CanStudyUS 2019 Experience: Day 1-2
- foodventures
- Jan 24, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 23, 2021
Last February 17- February 23, 2020, a.k.a Winter Term's Reading week for university students, we were fortunate to have been chosen to participate in Ryerson's CanStudyUS, which is an opportunity for Canadian students to travel to the U.S. to learn about the political climate in the U.S. This year, we travelled to Illinois, Chicago, "Toronto's Twin Sister" to learn about their politics and discuss the issues of trust. Read on to find out more about our experience!
Day 1 - February 17, 2020
Going to Chicago
We all met at the Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ), which was our first time travelling from that airport. We reached the Chicago Midway Airport and rode our bus, which was super fancy. We felt like VIPs! We arrived at the Chicago Hostel, our accommodation for the duration for the trip. We entered our designated rooms and settled in. We shared our room and a double sink bathroom with 7 other students (8 people in one room, and 4 people in one bed room that had 4 bunk beds). At first, we were hesitant about the bathroom arrangement, but there was a bathroom across our room, so all our worries and reluctance were put to rest. We were lucky to have the most awesome roommates ever, with whom we got along really well, despite us coming from different backgrounds and experiences.
After one hour of settling in our rooms, we had to meet at the hostel lobby to go to University of Chicago. We arrived at the University, which looked really good and gives you that university vibe. The University of Chicago's Institute of Politics invited speakers to talk about "Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration". Before the talk, we were served some dinner and frankly speaking, that was the best food we have ever had in a university event. Our notes on the lecture is on the gallery. After the talk, a Q&A session concluded the event.
At the end of the talk, we set off for Giordano's Pizza. As we made our way to the restaurant, us participants exchanged our opinions about the event and while we were sharing our views, we noticed that there were some mixed opinions about the event. However, in spite of this, there was a sense of respect between the participants. As a whole, it was an insightful discussion where we were given the chance to learn and hear about a different facet to the event. A great learning experience indeed!
Soon after, we arrived at Giordano's pizza and the ambience was amazing. We had some appetizers and then the Deep Dish Pizza, which, at the mention of, is making us relive the experience and is making us drool in the process. Isn't the image on the right mouth-watering?
At our table, we noticed the diversity and the admirable respect for that. For instance, when one of the participants said some graces, the other people respected her space. From this point, we realized that we were with change-makers and with people who value the hard work of everyone and who know respect.
After dinner, we walked home to our hostel. Chicago in the evening was beautiful. Once we reached the hostel, some people stored the pizza in the hostel fridge, which was convenient for anyone wanting a midnight snack.
Day 2 - February 18, 2020: Meeting People with Different Levels of Power
Consul General
On the second day, we were requested to wear proper/formal clothing as we will be meeting
Canada's Consul General of Chicago. In the morning we walked to the bean at the memorial park. Of course, we needed to do some of the sightseeing too. The architecture of the Windy City is just breathtaking.
After our sightseeing session, we went to meet the Consul General. We were greeted nicely and the office was one of the best offices we have ever seen (as a student).
The conversation started with the background of Consul General and was then followed by a Q&A segment, which, in our opinion, went well and was insightful, due to the readings that were provided to us by the Ryerson Leadership Lab. During the conversation, one of the things that stood out to us was that the Consul general is an appointed position and that his/her hands are tied and cannot do more than what his/her job requires. We found this disappointing. We know that we could have asked the questions:
Outside your working hours, do you volunteer in the community?
Being in a powerful position, what initiatives have you taken so far to make a change in the community?
Unfortunately, we were unable to ask the above questions due to us running out of time. As a whole though, the Q&A was really informative and we participated actively.
Media from Toronto and Chicago
For the second part, we met the journalists in the media - One from Chicago and one from Toronto. The journalists first introduced themselves, what they have done in the field and their achievements. Then, the Q&A followed. From the discussion, the speakers mentioned [not our words] that "Chicago is a corrupt state" wherein the players have created an easy relationship as they go together. To elaborate, one hand washes the other. The speakers went on to discuss the six responsibilities as a writer, namely, themselves, the people, the public, the authorities or people you do not want to mess with, the readers and one more that we were unable to note down. According to them, as a writer, ingratitude is the worst thing you can do and that there should be a balance in your responsibilities. Further, you need to meet the obligations to have a story, which takes years to develop or have. They also mentioned that the most valuable thing you have as a writer is that no one really cares about what you write. As the discussion went on, there were things that the speaker said that stood out to us because we disagree with them. Please note that the underlined sentences signify the things that stood out to us.
"People can't write because some people cannot take in the reaction of people in their article.
We kind of agree with this. Being in a technological world, we are capable of documenting and giving opinion on events that we see. However, we could not take responsibility for or stand up for what we wrote. From what we know, "Pen is mightier than sword". Once we write something, we need to take responsibility for it. For instance, we should open up the comment section on our posts, but remind people to be civil online. This would help them open up the public sphere, so that everyone can share their opinion.
Moreover, they said that Journalism is not a social service.
We disagree with this because all fields have a social responsibility, especially the media because they are the bridge between the key players in our opinion: Government and businesses, of politics and the public. From the content of the media and the way it was delivered, as what Marshall McLuhan said, "Medium is the Message". Journalists need to inform the public about what is happening around the world. However, the news that we have right now seemed to be biased and this divides and prevents the public from participating properly in debates or in online forums because they only know half of the information.
There are articles where you have to censor the names of the people, but there are articles where you do not have to censor as they can assist people
We agree with this one too because with what is happening right now, we need to be aware of who we are involved with. However, there should be a basis on which names to be censored because if the media is the one who decides who will be censored then it may cause some bias.
If you want to protect, be a social worker and even if you are doing good, people will still find fault in you.
We kind of disagree with this too because you do not need to be a social worker to protect. We believe that any individual can protect anyone as long as they know who and how to effectively protect them. Also, there are people in different fields that are not social workers, but they protect people because they know the field better. Further, we have learned that if you are a change maker, we need to create a platform where people with different opinions can meet and discuss their difference. We believe that collective action is essential because everyone has the same goal. But if there is lack of communication, nothing will be achieved.
There were other things that were said, but we could not include them (maybe we will include them later when we get time). After the discussion, most of the participants felt gloomy because of the things that were discussed. However, we think that, as future change makers (and maybe leaders), it is essential that we are exposed to this kind of setting as it prepares us on what to anticipate for in the real world. We find ourselves lucky because even though we were in that kind of setting, we know that we are still protected because there were people from Ryerson Leadership Lab.
To be continued . . .
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