Wednesday, April 25, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Panel discusses world travel
Students describe experiences abroad
By Michelle Ward
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
When Spring Day, Kansas City, Mo. senior, went to Japan, the Japanese people expected a cross between someone from The Little House on the Prairie, Beverly Hills 90210 and Jerry Springer. People would ask the study abroad student when she bought her first gun.
Day shared her experiences as part of the Cultural and University Adjustment Panel last night in the Kansas Union. The event, sponsored by Phi Beta Delta, an honorary organization for international students, gave international and domestic students a chance to talk about their study abroad experiences. As part of International Awareness Week, students gathered to increase understanding between different cultures.
Dehart had to adjust to the differences in her classes at the University of Costa Rica. On the first day of class, she arrived on time and found only other foreigners sitting in the classroom. Dehart eventually learned that time was more relaxed in Costa Rica, as was the classroom environment.
Anita Herzfeld, president of Phi Beta Delta and professor in Latin American Studies, said the panel offered a rare opportunity for international students to talk about their journey to the United States.
"There are so many issues that arise from misunderstanding cultural differences," said Sarah Dehart, a Lawrence senior who studied abroad in Costa Rica. "This event and week sheds light on the importance of understanding these differences. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's better or worse. It's just different."
Today: International Jeopardy at 5:30 p.m. at the Big 12 Room in the Kansas Union
Rita Aldorino, a Jujuy, Argentina graduate student, said she had problems getting used to the rigid time schedule Americans followed. Differences in time were followed by a lost feeling among all the large places
EVENT SCHEDULE
Thursday: International Fashion Show: Parade of Nations at 3 p.m. at the Kansas Union plaza
Festival of Nations cultural show at 8 o'clock on the Kumu农民Ballroom.
Friday; World Expo at 2 p.m. on the fifth and sixth floor of the Kansas Union
p. m. at the rainbow Party at 10 p.m. at the Brazilian Room in the Holiday Inn. Admission is $5 in advance and $6 at the door. For calls, call 864-4843 or 312-6242
■ Flavors of the World dinner at 6 p.m. in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Admission is $10. For tickets, call 864-4848 or 312-2624
We Buy, Sell &Trade USED & NEW Sports Equipment
"We must be positive about our differences," Aldorino said. "It is something that helps us grow, and we learn about ourselves."
in the United States.
Edited by Brandy Straw
Flooding doesn't worry students
841-PLAY
1029 Massachusetts
By J. R. Mendoza
As the swollen Mississippi creeps toward a near-record flood crest, some University of Kansas students from the affected areas aren't worried about the disaster.
Tim Jasper, second-year law student from Bettendorf, Iowa, said his family lived there but their house located on a bluff.
editor@kansan.com
Kansan wire editor
"None of them are affected," he said. "They're not in any danger."
A flood wall built to protect the city is what is keeping Lauren Schrp, Dubuque, Iowa, junior, from being worried about her rising river. Her family is from the city but not in danger of the flooding.
"The flood wall won't break," she said.
She said because the river would probably still be high when summer arrives, it would keep her and her family from boating because of the high water and the waste.
The crest of a flood that already has caused millions of dollars in damage in Minnesota and chased hundreds of people from their homes in Iowa and Wisconsin was expected to reach Davenport, Iowa, late yesterday.
It was expected to crest somewhere between 22 and 22.5 feet — just short of the 1993 record of 22.6 feet.
Davenport, population 98,300, is the largest urban area on the upper Mississippi without permanent flood protection. Volunteers and National Guard soldiers scrambled to build a clay-and-sandbag levee spanning 1,200 feet to protect downtown businesses. The 12-foot wall is high enough for a 23-foot crest.
Statewide, 1,115 homes, most of them secondary or vacation homes, had been damaged. Iowa Gov. Tom
City development official Clayton Lloyd estimated that fewer than 100 homes would be affected by flooding. About 70 already had been flooded in a low-lying neighborhood a few miles from downtown.
Farther downstream from Davenport and the rest of the Quad Cities—Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Ill. — workers in Niota, Ill., shored up levees where the river was forecast to crest today.
There was bad news from forecasters, who said a weekend storm that poured as much as 3 1/2 inches of rain across parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin would likely send more high water into area rivers.
Davenport, which sustained $100 million in flood damage in 1993, has not built a flood wall because of the expense and because it values its unobstructed relationship with the river, which forms a backdrop for baseball games, the Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival and Fourth of July fireworks. The mayor has said the events brought millions of dollars into the city every year.
Vilsack formally requested federal assistance yesterday.
— The Associated Press contributed to the story.
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