THIRD CULTURE F TPRINTS

the society, or a newbie keen to

jump on the band-wagon, we‟d

like to extend to you all a warm

welcome! Drinks at the Terrace

Bar On the Monday of Week 2,

the Third Culture Society called

dibs on the gold seats behind

the Terrace Bar. With over 50

people flitting in for a conversa-

tion or two after a long summer

apart, Warwick‟s Third Culture

community was re-united once

again, and was joined by

plenty of new faces who were

keen to recite all the countries

they were associated with after

a deep breath. Cheeky Initia-

tions at Bar 44 (and Saints!) It

must be said that our cheeky

little exec had a very cleverly

thought out plan of fun and

games to initiate our 50 or so

members…or so we thought.

We didn‟t know whether to cry

with frustration when it slowly

fell apart, or with joy when we

watched our second pack of

playing cards slowly run low on

reserves. Yes, there were over

100 people there that night,

mingling and drinking, and al-

though the nights events would

not be seen at your stereotypi-

cal „Initiations‟, what better way

can you think of initiating every-

one to the society than over free

Champagne and „Flaming Lam-

borghinis‟? And to top it off, our

mascot Joker hats of the night

were seen bopping about on

our members at Saints long af-

ter hours… So where to next?

Join us for a casual curry night

at King Baba’s in Leamington

on Friday 4th. Sign up quickly

before places run out!

This is the first issue of Third

Culture Footprints - an online

newsletter for the Third Culture

Society at the University of

Warwick. It will bring you

monthly news, updates, stories

and more from a variety of

sources, in an effort to keep

everyone within the Third Cul-

ture Warwick community up to

date. We urge everyone and

anyone to get involved - send in

articles, stories, photos, illustra-

tions and ideas to the Third Cul-

ture Exec. The exec will also act

as the publishing team for Third

Culture Footprints this year - we

hope that the newsletter will, in

time, open up new opportunities

for communication as well as

involvement (perhaps specific

exec roles!). In this issue, we will

introduce to you the exec for

2011/2012, and outline what it

is we are already actively in-

volved in and what we are in

the process of developing. We

need your help to keep this go-

ing and to keep it developing,

so please do contact us if you

would like to get involved. We

hope you enjoy this first issue of

Third Culture Footprints!

With love from

us all,

The TCS Exec,

2011/12.

Now going in to week 5

(already!), we are pleased to

say that our socials so far have

been an absolute success! Over

casual drinks at the Terrace Bar

in Week 2 and through the

flamboyant Initiations evening

at Bar 44, we have met and re-

met TCKs from literally all cor-

ners of the world. So whether

you are a TCS oldie anxious

about a new fun-packed year in

WELCOME TO THIRD CULTURE!

KEEP YOUR EYES

OPEN FOR:

KING BABA’S DINNER

SOCIAL ON FRIDAY 5TH

NOV 7PM - CELEBRAT-

ING DIWALI/DEEPAVALI!

SIGN UP ONLINE

5-A-SIDE FOOTBALL

OPPORTUNITIES - COM-

ING SOON

BIRMINGHAM CHRIST-

MAS MARKET TRIP -

BEGINNING NOVEM-

BER...DATES TO BE RE-

LEASED SOON!

TCS HOODIES—KEEP

YOUR EYES PEALED FOR

2011/12 DESIGNS AND

GET ORDERING!

TCS CHRISTMAS SO-

CIAL @ SAINTS—

ENDING TERM 1 WITH A

BANG!

OWW Fashion Show SHOUT OUT:

Are there any TCKs out there interested in designing, modeling for or co-ordinating TCS’s very first Fashion Show for one of the largest events on campus? One World Week, the world’s largest student-run international event is back this coming January… get cracking on ideas, and we will keep you posted about opportunities to become involved! See http://www.oneworldweek.net/pages/home for further details on OWW.

OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE

W A R W I C K U N I V E R S I T Y T H I R D C U L T U R E S O C I E T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Jugs, Jokers and Jalafrezzi Chicken!

IN THIS ISSUE…

MEET THE EXEC … P.2

WHAT IS THIRD CULTURE TO

YOU ?… P.2

A SHOUT OUT FROM YOUR

NEW FRESHERS REPS … P.3

YAQIN’S RANTS … P.4

THIRD CULTURE JOKERS …

P.4

THIRD CULTURE LINKS AND

THINGS … P.5

CONTACT DETAILS … P.5

Hello everybody! I‟m Tash -

a History and Politics finalist.

I was Social Secretary last

year, but President this

year. The society was com-

pletely new when I first ar-

rived at Warwick, so I have

seen it grow from a tiny

little group to the hundreds

(well, just over 100) of mem-

bers we have today. I am so

ridiculously happy to have

been part of the develop-

ment - having blabbed and

blabbed for two years

about how good the society

is and could be, it now most

certainly appears to have

paid off. We all owe a

massive thank you to those

who have helped get the

society off the ground -

TCKs do seem to have an

impressive ability to „spread

the word‟!

