Voices

Voices is the Op-Ed and personal essay section of The Georgetown Voice. It features the real narratives of diverse students from nearly every corner on campus, seeking to tell some of the incredibly important and yet oft-unheard stories that affect life in and out of Georgetown.

Voices

It’s a people-watching party

My window is my favorite part of my Village A apartment. My room is too small to hold two desk and two beds, so I put my desks by the window in the living room, directly across from the old Jesuit residence, west of the library. The view has become quite a distraction. I’d much rather people-watch out my window than study Italian or stare at my computer screen.

By September 20, 2007

Voices

Carrying On

Let’s say you’re a freshman, eagerly awaiting the substance-induced rebellion promised you by multiple viewings of Animal House. You could binge drink like so many other freshmen, but why go the cliché route? Not to mention you’re as terrified of the new campus alcohol policies as every other student. You’ve been Just-Say-No-ed enough to stay away from hard drugs. Cigarettes might be the right rebellion statement, but you know the health risks and don’t want to end up an addict (and if, like me, you come from the land of a thousand smoking bans called California, this message has permeated your entire being.)

Then a friend invites you to a hookah bar.

By September 20, 2007

Voices

Not quite ruining the world

I’m not a business major, but I’m fascinated by Company X.

In 2004, Company X announced its goal of becoming 100 percent fueled by renewable energy, to reduce the energy demand in its stores by at least 25 percemt, and to produce zero waste—all by 2020.

By September 13, 2007

Voices

Talking with strangers

After twelve hours, I finally arrived at Georgetown from Switzerland, the only country I have ever lived in. As I stepped out of the airplane, my skin started to get wet and sticky, it smelled weird and I had difficulty breathing. First I thought I had a terrible disease, but then I realized I was simply experiencing humidity for the first time. Very strange sensation indeed.

By September 13, 2007

Voices

An education with my Savior

“Oh my God! There’s a Jesus on that cross!” This was my first thought during the journey into the world of the Catholic university. I was prepared to make my college experience an exercise in “living outside my comfort zone,” beginning with my first-ever Roman Catholic Mass the day before my first class at a university I had long dreamed of attending. I was prepared for a tradition that wasn’t my own, for the open discussion of spiritual ideals and their place in modern society. I was not prepared for a large crucifix.

By September 13, 2007

Voices

Carrying On

“I asked for salami, not pepperoni! How the HELL do you confuse salami for pepperoni?”

Suffering the preceding comment, smiling and apologizing is one of the joys of being a waiter. This past year I have been a server at a gourmet pizzeria, a Chinese bistro and an American “neighborhood-style” restaurant. Each had its own training system, tip-out schedule and scripted table greeting. After a year of mindlessly asking strangers if they would “care to start off with something to drink,” I’m out of patience.

By September 13, 2007

Voices

The Italian Job

It was Kamilla’s idea to get on the bus. We couldn’t read Italian; there was no schedule. “We’ll just see where it goes,” she said. “We don’t even have to buy a ticket. We’ll sit in the back and if they start checking we’ll be like, ‘oh, in Italy you have to buy a ticket for the bus?’”

By September 6, 2007

Voices

Still frustrated in New Orleans

Children are taught to take pride in our country and to have faith in what our government can and will do for us, due to the simple fact that we are all American. However, the wide-eyed and innocent faith that I once held in my democratic government was shattered in one day.

By September 6, 2007

Voices

The workout literally from hell

Most people visit the famed Exorcist steps next to Car Barn for a photograph, or maybe a joke about how much it would suck to trip and fall. But scrawled writing on the lowest step reveals another reason for visiting these haunted stones: a fast-paced but vicious workout routine also titled “the Exorcist.” Not the most original name, but appropriate, because about halfway through the workout you feel like the life is being sucked out of you.

By September 6, 2007

Voices

Georgetown, it’s not you, it’s me

My thoughts as I gazed out the airplane window were those of hopelessness, nervousness and regret. I was convinced that my decision to withdraw for a semester was probably the worst mistake of my life.

By September 6, 2007

Voices

Remembering Fatema

I’ll always remember the way Fatema looked hip and coordinated even though she was wearing two patterns, six colors, shoes with glitter, crazy earrings and of course a matching head scarf.

By August 30, 2007

Voices

Talk It Out

If you’re not unhappy with the new party regulations, you should be—even if you don’t drink. They represent a betrayal of Georgetown’s tradition of consulting with students before making policy changes.

By August 30, 2007

Voices

Tea Time with the Turkish Police

Sitting in a Turkish police station next to an accused criminal is not how I expected to spend my Thursday night. Even less did I expect the night to end with a pratical joke played on me by the Turkish police.

By August 30, 2007

Voices

The Deepest Aftershock

Information spread early after an disaster is usually wrong. When my Mom received the first phone call about the quake, she was told that the epicenter had been in Ancash, Peru—my parents’ home region, and the center of a 1970 quake. That information wasn’t right; the quake hit hundreds of miles south. But with that one wrong word, a lifetime of mental scars were reopened.

By August 30, 2007

Voices

Judge Judy day camp

Halfway through my summer job as a camp counselor for kids between ages 7 and 10, I threw fairness out the window and began acting like Judge Judy: assume both parties are lying and rule against both.

By August 24, 2007

Voices

Lost (and injured) in Translation

My plane landed in Tokyo and I was filled with excitement to be in a foreign country for the first time. My previous summer vacations had been limited to Florida and the continental U.S. Almost completely out of the blue, I purchased a ticket to Japan to visit a friend living there, simply for the experience of seeing Japan. Regardless of the fact that I spoke absolutely no Japanese, and knew little about Japanese culture, I felt prepared for my trip—I wasn’t.

By August 24, 2007

Voices

Not exactly a disco with books

In High School, everyone wants to know where everyone else is going for college and nobody feels uncomfortable asking. However, in my high school, one group of students seemed uncomfortable about answering, for they know that they will be instantly judged, pitied or disregarded—they were going to community college.

By August 24, 2007

Voices

This Georgetown Life: Fabulous freshman mishaps

This Georgetown Life is a collection of stories written by Georgetown students all based on the same theme. [Cue trendy jazz music.]

By the August 24, 2007

Voices

A life seen through the lens

Photographs are the standard against which we can measure our eroding memories.

By May 3, 2007

Voices

Marking the miles along the road

If I have noticed anything in people, it is that they tend to use relationships and love interests as milestones and reference points when they speak about their pasts.

By May 3, 2007