Monday • June 15,1998
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see London, I see France .
makes for an experience consisting of more than academic credit
tudying abroad represents a
unique
Steven
Gyeszly
columnist
p) -|
[cored
i tie it
hoffi
oppor
tunity to ob
serve a for
eign culture
first hand.
Yet for many
Aggies, inter
national edu
cation means
learning nev
er to eat from
a roadside fa
jita stand
during spring break in Mata-
moros. With an increasing num
ber of reasons, as well as oppor
tunities, more Texas A&M
students should consider study
ing abroad.
The intangible benefits of be
ing immersed in a foreign culture
are as irreplaceable as the memo
ries. Just as important, after liv
ing in a foreign culture, it is
much easier to appreciate one's
home environment all the more.
But even if the thought of doing
your part to create a deeper un
derstanding among nations
sounds too Disney-esque, re
member, nothing starts a story
off better than, "So I was at this
bar in London . . ."
Obviously, the social aspect is
an integral part of studying
abroad. Social interaction with
people from around the world al
lows one to discover that long-
held international stereotypes
are not necessarily true, or that
in some cases, they have some
basis in reality. After the bland
ness of high school, remember
how interesting it was to meet
people from other states at
A&M? Just think about what
someone from a different conti
nent can show you.
As the designation suggests,
studying abroad also demands
academic development. You can
learn anywhere. But how and
what you learn will be complete
ly different depending on where
you go. Learning about architec
ture by watching a 45-minute
slide show in class is education
al. Standing five feet away from
the Great Pyramid is an experi
ence.
in addition to the experiences
providing a new perspective
within a major that has become a
bit too familiar, studying abroad
allows one to take classes unique
to the locale. No other university
in the world could duplicate a
course such as Meats 307.
At the same time, nowhere in
the Texas A&M University
Course Catalog are there courses
titled "Cultural Trends of the
Carpathian Basin" or "The City
and Art in the 20th Century," but
there are at the Budapest Univer
sity of Economic Sciences.
The reasons to study abroad
are as endless as the opportuni
ties. However, instead of taking
the opportunity, students seem
to find excuses not to go. Per
haps one of the most common
excuses used is the fear that col
lege is not the best time to spend
abroad. Yet, what other point in
our lives will be as convenient as
now? By the age when one has
enough spare time to travel over
seas, the most exciting thing
about visiting St. Paul's Cathe
dral will be the fact that it has
pews where you can sit down
and rest.
The Study Abroad Office in
Bizzell Hall offers a substantial
amount of information and assis
tance on a diverse range of lo- !
cales, costs and programs.
Options range from staying in
a hotel with the use of one's own
car to living in former army bar- -
racks and getting to school in a
donkey cart.
Along with helping on where
to go, the Study Abroad Office
offers numerous university-sup
ported study abroad scholar
ships each year and can guide in
terested parties to national
scholarships.
Studying abroad is not merely
about dating someone from
Switzerland or gaining academic “
credit. In fact, it is about both
and more. After all, it is hard to
be part of a world-class universi
ty if you never leave the country.
Steven Gyeszly is a junior .
finance major. <
ResLife should advocate
he students it is serving
Low-fat foods equal low taste
l tew
very year, fearful parents
entrust their precious chil-
— dren to the tender, loving
"j ii|§ re °f the Department of Resi-
donce Life. After living two se-
!lli ‘ roosters in a
“•se?
Chris
Huffines
columnist
^'psidence
■II, these
■ me pre-
f; cfous chil-
:i djvn emerge
,„ rM J arred and
i rkiJs bi tte red
' to.vard the
P r y depart-
roent en
trusted with
Jeir care.
This
"oblem is
rosed by the apathy and lack
- , respect for students' needs
!? rec ently displayed by the De-
U e: | ar tment of Residence Life. In
I Mf I P ast ^ ew y ears ' it appears
f nil ^ ^ ^ >e P ar tment of Resi-
II f nce h as become so con-
pned with not causing con-
let, they are neglecting
Indents in favor of not making
^ waves.