My Third Culture-ness comes

from the fact I am Anglo-

Argentine, but brought up in

Singapore. I went to United

World College of South East

Asia - grew up surrounded

by hundreds of international

TCKs! I am terrible and don‟t

speak Spanish (I can under-

stand a little!) but I do speak

a bit of Mandarin. I have

spent quite a bit of time in

Beijing and LOVE it. Will

probably be moving over

there post-university. Get in

touch if you fancy a chat or

have any ideas for TCS.

I am really looking forward

to this year and I hope to

see as many new faces as

possible. It‟s ALL JUST TOO

EXCITTTIINGG!!

though the general percep-

tion of a TCK is someone

that lacks a sense of belon-

ging, I believe it is the

opposite; we are the most

adaptable breed out there

and are the true citizens

of the world! Neverthe-

less, the TC family isn‟t

something you have to

be born into but is an

open invitation to anyone

with a fascination with the

I was born in China and

lived there until I was 9.

Then I lived in New Zealand

for 6 years before going to

boarding school in Scotland

for 4 years. Even though my

family and “home” is still in

China, I hold a New Zea-

land passport. This means

that I have to get a visa to

go home every holiday, and

it reminds me that I am a

Third Culture Kid! Even

rest of the world. I hope our

family expands until the

whole world becomes Third

Culture, and I mean that in

the most unthreatening way.

Meet the Exec!

Treasurer—Michael Pan

President— Natasha Howitt

mesh of South-African

„bobotie‟ and home-made

Cypriot yoghurt. Or per-

haps, it‟s simply because my

mother-tongue is a compli-

cated mess I call Portug-lish.

Whatever the reason, „Third

-culture‟ practically defines

me. Meeting other TCKs at

Warwick has truly made me

feel at home.

Although I was born and

raised in Portugal, at school

I always felt that I had more

in common with the seriously

misunderstood globe-trotters

than with the kids from the

block. Maybe it‟s because I

spent my summers climbing

trees barefoot and collect-

ing butterflies at my grand-

parents‟ house in Zambia.

Maybe it‟s because my idea

of comfort food is a strange

Page 2

THIRD CULTURE F TPRINTS

Vice-President— Kiara Alves

What is Third Culture to you?

“I talk too much and crave Sushi and Hainanese Chicken Rice ALL the time.”

“Feeling at home...away from home”

“I desire a different type of food each day of the week”

Yaqin:

Hey Guys! I‟m Yaqin, one of

your social secs for

the year! I‟m a sec-

ond-year studying

Accounting and

Finance (fun stuff!)

When people ask

me “Where are

you from?” I usually take a

deep breath before I start

explaining. While it does

sound pretentious to fully

explain your cultural back-

ground when the question is

asked, I‟m more than proud

to enlighten people on how

truly Third Culture I am. My

father‟s Emirati while my

mother is half Malaysian,

half Chinese. Moreover, I

was born in the UK, lived in

Cambodia, Hong Kong (for

most of my life) and finally

Malaysia before coming

back to the UK for uni!

I hope all of you freshers

are enjoying Uni so far, and

for all you oldies, hope

you‟re all enjoying being

back in W bubble! X

Amar:

HI!! I‟m Amar and I‟m your other social sec this year! I was born in the UK but I‟ve lived in Switzerland for most of my life! I love how all

TCK‟s just seem to get along no matter what everyone‟s background and I never realised just now Interna-tional Warwick was until I joined TCS! I‟m looking forward to meeting the new member‟s at all the socials we have planned for the rest of the year!

Social Secretaries! - Yaqin Khan and Amar Amin

Your Freshers Reps! - Catherine Lee and Alex Scharzenberger

about you and your di-

verse cultures!

Alex:

Whatsupp guys! I study

Economics and have lived

in Hong Kong my entire

life, even though I‟m half

Austrian and half Indian. I

can‟t wait for all the so-

cials lined up in the next

few terms and it should be

a lot of fun getting to

know all of you over the

next year!

Catherine:

Hello! I study

Maths and Philoso-

phy and I‟m from

Malaysia! I‟ve

lived in Hong Kong

(I was born there)

and Kuala Lumpur and

have spent a couple of

years in the UK as well.

Nothing too exotic, but I

am looking forward to

meeting all you TCKs out

there and learning more

Page 3

OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE

“Possessing the ability to find your feet in any country you’re thrown in to”

“Being open to all new experiences”

“A sense of belonging wherever you are”

“A not so typical day: Listening to Mozart while eating curry at the IFC in Hong Kong”

Hey everyone!!! We (Alex Scharzenberger and Catherine Lee) are your freshers reps for this year (: Our job is to make sure that your time in the Third Culture Society is as enjoyable as possible! We‟ll be at all the socials, and, when they‟re off-campus, we‟ll be in charge of bringing you guys to them! If you guys have any comments/ opinions about how to improve the society, just speak to us and we‟ll make sure that your comments are heard! Or, if you just want to chat... we‟re up for that too! Our numbers/BBM pins are here if you need to contact us about anything . See you all soon!

Catherine

07503247117

BBM: 23210B13

Alex

07516583070

BBM: 284CE718

A Shout out from Your new Freshers Reps:

“A nice warm hello to all you TCKs out there! Right, you‟re all going to get the pleasure of reading my rants about everything in general, hopefully Third Culture related stuff! Firstly, hope you‟re all keeping warm in Warwick! It‟s my second year here and I‟m still not used to such spo-radic weather! Mind you, I‟ve been caught wearing a heavyweight Barbour coat in the middle of the Piazza, sitting right under the sun because it was chilly in the morning. I absolutely hate the fact that it‟s arctic in the morning and you rock out to your 9am lecture/seminar in

full on Eskimo gear and just a few hours later it‟s hotter than Texas in July! Oh well, that‟s what you get for choosing to study in the country with possibly the most awful weather ever. It also infuriates me when I see other students dress like they‟re in the middle of sum-mer and I‟m the Asian boy dressed like I‟m in Iceland! Urgh, and when it does get cold, don‟t get me started on the layers! The annoying feeling of taking layer after layer off just after you enter a lecture and then once you‟ve finally sat down and settled into a comfortable position, nestled between

your obscene amounts of winter gear and your lecture bag, it‟s 5 minutes to the hour and you have to pack everything away and put the layers back on! It‟s genu-inely an arduous task, even more difficult than paying attention in lectures (depending on which) I think. It has been pretty warm recently so I don‟t think any of you will experience any of this any time soon, but you never know, we do live in glorious England and any-thing can happen! Rant over!”

The Third Culture Jokers

Yaqin’s Monthly Rant!

not just any Joker that has

been plastered all over

TCS posters and pages, it‟s

a cultural joker, etched with

the flags of many a

places...much like us TCKs.

Illustrator Lena Abas

helped us on our quest to

bring it to life, designing

our first and very own TCS

mascot of which we are all

very proud! And the good

news goes on: although the

illustration was not free of

charge, the proceeds went

to charity! The Australian

government has agreed to

double every penny Lena

earns from her illustrations,

and the proceeds go to the

cause of her choice. This

means that this TCS Joker

you see here raised £150

for Oxfam Australia‟s East

Africa Appeal, and us Exec

could not be happier! Not

only did we enjoy plotting

and planning Initiations

nights around a deck of

cards, we took a massive

step in a whole new direc-

tion by making our first

ever charitable dona-

tion under the name of

Warwick‟s Third Culture

Society, a legacy which

we hope to continue.

And as for the four

lucky ducklings who

drew Joker cards at the

beginning of the night?

Well, they were re-

warded with cheeky

„Flaming Lamborghinis‟! One drizzly afternoon

over one of The Duke‟s

amazing goats cheese

salads, the TCS Joker was

born...and it would soon

be seen everywhere from

your Facebook page to a

particular jovial corner in

Saints which Amar became

very fond of. But what is

the Joker and what were

Cheeky Initiations all

about? Traditionally, the

Joker is the „odd one out‟,

belonging to none of the

four suits in a deck of

cards. But we like to see it

as more of a „wild‟ card,

for a Joker can slip in

quite easily to any hand.

Sound familiar? Well, it‟s

THIRD CULTURE F TPRINTS

Sharing the Love!

Page 4

Keep your eyes peeled for next month’s Issue of TCS Footprints featuring Lena Abas’ Third Culture story!

CONTACT THE THIRD CULTURE SOCIETY!

EMAIL: su595@warwick.ac.uk

FACEBOOK: Warwick Third Culture Society [link: https://www.facebook.com/

groups/109830714672/ ]

W A R W I C K U N I V E R S I T Y T H I R D C U L T U R E S O C I E T Y N E W S L E T T E R

OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE

Third Culture Links and Things!

Denizen Magazine does a range of commentaries and fun little-hearted articles by and to the Third-Culture community world-wide. Recently we found they have launched a special on TCKs at university, featuring „hints and tips‟ for Third Culture Freshers and more…it‟s worth taking a peak! http://www.denizenmag.com/2011/09/a-third-culture-kids-guide-to-

college/

And if you‟re running out of ideas on how to be an „Expat Brat‟, here‟s a

bit of fun…! http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/how-to-be-an-expat-brat/