VISUAL JOURNALISM

International Students Banquet at SAU

International Students Banquet is one of the biggest event for international students that takes place in SAU every Spring semester. It is an event organized by the International Students Association. The main motive of this banquet is to simply show everyone what the intentional students association is all about. This event is organized by international students association along with the international students and it is open for everybody in the University. Every year the event takes place in Grand Hall located in Reynolds. The event is full of entertainment including delicious food items from all over the world. Food is the main highlight of this event. Tickets for faculty, staff and community members cost $10 each and student tickets cost $5.

This is one event that is very much popular among the international students. The international students get to show their talents like dancing, singing, cooking, etc. The banquet is full of entertainment and not only intentional students, but overall students in SAU who attend this event thoroughly enjoy it and give positive feedback. I myself am one of the most involved student in this event. I have attended three banquets since I got here and all three times I have involved myself in this event either by performing or emceeing or helping out with decorations, cooking and stuff like this. This is one of the events I enjoy the most and look forward to every year.

#20 WILD CARD

Dashain

Dashain is the biggest festival celebrated in my country Nepal. It is celebrated by people all over the country and the Nepalese people who live abroad as well. Dashain has immense amount to value among the Nepalese people. Dashain is all about getting together with friends and family and having a good time. The main significance of Dashain is togetherness anf unity among people. Dashain is a fifteen days long festival celebrated with high enthusiam and positive vibes only. The fifteen days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of full moon.

It is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Bikram Sambat annual calender. It is the most anticipated festival in the country. All government offices, educational institutions, and other offices remain closed during the festival period. The festival falls in September or October, starting from the shukla paksha (bright lunar fortnight) of the month of Ashvin and ending on purnima, the full moon. Among the fifteen days on which it is celebrated, the most important days are the first, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth.

#19 CLASSMATE BLOG CRITIQUE

Critiquing my classmates blogs is something that I enjoy doing but at the same time find it to be a difficult task overall. I enjoy it because I can openly give my views and opinions on the blogs that I liked and enjoyed reading which is always a good thing. However, it is difficult because there are so many nice ones that it takes me forever to choose the best ones. All of my classmates have done tremendous job regarding their blogs and I enjoyed reading everybody's blog.

• So the first one would be Houston's Blog. Overall, he has done a decent job on his blog. I found his blog to be very interesting and well written. Among all the blogs he has written, my favorite one from his lot has to be #15 Entertainment and Popular Culture. I am a huge fan of Jimmy Fallon which is why this post quickly caught my attention and I thought it was nicely done as well.

• Another blog that was very well presented and that I enjoyed reading was Justice's Blog. His blog has that entertainment factor that doesn't disappoint the reader. All in all it includes good amount of entertaining and interesting information. The one that I liked the most was #11 Civics. I think he has managed to give good amount of knowledge and information on this one and I really liked how he has written this blog.

• Next one that I found very interesting and well written is Kobe's Blog. I was very impressed by his accuracy and good writing overall. All of his blogs are to the point. The one that mostly caught my attention and I wouldn't mind reading it again is #10 Listening Post. On some parts pf this one he has shared his experience in the dorm and how it has helped him gain information about what's going on.

#18 NEWS APP CRITIQUE

ekantipur

It is an app that provides news and articles from entire network of Kantipur Media Group which is one of the biggest media group in Nepal. News are shown in Nepali language as per the "Kantipur" newspaper, and for news in English they use another newspaper called "The Kathmandu Post". Feature stories from Nepali Magazines are also shown in the app. One of the highlights of this app is that stories from a famous magazine called "Nari" is also present here. Entertainment news and coverage from a newspaper called "Saptahik" is also presented in the app. Live television and radio is another amazing feature in this app. We can also get the entire idea on what is trending in Nepal. So if you're an international student from Nepal, studying in abroad and want to know what's happening back home, this app is best suited for you.

Application details:

Category: News

Updated: September 6, 2017

Version: 2.0.6

Size: 5.3 MB

Language: English

Seller: Kantipur Publications (P) Limited

Compatibility: iOS 7 or later, compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

I think ekantipur is one of the most useful app for any Nepalese especially the Nepalese students studying in abroad. This app is easy to use and understand as well, and very informative and newsy. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ekantipur/id816218028?mt=8

#17 OPINION (STATE, NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL ISSUE)

Beauty without brain?

In June 2nd, 2017 Miss Nepal was held back in my country Nepal. It is just like any other pageant that takes place all over the world. There were four main winners announced that day who would later represent Nepal in other main pageants. The winners were Miss Nepal World 2017 Nikita Chandak who is now representing the country in Miss World 2017 pageant held in China. Next, Miss Earth Nepal 2017 Rojina Shrestha who went on Miss Earth 2017 Philippines. Then there is Miss International Nepal 2017 Niti Shah who went to Japan to represent our country in Miss International 2017 pageant. Lastly, Miss Asia Pacific International Nepal 2017 Sahara Basnet who went to Miss Asia Pacific International 2017 held in Manila, Philippines to represent the country. 

During all this, regarding our Miss International Nepal 2017 Niti Shah, an incident took place just few days ago. Niti Shah who went to Japan to represent the country in Miss International 2017 said some really stupid things about women in Nepal and the education system during a group discussion that took place in Miss International 2017 which caused a huge chaos in Nepal and among the Nepalese. We don't know if she did it mistakenly or she really wasn't aware about the situation of women and education in Nepal.

                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxbNG9W4jHw

The first thing that's wrong with this speech is that it is negative. She ends up bringing negative points about women in Nepal and education which is completely wrong. It can be clearly seen that the situation of women and education not only in urban areas but in rural areas of Nepal has been changing in a good way. It was gotten way better than before. That is one of the things she should've researched more about. Another thing that is wrong here is that she also mentions how our country is backward in terms of education which is incorrect as well. Her entire speech consists of randomness. Seems like she didn't do any research before going to the pageant. The things she said seemed very demeaning and humiliating for all the Nepalese including myself.

#16 OPINION (LOCAL ISSUE)

Being an international student in SAU

I came to SAU in Spring 2015. Ever since then my experience here has been indeed a nice yet a confusing one. It has been nice because when I got here my sister was already studying here which made it easier for me to fit in. I was lucky enough to have her as my roommate as soon as I got here unlike everyone who would be assigned roommates in a random order. I was also aware of almost everything about SAU. My sister introduced me to her friends, I started interacting with other Freshmen and slowing I started fitting in to this University. At least that's what I thought.

But as days passed by here at SAU, I myself started learning new things about the University and people studying here. Some of the people I met and interacted with were very nice and friendly but it wouldn't be wrong to say that I have had some bad experiences as well. But as we know, wherever we go in life we are ought to have both good as well as bad experience so what I thought was even if I had some bad experiences, I would learn from it and move on and I did exactly that most of the time. So basically, my first semester was a good experience overall. I did have a lot of fun with my international buddies but I did become friends with many of the people from here as well. 

Now, I am in my 6th semester here at SAU and after all the semesters I can happily say that I did the right thing by choosing SAU. There isn't much to do here in Magnolia but in a way I think that is a good thing because it will be easier to graduate on time.

#15 ENTERTAINMENT OR POPULAR CULTURE

People reacting to iPhone X?

We have all heard about the new iPhone which is the iPhone X. It is pretty much all over the social media. There are several advertisements by apple and several by the people who have already bought it. But there are some who are unaware of what the iPhone X looks like and what all it has. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T8mIqQ0gKA