Friday, February 28, 2014

LGS Around the World

This year, LGS has had students study in 6 of the 7 continents—all except Antarctica!

Natnael Petros '15 in Rabat, Morocco


Anh Nguyen '15 in Paris, France


 Catherine Xie '15 in China


 Sarah Cinquemani '15 in Australia


Romina Perino '16 in Argentina


Friday, February 21, 2014

“There’s big ships, there’s small ships, but the best ships are friendships!”

Written by Megan Murphy '15

This Semester at Sea saying was shared with me on New Year’s Day 2014 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Puerto Vallarta was the second to last port during my voyage and I couldn’t think of a better way to describe my experience. This past December, I embarked on a voyage which would change my perspective on life.



Along with other students from Adelphi’s Derner Institute, I boarded the MV Explorer, a cruise ship we would call home for the next 15 days, to study Child Behavior from a Multicultural Perspective. We cruised from Nassau, Bahamas to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In the DR we visited the Manny Mota Foundation. We learned about Save The Children, and how that organization works with the Manny Mota Foundation. We concluded our visit by playing baseball with the kids.

Our next port of call was Cartagena, Colombia. The Juan Felipe Gomez Escobar foundation displayed how different cultures view teen pregnancy and how effective interventions better the community. On Christmas Eve we traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through the Panama Canal. The transit took 9 hours. After class, we spent the entire day going through the historic locks in close to 100° F heat.

Costa Rica was our next stop. In  Puntarenas, we visited Hogar Cristiano.  This was an orphanage for children who came from abusive homes or suffered abandonment. We spent the entire day with the children, playing games and painting the buildings.

Guatemala was my favorite port. We visited the El Rodeo School. This school was very small and educated extremely poor children. We taught them American songs and visited their classrooms. Afterward, some of us went to Antigua, the second oldest city in Guatemala. We shopped and explored before getting back on the ship.

Finally Mexico was our last stop for two ports, Puerto Vallarta and Ensenada. I met many people who were on this voyage after experiencing a full Semester at Sea, as well as students from other universities. I also met new friends from Adelphi who I never thought I would click with. We did more shopping, plenty of eating, singing and running around Mexico.

If you’re not sure what country you want to experience for study abroad, consider Semester at Sea! You visit many countries in a short period of time, while living on a cruise ship and experiencing many different cultures. I am so grateful that Semester At Sea was my first experience abroad, and cannot wait to continue traveling.


Live Tweeting @ the UN

Written by Ammie Lin '14

It’s always an exciting trip to the UN Headquarters with fellow LGS peers, whether it’s your first or fifth time.  On Friday, February 7, we attended UNA-USA Members' Day and the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, themed “The United Nations: Building Peace in an Age of Upheaval.”  Since this Conference wasn’t the most interactive, I took the opportunity to be an active participant via social media. 

Since becoming a Youth Delegate to the American Association of University Women last September, I learned just how effective hashtags, retweeting, and following can be in the Twitter world.  By tweeting about speakers and their remarks on the UN, US, and peace, I gained over 20 followers that day.  I also engaged in conversations with other attendees of the Conference via Twitter. 

I was especially thrilled to see Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division at the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).  He announced that the 65th UN DPI/NGO Conference will be held in NY, August 27-29 this year.  As the Communications Chair of the UN DPI/NGO Youth Representatives, I immediately shared the news via Twitter in hopes of increasing awareness of the Youth Representative’s existence and presence at the Conference.

Although Twitter is well known for celebrity news, it can also be used to bring about social awareness and change.  By increasing my Twitter followers and social influence, I am also building my own support network for future issues that I may tweet about.


LGS Welcomes its First Distinguished Fellow

LGS is happy to announce that Professor Francesco Bastagli is with us this spring as our first LGS Fellow. This February, Professor Bastagli conducted a series of conversations with students and faculty to talk about his lifelong career in the United Nations and discuss topics such as peacekeeping and post-conflict diplomacy. He will also work individually with selected students on independent research projects that they will be presenting at Adelphi's Undergraduate Research Conference. 


Professor Bastagli represented UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Western Sahara and served as UN Assistant Secretary-General in Kosovo. He also served as UN Resident Coordinator in Iran and Chief of the Executive Office of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and was responsible for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Nicaragua.

Throughout his career, Professor Bastagli has held numerous positions with the UN and worked extensively on a wide range of international issues, including conflict and diplomacy, peacekeeping, drug control, organized crime, poverty alleviation, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy; he continues to advise various United Nations initiatives around the world.