Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 12, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 2, 2015 Page: 7 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: St. Edward’s University Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the St. Edward’s University.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 | HILLTOPVIEWSONLINE.COM
LIFE & ARTS 17
International student soaks in American culture, comments on experience
By LILLI HIME
©WWLD219
St. Edward’s prides itself
on its grand mission state-
ment: challenging students to
’take on (their) world.” The
university offers a global at-
mosphere with a population
rich in diversity and differ-
ent perspectives. Interna-
tional students are a perfect
representation of this call to
action, enriching the school
with their culture while in
turn enriching their own lives
in ours.
Freshman, Chrystalla
Christodoulou, shares in-
sight into her personal jour-
ney, leaving her home in
Cyprus to build her second
home on the hilltop.
Christodoulou said that the
current economic crisis crip-
pling Cyprus led her and her
family to come to America
in pursuit of the abundance
of opportunities this coun-
try promises. The student
discovered St. Edward’s Uni-
versity specifically through a
family friend who doubled as
her college advisor, who sug-
gested the school for its like-
ness to Cyprus.
“In Cyprus, we have a really
strong sense of community as
well. People are always look-
ing out for each other. It’s
small so whoever you talk to,
you have mutual friends. It’s
like an island of Facebook.”
Christodoulou commented
on how St. Edward’s close
knit community resembled
that of her home, making the
monumental move across the
globe a little easier.
Ff owever, despite these sim-
ilarities, Christodoulou still
endures her bout of home-
sickness just as all freshmen
living away from home for
the first time. The only dif-
ference is her home is on the
other side of the world, along
with her family and friends.
“The hardest thing right
now is that I don’t know
when I’m going to be able
to go back. It’s just hard be-
cause I’m constantly think-
ing about my friends and
my family and my grandma,”
Christodoulou said. “It’s day
by day. In the beginning it
was really bad, but it gets bet-
ter everyday. There’s nothing
I can do about it. I could be
having fun right now and do-
ing something productive, or
I could sit and cry about my
friends back home. It’s day by
day.”
Looking at this spirited
Cypriot (what citizens of
Cyprus call themselves), one
could never tell any of that
though.
Christodoulou radiates this
light-hearted, whimsical vibe
that just screams fun. It’s dif-
ficult to find a time when a
smile isn’t etched onto her
face from all the excitement
of being here. Christodou-
lou thanks St. Edward’s and
the city of Austin for lending
her its great people and crazy
experiences that have so en-
riched her time here.
“I came here and I immedi-
ately found some good peo-
ple that I’d want to invest in
being friends in. That was re-
ally important for me, just to
find people. I love the people
and I like some of the school
events,” Christodoulou said.
“I love ACL! I love Barton
Springs! I love SoCo! Also,
(Half Price Books) is my fa-
vorite thing about America.”
In furthering her education
in our “Keep Austin Weird”
culture, Christodoulou has
been shocked and amazed by
many of the traditions that
have spun themselves into
our daily lives. Her eyes lit
up with intense fascination
while describing the ability to
see some of her favorite art-
ists yet no one dancing, which
she believes is an “American
thing”. The strangest thing?
The free water, Christodou-
lou says. Her whole being
literally buzzes with joy just
talking about the topic.
“(In Cyprus) the tap water,
you can’t drink it. You just
buy water. I almost died of
happiness when I got here.
That’s the weirdest thing,
free water. ’’Even the fact
that many walk barefoot on
campus appeals to Christo-
doulou because she sees it as
a reflection of the university’s
caring yet non-judgmental
atmosphere.
Although, Christodoulou
didn’t cross the globe just for
a barefoot campus and some
concerts. She is working to-
ward a double major in Eng-
lish Literature and Spanish,
aspiring to be a teacher in one
or both languages.
“I’ve always loved literature
and I believe in the power of
education.”
