Bleeding green and white!

Ph.: Nick Dentamaro, The State News

One of the things that I really love about being here is that sense of belonging being an MSU student gives you. Being a Spartan. I myself have paranoid ideas about this sometimes, thinking that it’s just a silly thing that they make you believe in order to make you choose this university instead of another, and then to buy the MSU items once here. It is definitely a successful marketing tactic. But at the same time, I think that it does have a psychological benefit. Probably at least for international students who would need a sense of belonging once they move to a (totally) different culture.

So being a Spartan is of course not present in my mind all the time now. Life goes on normally once you get past the “honeymoon” period that lasts a few weeks after you first arrive here. During those weeks, I was willing to learn the fight song, and was excited at the idea of meeting our cute mascot Sparty. I even put my love for my favorite color (blue) on hold and became a fan of “Spartan Green”. But having spent exactly seven months now, it would take something stronger than just being an MSU student for me to remember that I am a Spartan… and be proud of it.

Yesterday was one of those days when I felt “the spirit”. The MSU men’s basketball team had got to the Final Four in the national championship and won yesterday 82-73 against the Connecticut men’s basketball team, qualifying to the final game! I am not particularly fond of basketball, but being able at least to understand what’s going on during the game (unlike when I watch American football ) I was glad to see our team qualify to the finals.

I also have great respect for the players who are very young MSU students that manage to succeed their course work while devoting so much time and effort for the game.

Anyway, tomorrow is the big day Spartans! We want a Spartan green final! Good luck to you and...

GO GREEN! GO WHITE! GO SPARTANS!

Obama at MSU!!! (2)

Yup, I made it!! My Integrated Campaigns class was cancelled on Thursday so that we all manage to attend Obama’s speech at MSU’s Adams Field. The event was huge and thousands of people started lining up as early as 8:30 am, while the speech was due to start at 2:30 pm!!

Because of an earlier class and a workshop, I joined the line at 1:30 pm… and reached the gate half an hour later… and I, it goes without saying, was not the last one in line. Just a few minutes after I joined, hundreds were behind me.

After security check, I and my friends from Kazakhstan and Taiwan entered the field, and got that feeling of being lost in an ocean of people. Later I read in the newspaper that the number of students and local residents who gathered there was estimated at 20,000! So this explains why all we could see when we got there was… the backs of the people in front of us… and the heads of those in front of them at the best of cases.

Honestly we played unfair a little bit and started sneaking a few meters ahead… as long as people were not reacting negatively, we kept moving ahead: D After losing our Taiwanese friend in the crowd, I and the Kazakh student reached a place from where we still could see only backs and heads… but where my beloved camera, when lifted very high and zoomed, could catch the speaker’s place :D So when Obama was finally on stage, we spend most of the time watching him on the screen of my camera :D:D:D

I cannot tell you how loud and passionate the crowd was when Obama showed on stage. You would think that all MSU and the surrounding area are only made up of Democrats. But that’s not a hundred percent true. There must be people who came there just out of curiosity, others who, like me and my friends, can’t even vote but came to be part of the event, and those who are in fact Republicans, and were there to know what McCain’s opponent had to say. Talking about these, it was fun to see that at the entry of the field, some McCain supporters had lined up lifting signs supporting their candidate... although, ironically, McCain’s campaign officials declared late Thursday that he has given up on Michigan State!!

Now what was the speech about? It was mainly about economy. This issue addressed the residents’ main concern given the current economic crisis in the US and the whole world, and more than that, given that Michigan is one of the states that cannot boast a strong economy. (This state has the highest unemployment rate in the US: 8.9%).

Obama also presented some broad lines of his agenda: Fixing the deficient health care system, creating new jobs, developing the quality of education, AND a point which perfectly matches the spirit of our green university: investing millions of dollars to develop sustainable energy (wind, solar…) AND … ladies and gentlemen: end the US dependence on foreign oil. Even if these two last points were the only things Obama would achieve during his mandate, I would pray day and night for him to be president of the USA, because this would avoid a lot of calamities around the world.

