the monthly international meal. Sponsored by Sturm College of Law.

Kyrgyzstan Journalist Visit

Thursday, 3/10 at Noon

Mass Comm Building (I think the classroom next to the student lounge)

Professor Renee Botta encourages everyone to come to listen and ask questions to a special panel of visiting journalists from Kyrgyzstan! Curious what media is like there? Find out AND enjoy a delicious free lunch.

RSVP to Renee (rbotta at du dot edu.)

Enjyo!

Reminder of Spring Language Proficiency Exams

Hey all! Don't forget we need to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language to graduate. Here's a reminder that spring 2011 proficiency exams will be give as follows:

Friday, April 15^th, 9:30-12pm

Thursday, April 28^th, from 6-8:30pm

Friday, May 13^th from 9:30-12pm

You can only test once per quarter, so if you do not pass this exam in spring you cannot graduate until fall 2011 (no exams are given in summer.)

Good luck!

A lovely winter potluck

Hello, everyone! Just wanted to say thank you for making the Winter '11 Potluck a tasty success. We had Indian curry, Mongolian beef, Irish soda bread, stuffed jalapenos, moussaka, pepperoni bread, chips with fresh guac, a mighty desert spread and more. It was great to see most of the graduating students and fill ourselves before crunch-time begins.

Here are a few of my photos, starting with Brian, Jill and Marlena. Congrats! :)

"I'm not buying it."

Everyone --

Check out this amazing campaign being run by Traffick911.

Here is an excerpt:

"This coming Sunday, Arlington, Texas, will host the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers for Super Bowl XLV—and some 150,000 out-of-state visitors and nearly 500,000 fans from other Texas towns are expected to pour into the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. Tragically, the city lucky enough to host the event will also witness an alarming spike in child sex trafficking over game week...

DFW-based Traffick911, the Rebecca Project and other advocacy groups are leading comprehensive efforts to protect children during Super Bowl week with their I’m Not Buying It campaign. Endorsed by well-known local stars including Dallas Cowboy Jay Ratliff, the campaign has organized an online petition to get the Super Bowl Host Committee and National Football League to sign-on to the effort to protect girls from being sex trafficked."

Sex trafficking is alive and well in America; it's good to see a powerful call to action taking advantage of the high-profile nature of the Super Bowl.

IIC Photo: India!

Recent IIC alumni Kelly Burt writes: Attached is a picture of IIC students Jillian Bird, Marlena Hartz, and Kelly Burt in front of the Taj Mahal after completing our three weeks of service learning required for Project Dharamsala during Winter Interterm 2010. Experience of a lifetime!

For more information on Project Dharamsala and other International Service Learning opportunities offered through DU, visit http://www.du.edu/intl/abroad/isl.html.