A Blog on McConnell Center Life

Greve  means Strike in Portuguese. One of many signs around the UNESP campus declaring the strike. I arrived in São José do Rio Preto to a university on strike.  UNESP, Universidade Estadual Paulista, comprises 23 campuses across the state of São Paulo.  Last I heard, 14 of those are on strike.  Each campus has their specific points of contention – including, but not limited to, insufficient housing and dining on campus as well as opposition to an affirmative action law currently in the works for the state of São Paulo, Programa de Inclusão com Mérito no Ensino Superior Público Paulista (PIMESP ). This spirit of protest served as my introduction to university life in Brazil.  And, as I was fortunate enough to observe, transformed my entire experience into something so much bigger than I ever could have imagined. On a larger stage, protests began in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on June 6 in response to a hike in public transportation costs.  Ho...

By Meghan Waters, Class of 2014 Thursday, June 13, was the day I’d been waiting for.  That was the day we finally got to climb the Great Wall.  It was definitely one of the greatest experiences of my life.  Was it hard? Yes.  Was it hot? Yes.  Did I have to stop several times? Absolutely.  But it is a memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life.  Most people can only read about the Great Wall; I’ve seen it, touched it, and climbed it.  To me, that is invaluable. Equally invaluable is the fact that I experienced the Great Wall with my class.  It was an honor to finally take the traditional Great Wall group photo with them.  Over the past few weeks I have learned so much about my classmates, and I have witnessed what an incredible group of people they are.  Personally, I was extremely hesitant about coming on this trip; I had never been out of the U.S. for more than 12 days.  But except for one bout of homesick...

By Abeer Sikder, Class of 2014 China is a very powerful, yet fragile state. It is powerful internationally, but fragile domestically – much like a glass mansion. It appears to be a magnificent and powerful structure. But one small crack, and the whole foundation can falter. On the surface, China has been doing great in many ways since the mid-20 th Century. Under Mao Zedong (1948-78), average annual growth was 6 percent. Even with low GDP, the domestic economy was actually stable overall. Furthermore, wealth became more equally distributed and corruption in many government sectors wasn’t as serious as it had been before. (I am speaking about the general economy and infrastructure throughout this period. Obviously, there were many scandals and horrible occurrences under Mao’s regime. Nonetheless, this is when China began to reemerge as a superpower in the 20 th Century.) Since 1978, average annual growth has been around 10 percent. China is the world’s seco...

By Evan Shepherd, Class of 2014 Time. For something to consume our lives, time has been the furthest thing from my mind since I arrived in China.  Time has frozen back home, and time doesn’t matter here; yet, time may be the key to the future.  China is different. I am not speaking of petty differences that sometimes divide us as Americans, I mean really different. Like the type differences in your dreams as a child that are followed by pigs flying.  No, pigs do not fly in China; but there, a people and a culture exist from any I have experienced in my life.  As someone who claims to have an understanding of the complex diplomatic relationship between the United States and China,  I had failed to simplify the problem before solving. I could be wrong, but the answer seems to be blatant to me now. The key to the future of U.S. – Sino relations will not be found in our different economies or militaries, it is simply time.  C...