Anyway, I don’t know what would be the impression I get if I attended a similar speech given by McCain. (Hmmmm although I’ve got an idea about that when I watched his September 26 debate with Obama…). But what I can say for sure is that Obama is definitely a good speaker… and seems to be a serious, hardworking person… that is if enough Americans trust him next November and give him the chance to prove it!

Back home... somehow :)

I’ve been quiet for a long while...

So quite that a squirrel didn’t mind posing for my camera :)

Feels so good to be back here :)

Forum... in Arabic ;)

Picture: Majd Biltaji

A beautiful resort 140 Km from Cairo, over 300 Arab young people gathered in one place, over 20 countries represented in one event, and 5 days of work and fun – all this put together gives the flavour of the forum I have just attended in Egypt.

I won’t talk much about the “academic” content of the forum (workshops about building youth capacity, STDs, youth participation in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, social challenges etc.) but will tell you how great it was to meet such a lovely and lively crowd of young Arabs. The young people I met came with loads of ideas and initiatives – all meant to serve a particular social (or in less numbers political) cause. Women, children, the environment, youth, education, health, etc… the projects contained associations, networks, websites, but also blogs / publications and arts performances.

The Moroccan group was the largest in number – but no need to tell you that Moroccan Arabic was the least spoken there :s A real problem of communication arises when it comes to our language. But this being said, no need to worry about Moroccans and their culture ;) : almost all Arab participants went home with a very Moroccan reflex: replying “tiwliwla” every time they hear “TIKCHBILA” :p

It’s clear now: the atmosphere combined serious work and crazy attitudes. What would you expect when you gather hundreds of young people in one place? :D We particularly enjoyed the cultural day when all participants wore their countries’ traditional clothes. An experience which increased my pride of the Moroccan Caftan with all its kinds ;)

The Moroccan flag didn’t miss doing its job there. While having dinner one evening, we were approached by a Moroccan couple who happened to spend their honeymoon there, and, a few minutes later, by another Moroccan lady who works at a nearby hotel. At Khan El Khalili we were attracted by the red and green sportswear of three men who turned out to be members of the Moroccan team who participated in the Pan-Arab Games in Egypt.

Whether I made some tourist activities during my stay in Egypt? It’s a pity but although we stayed there for several days,
Picture: Mohamed Ezz Aldin

the forum’s program was too full to allow us to reach Cairo early enough to visit important places like the Pyramids!! We were based 140 Km from Cairo and entry to the Pyramids is currently stopped at 4 pm :s. Otherwise, I and a small group of friends visited Suez city on our second day there, and one day before we left, I had a beautiful walk along the amazing Red Sea beach of Ain El Sokhna.

But this wasn’t everything! We didn’t manage to visit the Pyramids, but we did visit other places in Cairo at night. We visited Sidna lhussein, (Shillah ya Sidna l7ussein :p), went to Khan el Khalili and walked on the bridge over the Nile river! Amazingly beautiful at night! We had planned to enjoy a tour by boat on the Nile but, having reached the place at 1 am, it was impossible to find a boat working! Cairo’s street stay animated at 1 am though as are Rabat’s at 8 pm!.

At Khan el Khalili, shopping is not much different from that in Moroccan bazaars and medina shops: The golden rules is: Always bargain and propose a price less than half what the seller asks for! I must say that three Egyptian friends - Tammam, Amira and Khaled - did their best to send us back satisfied with our shopping and the whole visit to Cairo. Ta3abnakou ma3ana ya gama3a ;)

On our way back to the hotel, we were all tired and hungry and the solution was a couple of delicious sandwiches of Ful and Taamya :D

Now three days after my come back, I’m still tired and sleepy - and I’m back to the bitter reality: work!!- but I don’t regret having gone for the experience. I’m also glad that the trip went fine lhamdullah – no luggage loss, no major complications in the airports, … and no plane crash :p