Chocolate Festival at Trinity

You've watched Johnny Depp's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but didn't know if it existed for real. All you had to do was come to Trinity on Friday, 12th Feb at 2pm to find out for real. Students and staffs were treated to different kinds of chocolate flavors (dark, white, milk and what not) during the Chocolate Festival.

Photo by: Digital Subway

Chocolate Festival, one of the biggest and most popular events organized by Tiger Council drew a flock of chocolate fans. Several clubs and organizations had their own stalls giving out free chocolates. Even Association of Student Representatives (ASR) and Campus & Community Involvement had stalls. Tiger Council had publicly stated, 

Chocolate is a great natural antidepressant. It contains tryptophan which helps you create serotonin, your body’s own antidepressant.

No doubt, everyone appeared happy and childlike, thanks to high secretions of serotonin. Even ladies ultra-conscious about their body image devoured chocolates unsparingly. Supply of chocolate started running low as soon as the event kicked off. I arrived at around 2:30 pm and was penalized for my tardiness by getting only left-overs (See Picture below). All good stuff was gone sooner than anyone had imagined.

Photo by: Digital Subway

How Jared Diamond Chose to Collapse My Dreams

The privilege of being a Trinity student is that you get to hear lectures by global leaders in person, free of cost at Trinity's own Laurie Auditorium, that has a capacity to accommodate about 2500 people. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, former US President Bill Clinton, former Pakistani strongman and President Pervez Musharraf, French PM Dominique de Villepin and Nobel Laureates like Joseph Stiglitz have all paid a visit to Trinity University and enriched experience and understanding of Trinity students.

I had the honor of attending a lecture by Jared Diamond as part of DeCoursey Lecture Series. His book, Guns, Germs and Steel, has won the Pulitzer prize. His most recent book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed has won rave reviews. He is a man who commands knowledge of multi-disciplines, a modern Aristotle, so to speak. I had listened to one of his lectures on Ted.com where he gave examples of societies on the verge of collapse. He mentioned Nepal as one of examples which shocked me and came as an alarm since I am from Nepal and take considerable interest in development of my nation.

I had made up my mind that I would ask, "why he thought Nepal was on the verge of collapse", when he came to speak at Trinity ever since I listened to that lecture (few months ago). I was anxiously waiting for this day. After Jared Diamond's lecture in Laurie Auditorium on February 1, I stepped down to Q/A session to ask this question. I was mentally rehearsing,  rephrasing this question and coming up with the best way to put it. 

Since there were many other eager people to ask questions, I stood in a line. Just as my turn came nearer, he said he could only take a few more questions. Don't cut on me, please, I prayed. Sadly, the person right before me turned out to the last person to ask question. I thought of insisting, he could take one more question and I really needed to ask him since the question had been bugging me and depriving me of mental peace. But I decided against it since I thought such insistence might appear disrespectful. 

The Q/A session ended and I exited Laurie with a heavy heart, confident that Jared Diamond had chosen to collapse my dreams, just as he had chosen to quote Nepal as a society on the verge of collapse.

Dinner Reception with University President, Dr. Ahlburg

Do you want to know why I came to Trinity? The reason is simple. You might have heard it a million times and still ignored it since it sounded so much like a cliche. My admission officer at Trinity- Eric Maloof- had told me that the best way to learn in my undergraduate years would be to go to a small college/university where I would get personal attention from professors and mentors. Students learn from their mistakes and small institutions are adept at making that happen. I realized how right he was only after I came to Trinity.

Receiving personal attention from professors, residential and other university staffs at Trinity is what makes my learning worthwhile. Professors in my class know me personally which makes learning environment so much better.

(From left: Me, President Dr. Ahlburg, Pedro, Long, Chris). Photo by lady killer Paurakh.

In addition, even the University President takes time to meet us and hear about our experiences. On average, a college student shakes the University President's hand once (during graduation maybe). Getting to meet him personally is outside the domain. In contrast, today the new University President, Dr. Ahlburg held a Dinner Reception for International students and spent the whole evening talking to us. For a man of his stature to dedicate one evening makes us feel how much he cares for Trinity students. Trinity is exceptional when it comes to sense of community and relationship between students and staffs.

(From right: President Ahlburg, Me, Daniel, ...) Photo by LaDy-KiLleR Paurakh

And, even department chairs know you personally here. Below is me with chair of Engineering Department, Dr. Giolma.

(Me with Dr. Giomla, Chair of Engineering Department). Photo by lady-killer Paurakh.

7 Reasons why I was bored at Concert For The Cure

I had never been more bored (in my recent memory) than I was at Concert For The Cure. And it was mostly my fault. I had never been to a concert before so, I thought let's do it. I'll just go and see what it is like. I didn't even care to find if any of my friends were going. I should have. Here are some reasons why I did not enjoy it.

1. It was not a rock concert. Singers sang country songs, not that I can differentiate between genres, but that's what they said.
2. The name Concert For The Cure was misleading since it was not really a concert. It was a dance party. Pairs danced all along the dance floor. Someone must have warned me. There was no head-banging or anything of that sort. 
3. I hardly knew anyone there. It was mostly Greek students whom I had seen before at campus but never talked to.
4. I did not know how to dance. If you don't dance or are not comfortable dancing while others watch (just like me), that was the last place to be. I stood in one corner and watched others while everyone thought I was a 'mutant'.
5. I couldn't drink. US Law was strictly enforced and under-age drinking was prohibited. Some people need a little bit of encouraging (through alcohol) to get on the dance floor, I am one of them.
6. I was all alone. The friend I went with did not enjoy the concert so, left for another club or something, promising to return in an hour. Even after 2 hours, I did not hear from him.
7. I could not walk out or back to school since my ride was gone. I would have to find a ride back (which I did, thanks to university's bus arrangement).

All of the reasons above acted powerfully to make me bored like I had never been before. It should be realized that the concert in itself was not boring. There were lots of people who enjoyed every bit of it. I just happened to be someone who does not like clubbing, dancing or related activities. I thought I would try out, just didn't work out that well for me. I guess, this is what everyone does in America, right?

Nevertheless, I felt good about one thing at the concert, that funds from ticket sales would go towards Cancer Research. Gamma sorority of Trinity University deserves appreciation for this noble work.

Marching with Trinity at largest MLK March of nation

         San Antonio is a pretty quiet city only until Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Come MLK day, San Antonio city attracts a lot of attention and marchers. In fact, San Antonio leads the largest MLK March in the US and Trinity University leads one of the largest student marchers group every year. Keeping in mind, waking up habits of college students on holidays, it adds to institutional integrity of Trinity.

Photo By: Jaskirat Singh Batra

      I also marched along with other students and this was my second time which means I have marched every single year I have been here. MLK march has a significance and people marched for various causes. Since it is not a parade, every student was told to think of why they were marching. I marched because,

• I wanted to be a part of the largest MLK March in the US.
• I want global inequality to end, MLK was the symbol for end of inequality
• I wanted to wake up early. March ended before noon and I wouldn't have waken up before noon had I decided not to go.

Photo by: Abhishek Chhetri

         Solidarity and integrity among marchers of San Antonio incited good feelings. Scale of an organized march in modern day shows that it is still valid as a powerful tool against hegemony and discrimination. It also acted as an excellent platform to disseminate information and advertise about one's business or candidacy in Mayor's election which was reflected in posters and flyers that were distributed periodically throughout the march.