Photo of the Week: Winter Orientation with FIUTS

Incoming international students learned about the UW and explored Seattle during this quarter's new student orientation.

Okay, we'll admit that the photo below is actually from last week, but it was just too amazing to keep out of the Photo of the Week lineup:

Students participating in the Winter orientation Seattle Challenge, a city-wide scavenger hunt, submitted this great photo of their team as the letter "W" downtown.

And speaking of winter orientation, here's an overview of the experiences that this quarter's incoming international students had a chance to enjoy, written by guest blogger and FIUTS Orientation Assistant, Andrew Craig:

The new year at FIUTS began with a new quarter and a new wave of international students to welcome to our community. Winter quarter orientation was held on the weekend before classes, January 4-6, with a weekend of programming designed to be a crash course in local culture.

The numbers of incoming students aren't nearly as staggering in Winter quarter as in Fall - closer to 50 than 2000 - but there's a level of intimacy gained that's irreplaceable  After a full day of info sessions, giving students a taste of the resources offered on campus, we traveled to the cultural center of UW student life, the Ave, and had a great dinner at Thai 65.

Thirty-five or so eager, engaged international students, along with about ten FIUTS Facilitators packed our way into the back of this Thai restaurant, and we all took our first step towards learning about each other together. In my table of six, I got to have a dinner with representatives from New Zealand, England, France, Hong Kong, and Germany - an opportunity that should never be taken for granted.

That was on Friday. The next morning we met at the Burke Museum to embark on an abbreviated version of Fall's Seattle Challenge, the city wide scavenger hunt designed to familiarize participants with the bus system and general Seattle geography.

After a brief delay, (which all teams used to engage in Seattle's coffee shop culture), the challenge was underway! Pike Place Market, the U District, and Seattle Center were all on the road map as teams learned about each other, and all the craziness in this city. The Pike Pub and Brewery was their final destination where we held our after party and awarded fabulous prizes. The photo that won our best picture category is this week's photo of the week. 

The end of Winter orientation was devoted to a trip to Seattle Center for some ice skating. The Seattle Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and you could absolutely tell. The entire area and ice rink were decorated with lights and holiday cheer.

To anyone out there reading this and wondering if they should come to a FIUTS event, I'm continuously surprised by the international student community's capacity to welcome new members and grow and expand and learn, so please, take that step. I hope our events can continue to serve this purpose throughout the quarter and good luck to all the new members of our corner of the world.