I Tor example, entering fresh-
|en cannot request current stu-
■pts as their roommates. This
akes no sense. My older brother
^two years ahead of me in
-tiool. He and I would make
ood roommates. We know each
her very well, respect each oth-
r s space and are friendly toward
J ch other, which is a far cry from
'e innumerable horror stories I
ave been treated to in the past
Vo years.
jfet, according to ResLife poli
ce and I could not be room-
'ates on campus, despite the fact
'at if we requested each other as
Animates, we obviously want to
J together. Should ResLife hold
L 0 an outdated policy instead
elpi n g crea t- e a 0 n-cam-
Us atr nosphere?
.Another apathy that affects
P e nts is potluck roommates.
L S '^ e does nothing when it
I ^ es to matching roommates,
f usually its matches are less
pan ideal.
J My first roommate and I
L re , Personality-wise, just
L° Ut com plete opposites. We
L., 0 Might, like some other
Uc ^ r oommates in my hall.
Lm 't- 35 S 0 °d- We did have the
J e first name, but that was
the only similarity.
The argument has been made
that, in the real world, people
don't always get their way, so
deal with the roommate conflicts.
That is an excuse, plain and sim
ple.
In the real world, roommates
choose each other, or at least meet
before becoming roommates. In
the real world, roommates do not
have to go through frigid media
tion sessions before succumbing
to reality and moving.
ResLife is looking at the policy
of pre-housing surveys to match
roommates but are so concerned
about possibly getting sued it has
stalled the program.
This kind of timidity is un
doubtedly soothing to the Board
of Regents and everyone else
holding the University's check
book, but it signals to the stu
dent body that the University
cares more about keeping out of
trouble than about the students.
Students who feel the Universi
ty cares less about them than
money are probably more likely
to sue, by the way.
ResLife does a good job, but
the department needs to be
come more forceful advocates
for the students it was chartered
to serve. ResLife bends over
backward to avoid offending
groups such as the administra
tion, the Association of Former
Students, and the Texas A&M
Mothers Club.
For example, there are no
dorms at A&M. They are all
"residence halls." Dorms are
where you eat and sleep; resi
dence halls are where you live
and grow. The difference be
tween dorms and residence
halls is semantic at best.
ResLife, instead of calling the
dorms a different name and ig
noring the problems, should
work and fight tooth and nail to
make the dorms a place to live
and grow. The Department of
Residence Life's motto states
that it exists to "enhance the
academic and educational mis
sion of Texas A&M University."
What is this continuous buck
ling to other powers teaching
students?
Chris Huffines is a sophomore
speech communications major.
S hoppers, motoring along carefully with
their carts while pleasantly humming to
grocery tunes, approach diet-oriented
foods. Boxes smile and scream out, "Pick me! I
am fat free, low-calorie, first-rate, chemically-
puffed garbage."
An array of labels are
marked on the boxes:
Low moisture, naturally
low-fat, 50 percent less
fat and 100 percent deli
cious, fructose-sweet
ened, and sugar-free.
These diet-enhanced
ingredients allow the
freedom to feed and the
freedom to stuff, but are
chemically bloated with
artificial additives,
preservatives and fla
vors.
Anything from Danish coffee cakes to cookie
dough, the omnipresent diet foods lurch along
the shelves.
A random walk through the grocery store is
reminiscent of the country's absurd obsession
with the pubescent waif look.
Diet foods are thickly dispersed throughout
every aisle. The suggestion that the pressure
women face to keep slim figures, or in fact,
skeletal figures, is well intact.
Through various media images and 6-foot
tall, 115-pound malnourished supermodels,
women are encouraged to devour cakes and
sweets absent of flavor.
Twinkles, the timeless treats, have been vic
timized by this diet mantra. They have become
the alternative twinkie of one's nightmares.
Alison
Lackey
columnist
The luscious-turned-vicious yellow cake and
white icing is fat free and tastes just like it too.
T he idea of the alternative fat-free twinkie
sounds like the most important piece of infor
mation one could receive in one day. Now, one
can eat 26 in one sitting.
This is not true. A little something called
taste happens to get in the way of enjoying this
pseudo-uftopian twinkie.
Not only has this damnation of fat affected
snack cakes, it also has altered the dairy aisle.