With a life that continues
to grow increasingly busy,
Christodoulou always keeps
her favorite Greek phrase
close to heart. Translated to
English, it is: “Always keep in
LILLI HIME/HILLTOP VIEWS
Christodoulou’s home in
Cypress led her to Austin.
mind Ithaca”.
“Ithaca is a metaphor for
life and goals, so always keep
in mind your goals in life.”
So, as Christodoulou takes
her first steps to taking on
her world, she holds true to
always keep in mind Ithaca.
New Literati revamps publication to reach wider audience, more writers
By GABRIELLE WILKOSZ
@g_wilkosz
In the past, for jack-of-all
trades junior Natalie Size-
more, getting her work pub-
lished has been — for lack of
a better word — tedious.
Sizemore would submit an
original photograph she took
here and send e-mails of po-
ems there, but the deadlines
would scatter over days and
the junior would end up feel-
ing spread too thin.
Since joining New Literati,
all of that has changed.
“Submitting to New Litera-
ti was, I guess you could say,
a one stop shop,” Sizemore
said. “I’m studying english
writing, creative writing spe-
cifically, and I enjoy taking
photos. Other than that I like
art a lot. It’s just something I
like to do and participate in.”
In the past Sizemore has
submitted to Sorin Oak, but
unlike Sorin Oak, New Lite-
rati is an online and print lit-
erary magazine that accepts
a variety of content such as
poetry, screenplays, videos,
music and photography. Size-
more decided to give it a try.
“It’s always exciting to have
work published,” Sizemore
said. “I saw New Literati
posted on social media that
they were accepting submis-
sions and I thought, why
not?”
To reach a wider audience
and receive more submissions
from students like Sizemore,
senior Sydney Clarkson and
editor-in-chief junior Jas-
mine Kim have been over-
hauling the entire New Li-
terati literary magazine. The
publication, which used to
only be for new college and
masters students, has since
moved its focus towards un-
dergraduate students.
“Our main goal is to reach
a wider audience and get our
name out there so that we can
be a safe place for students to
express themselves and have
opportunities to be acknowl-
edged and praised for their
creativity,” Kim said.
Run entirely by students
without faculty involvement,
the club publishes two online
issues a year, one for fall and
one for spring, and updates
content on the website in be-
tween issues, while also pub-
lishing a single print issue for
the school year.
Staffer for New Literati,
Oliver Davis peer-reviews
new submissions and dis-
cusses the future of the mag-
azine, while also submitting
his own individual pieces of
work, most of which are cre-
ative-writing based.
“In the past I’ve done a lot
of creative writing, but I al-
ways like to experiment with
new types of work,” Davis
said. “All of my works have a
little piece of myself in them.
One of my favorite pieces is
actually this funny poem I
wrote about waffles and how
much I love them.”
Davis’ free-form writing is
exactly what leading mem-
ber of New Literati, Sydney
Clarkson says, makes New
Literati one-of-a-kind.
“Go with what feels natu-
ral,” Clarkson said. “Some-
times when we are writing or
creating anything, we can get
hung up on wanting sound
like Jane Austen or e.e Cum-
mings. That isn't necessary,
your voice and your perspec-
tive is what makes your work
unique.”
For potential new members
or those interested in joining
New Literati, meetings are in
John Brooks Williams North
every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Although the deadline for
fall semester 2015 was Nov.
19, avid writers are encour-
aged to become a staff writer
or photographer and produce
regular content for the web-
site.
As for Sizemore, she’s
awaiting Dec. 4 when her
work is officially published.
In the meantime, she en-
courages others to publish
their work with New Literati
when the next deadline rolls
around in April 2016.
“It’s a good way to force
yourself to produce content,
or refine previous work,”
Sizemore said. “It’s great for
your portfolio and resume
to publish work with New
Literati. You have nothing to
lose. The worst that can hap-
pen is your work doesn’t end
up making it in the publica-
tion, but hey, at least you still
put yourself out there and at-
tempted to do something.”
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View three places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 12, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 2, 2015, newspaper, December 2, 2015; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1006927/m1/7/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.