SAVE JESSICA!!!

SAVE JESSICA!!!

In the midst of my academic sprint towards graduation I have recently gotten hooked to American Idol.  After so many years of watching not one episode ( except for youtube clips of William Hung’s “She Bangs” performance )  of this show I find myself drawn to it by one of their contestants.   Her name is Jessica Sanchez.

Now, this story didn’t begin yesterday.  It actually begin a few years ago when I saw a youtube video of a little girl ( not more than 8 years old ) that sang masterfully, unlike any other person that I’ve seen.  She was singing Celine Dion’s “ I surrender” song like a complete pro.   Seriously, her performance gave me chills.  It was THAT good.  This is the youtube link to her performance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNWkZVobPDg

She also has a youtube page where she posts videos of her singing covers to different songs.  This is the link to it http://www.youtube.com/user/jsanchezfan?feature=results_main

Okay!  So back to the point!  Recently,  I found out that this girl is an American Idol contestant.  She is an incredible singer and I immediately thought that well she had this “in the bag”.  What I forgot about is the fact that “America” gets to vote for their favorite singer.  Despite this I still thought that Jessica would still have it “ in the bag”.  To my surprise, she actually had to recently be saved by the judges.  WHAT!?  Why?!   This is why I will from now and forever on vote for Jessica.  She really deserves it. 

Please Vote for her as well!  Check some of youtube videos if you’re on the fence about voting for her.  Or catch her on American Idol next week.  She’s just so talented… It would definitely be sad if she doesn’t win this competition. 

PICTURE RECAP OF JESSICA BEING SAVED BY THE JUDGES

She SINGS and doesn’t please America

Judges discuss it and….

She’s saved! 

If you missed it… This is also a condensed version of what happened in the latest American Idol Episode.   Jessica gets saved by the judges http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux5Zdsi76oc&context=C471f5a6ADvjVQa1PpcFPFpqyeWw8JXiIkAh-4j3j62hg2LpC1OrA=

The Pope in Mexico!

Mexico is known for its food, its great beaches, the vibrancy of its people and culture. And sadly it is also known for its cartel problems. 

Mexico will persevere through this dark time.  When it celebrated its 200^th birthday ( a few years back), a lot of people criticized it.  To most people a country with that many problems ( both economic and political and so on)should not be spending its money celebrating its 200^th birthday.  But that’s just not Mexico.  Mexico and its people are much more than just a combination of problems.  And hence they just like any other country have the right to celebrate its existence.  

IEDP Internship!

It is now official.  I am going to go to Cabo Delgado, Mozambique for my IEDP field internship. 

          I will be working with the Agha Khan Foundation.  My main job is to evaluate an adult literacy program.  Other students from IEDP are working in different parts of Africa, some are heading to Latin America, Asia and Europe.  Oh!  And some decided to take internships here in the United States (San Francisco, New York, D.C.).  Basically, IEDP students are going to be all over the world this summer.  To my knowledge, the different organizations that IEDP students will be working for are UNESCO, OECD, IDEA, World Vision, and others. 

I think that at this point all of us have a set internship.  I am very happy with mine.  Nonetheless, it was unexpected.  My “forte” is the Latin America area.  And so I naturally thought that I was going to go to Latin America and further strengthen my career there.  Nonetheless, Professor Wagner encouraged me to work in my interest but in a different context.  Since I’m still a student of international development, Dr. Wagner thought that it be important for me to be exposed to as much of the world as possible.  And I agree.

Depending on each other’s schedules we each will be departing on different dates to our specific destinations.  As for me, I will be heading to Africa a few days after graduation.  I’m so excited!  I’ve already started preparing for Africa (e.g. applying for my VISA and vaccinations!)

Speakers on Campus

So this semester I've attended a good number of different events around campus.  Notable among these speaker events is Amartya Sen's visit to Upenn.  IEDP has also brought a good number of professional people involved in international development.  And I've had the honor to meet and even have dinner/lunch with some of the speakers whom I have learned a lot from.

The first one is Amartya Sen:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1998/sen-autobio.html

 Dirk Van Damme
Head of Division of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI)
http://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3746,en_21571361_49995565_44146403_1_1_1_1,00.html

 Eric Falt
Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Public Information at the United nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOu9e7FRjns

 Irina Bokova
Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
http://www.bokova.eu/

 Nerissa Cook
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Bureau for intenrational Organization Affairs, US Department of State
http://www.state.gov/p/io/132821.htm