Every year, Jimmy Carter (Former president of USA and Nobel Prize Winner 2002) comes to Emory University for a Q&A session with students. This year, the event was held in the Woodruff PE Center, but unfortunately due to a wind storm the entire bottom level of the gym was flooded (okay I exaggerate – it was puddly). For some reason all the buildings in Emory don’t seem to be waterproof because the basement and kitchen in the IB house was also dripping - kind of reminds me of PLC’s Centre for Performing Arts, where on the outside it looks quite impressive, but when it really matters (i.e. wet weather), there is no protection from the elements!
The event started off with an introduction from Dooley, the unofficial Emory mascot (the official one is the Eagle).
Then Carter came on. His first question was light-hearted: i.e. what do you think of Kanye’s interruption? He also answered a few questions about Israel-Egypt-Palestine (for which he won the Nobel Prize), health care reform in the US (needed), what he thought of Obama (22 out of 22 members of his family voted for Obama), whether racism still existed (yes) and other questions about his family. A few lucky exchange kids actually got to meet him and take a proper photo with him because they were clever enough to wait for him outside the conference room in which he was having dinner. But with my trusty zoom, I managed to get this blurry shot…
President Jim Carter
This past week I’ve been playing intense table tennis with Rehan and my butt cheeks have never ached so much (who woulda thunk!) Also went in a crazy cab ride where we squished 10 people into a 7 person cab. Played ‘flip cups’ and ‘beer pong’, and other cliche American games at a random’s bday party, then party hopping for the rest of the night.
A few other exciting news:
* will be heading to NYC in 2 wks
* booked flights to Mexico City for thanksgiving! swine flu? bah! Emory has the highest concentration of swine flu cases in the States. We have the Centre for Diseases right next to our uni…plus who can resist the call of sombreros, nachos, tequila, pyramids and volcanos! so far, around 6 of us are going.
* am now leaving for a music gig! pictures coming soon