For those of you who have never had the
pleasure of tasting a slice of fat-free cheese, God
bless you — keep it that way. That stuff should
be ditched to the landfills of the world and nes
tled among broken hubcaps, mildewed carpet
and moldy potato peels. These foods have gone
through so much processing, one has to wonder
what the content of the food was originally.
The original content of potato chips cooked
in Olestra is virtually unknown. The new chem
ically-puffed diet potato chips are the puffiest of
them all. These snacks are fried in Olestra oil.
Olestra is a fat substitute that has required a
warning label on the back of every bag of chips.
They "may cause abdominal cramping and
loose stools," reads the label.
Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vita
mins and nutrients. The chips are chemically
modified so that the digestive system can't
properly break them down. The chips also con
tain tocopherols to protect flavor.
First of all, if one cannot pronounce the in
gredients of the food they are eating, why eat it?
Furthermore, any food that requires a warning
label and harmfully affects well-being is defi
nitely not worth eating.
Fat-substitute oils deliver all pleasure and
taste with serious side effects. These products
should not have been approved by the FDA.
However, after the products had a quick test
run in three major cities that the Center for Sci
ence in the Public Interest (CSPI) labeled as "the
diarrhea capitals of the USA," fat-substitution
oils were granted the go ahead.
Olestra is presently rocking the bowels of
America.
Be an exception — don't "eat like a kid
again," as the wholesome advertising campaign
requests. Eat like a human again. Spare your
toilet.
There is nothing wrong with eating the
foods you want then getting active to burn the
fat and calories off. Eat naturally — get the full
blown sour cream. Thank your body by re
warding it with exercise.
Don't swear by the lazy American way. We
can't have our cake and eat the whole tub of ic
ing too.
Fat-substitute oils are controversial. Paying
close attention to what consumers eat is vital to
healthy living.
In the immortal Web page words of Paul
Penna, anti-olestra advocate, he contemplates
the laxative existence of consumers ...
Olestra is my Shepherd
I shall not digest;
It maketh me lie down
on brown bed sheets.
It leadeth me beside the still cesspool.
It restoreth my stool.
Alison Lackey is a
senior English major.
MAIL CALL
Future pastor
defends columnist
In response to April Towery's July 11, col
umn "Keep ’em in the kitchen":
I want to give April Towery a
standing ovation for her column
"Keep 'em in the kitchen?" I greatly
appreciate her courage to speak out
with regard to a woman's right to
pastor. I know many will bombard
Mail Call with letters calling Towery
a hypocrite and judgmental, or
whatever word they remember from
Sunday School. In her defense, she
could not have been more Biblically
accurate. To objectors, I ask, "Have
you researched the Bible for yourself
on this matter or do you simply dis
agree with the Bible?" If the latter,
who are you to claim the ability to
choose or yourself what's true in the
Bible? Do you claim equality with
God? The essence of sin is that peo
ple think they have rights before
God. As a future pastor, I definitely
want to be the leader for my church
and fiance. But remember the same
Bible that calls men to lead the
church (and not women) also de
fines leadership as servanthood.
To lead in this manner is a great
task. What woman or church
would object to having a leader
who serves with this kind of love?
Thank you, April Towery, for not
conforming like everyone else to
what is politically correct. ... be
cause then you would have been
wrong.
Brad Vaughn
Class of'99
Marriages deserve
equal treatment
In response to John Lemons' July 11th col
umn on same-sex marriage:
If there is one issue that The Bat
talion columnists always seem to
be outspoken on, it's homosexuali
ty. More often than not, the writers
choose the intolerant side of the
road instead of the side that accepts
differences in people and cele
brates them.
John Lemons' July 11th column
was written in opposition of same-
sex marriage. He cited the tired old
reasons that are always used: "fam
ily values" and Bible verses. And
so, I write to restate what's already
been said against these arguments.
It is absolutely illogical to say
that any kind of marriage is de
structive to family values. How is
it possible that a loving, monoga
mous partnership between two
people is anything but right? Gays
and lesbians are no less capable of
love than are heterosexual people.
Megan Wright
Class of '01
The Battalion encourages letters to the
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The opinion editor reserves the nght to
edit letters for length, style, and accuracy.
Letters may be submitted in person at 013
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ters may also be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station. TX
77843-1111
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Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu