Life Changing Experience, Seattle
Haritha, a SUSI student from Sri Lanka, writes about what he's experiencing in Seattle.
Over the next month, students from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are in Seattle for a new program coordinated by FIUTS, the Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders in Journalism and New Media (SUSI). Each student will be writing a blog post about the experience. Here's a post by Haritha Thilakarathne from Sri Lanka about his experience so far:
It was June 22, 2014, the day I boarded to the plane to have the 28 hours super long flight to Seattle from my sweet isle Sri Lanka. From the second the flight took its wheels off from the ground my life changing voyage started.
FIUTS SUSI program is designed for youth leaders. I was fortunate enough to meet three youth leaders from my own country who’ll be my companions during my stay in the US. The long flight was a great experience and it actually became a test that checked out the tolerance of me being in a same seat for such a long time.
The warm welcome we had at the Seattle Tacoma International airport by the FIUTS staff members disappeared the tiredness after the long trip.
We were eagerly looking forward to meet other SUSI participants from the South Asian countries and the ambassadors from different countries who are studying in US.
It was really fascinating to share the room with a nice guy from the country of the hills, Nepal. He became famous among the gang for his jokes and that “Dai” shared his leadership experiences and his views and thoughts on youth development.
Living in a city located on the other side of the globe far away from your home country is really challenging. Time difference and the day night clash makes me confused for couple of hours and I am used to managing it now.
University of Washington, the glorious grand buildings of this tremendous university made a dream of my life a reality, being in one of the best universities in the world. Visiting the Suzzallo reading hall at University if Washington, well known as the Harry Potter reading hall made me super delighted.
Adjusting my digesting system for the American food became bit hard because we were used to use lot of spices in our dishes as South Asians. But within these 5-6 days it became normal. Now I love the dishes here!
Classes we having on leadership and communication was really interesting. Because the team in the class is from different cultural backgrounds there are many interesting stories and personal experiences sharing within the lectures.
Though I’m not so much attached with media and journalism I learnt a lot from the media and journalism classes we had from the Seattle Globalist staff and the site visits we done to the Seattle Times and the KUOW radio station make my knowledge broaden on the field of journalism.
The awesome bunch of ambassadors provides a great support staying with us always and helping us to adjust for the culture and the life style of USA.
First weekend at the Pack Forest camping area near the well-known Mount Rainier national park was a pretty good experience. Hiking and exploring the forests and the wildlife in the North America was actually an exciting experience.
Yes. It’s like S’more! I want more to grab!
The Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, promote a better understanding of the people, institutions, and culture of the United States among foreign students, teachers, and scholars. Study of the U.S. Institutes are short-term academic programs for groups of undergraduate leaders, educators, and scholars from around the world.
The program in Seattle is coordinated by the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS), a local non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Washington that promotes international friendship and cross-cultural understanding in the region. The Seattle Globalist, a daily publication covering the connections between Seattle and the rest of the globe, is collaborating with FIUTS to deliver courses on topics in journalism and new media.