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Contributors

Marianne Abbott ’15 was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. At Brown, she concentrated in Modern Culture and Media. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she spends most of her time in movie theaters.

Layla Abdulla ’19 is a mix of both Pakistani and Arab. She has also lived all over the place. Layla was born and raised down south in Georgia before moving and living in Pakistan for the past seven years. Right before coming to Brown though, her family settled in Boston (maybe this place will be the one to stick). She is thinking of concentrating in Health and Human Biology but really hoping that Brown introduces Netflix and Sleep: Living Life as a new concentration because she would totally rock at that.

Victor Alvarez ’19 is from Los Angeles, California. Born in Ecuador, Victor moved to L.A. at an early age, becoming fluent in both English and Spanish. He is currently undecided in concentration but is considering Visual Art and English. When he isn’t practicing his passion of Muay Thai, you can find him practicing photography, listening to punk rock, people watching or eating In N Out burgers which are, frustratingly, not available on the East coast.

Mei Araki ’19 is from Kawasaki, Japan. Born in Tokyo, she attended elementary school in England and her last two years of high school in Concord, New Hampshire. She is a freshman thinking about majoring in physics and philosophy and has recently discovered her passion in space law. During her free time she will be practicing her kendo skills, watching movies (can’t go wrong with sci-fi) and planning her journey to visit all of the hot springs in Japan.

Christine Baltazar ’17 is an avid adventurer concentrating in Political Science. She was born and raised in California, and is currently living in Tagaytay, Philippines. Christine loves learning about cultures, and is down for discovering the beauties of new destinations. She has gotten lost quite a few times, but always learns new things about different places, and herself, through her experiences.

Beatrice Bugane ’18 is a Brazilian/Italian who is concentrating in English Literature and Psychology. She found out about the International Writer’s Blog through her role as a mentor in the International Mentorship Program at Brown. On campus you’ll find her reading, writing stories, or singing with her a cappella group.

Julmar E. Carcedo, Jr. ’16 comes to Brown from the Philippines.  He is an International Relations concentrator who speaks Cebuano, Tagalog, English, and Spanish. The next stop on Julmar’s amazing journey is Barcelona, where he will be spending the spring semester.

Tiffany Citra ’17 is Chinese-Indonesian born and raised in the suburbs of the nation’s capital, Jakarta. She is currently a sophomore double concentrating in Computer Science and Geology/Physics-Mathematics. Tiffany speaks fluent Indonesian and understands colloquial Javanese and Cirebonese. Her bucket list includes spending a summer in Antarctica, building her own tree house, and contributing to National Geographic. Oh, too!

Hawasatu Dumbuya, PhD ’18 comes to Brown from France but her parents are originally from Sierra Leone.  Hawa speaks, French, Krio (an English-based Creole), and English.  She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology.  Hawa is a super fan of Bollywood movies.

Jonathan Famery ’18 comes to Brown from France.  He is interested in studying business and currently speaks French, Spanish, and English.  When we asked Jonathan for a fun fact to share about himself, he quipped, “I am the fun fact!”  We agree.

Benjamin Fancy, PhD ’19 is from Massachusetts and is pursuing a graduate degree in French Studies. He speaks American English and southwestern French and loves teaching both languages — accents and all!

Patricio Ferrari left Argentina for the United States at the age of sixteen. Since then he has lived abroad (India, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Sweden). His work as literary critic, editor and translator bridges a life between languages. This modus vivendi is reflected in Nomad Books, a multilingual work in progress of his own poetry written in eight languages (Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Hindi, Swedish) with a self-translation into English. Since 2013, as the recipient of a post-doctoral research grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology, he has been affiliated with the Universities of Lisbon, Brown and Stockholm. He is presently working on Pessoa’s unpublished English poetry.

 Professor Esperanza Godoy (known as “Tachi”) comes from Spain.  She is a Visiting Teaching Associate in the Hispanic Department.  She speaks Spanish, English, and French.  She loves cakes, and she even won a cake-eating competition as a teenager.  She received a medal.

José Andrés Jurado Vadillo, MA ’16 is an Economics grad student, from Mexico. He speaks Spanish, English, and appears to understand German. Andrés can cook ready-to-eat food without even looking at the instructions. He loves whiskey, poetry, and beagles, though not necessarily in that order.

Nomin Khishigsuren ’17 comes from Mongolia and speaks Mongolian, English, and Turkish. She has declared her concentration in Engineering and Physics and loves everything that has to do with science and geeky stuff.

Seong Min Kim ’18 was born in Seoul, Korea but grew up in Singapore. She is fluent in Korean, English and conversational Spanish. When not complaining about the cold Providence winter, she is usually seen eating or browsing shops online.

Zander Kim ’19 hails from Honolulu, Hawaii. Proficient in English and dabbling in Chinese, Korean, and Spanish, he plans to major in computer science and literary arts. When not watching movies, writing, playing sports, or tweeting, he’s most likely sleeping.

Jasmine Liu ’17 is a Singaporean who speaks English and passable Mandarin. She is currently pursuing an independent concentration in Environmental Politics and Economics. Her post-Brown life goals include changing the world through quantitative research, and successfully eating 3 nutritious meals a day. She very much enjoys plays, books, numbers, ballroom dancing, and feeding her friends. Her favorite food truck is Lotus Pepper.

Shuojun “Bob” Liu  was a visiting student at Brown during the spring semester of 2014. Originally from Leiyang, Hunan Province, in China, he is now finishing his final year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He will graduate with a degree in Finance and Human Resources Management in July of 2015.  Bob speaks Mandarin,  Cantonese, English, Spanish and a little bit of French. While in the US, Modern Family was his favorite TV show.  Bob hopes to return to the US someday.

Natalia Andrea Moriel ’18 came to Brown this fall from Mexico.  She speaks Spanish, English, and Italian.  She intends to concentrate in Neuroscience and is allergic to peaches.

Stephen Munzer ’17 is originally from Montreal, Canada but has been living the US for the past few years. He speaks French, Spanish, conversational Hindi and is currently learning German. At Brown, he’s pursuing a degree in Economics and when he graduates, he hopes to travel the world. He loves puns, naps, and snacks!

Gabriela Naigeborin ’19 is Brazilian, from São Paulo.  She is thinking of concentrating in Comparative Literature with Portuguese, Spanish and English as her languages of study, although she would also like to learn Japanese and Hebrew as well.  Besides literature, Gabriela is drawn to philosophy, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and development studies. She is part of Bloco da Brown, the University’s Brazilian percussion ensemble (she’s the group’s “agoguista”), and has a deep interest in Latin America. On campus, you can find her power walking from one place to the other—she’s always running late for something.

Michelle Ng ’18 was born and raised in Hong Kong S.A.R, where she has had to

balance multiple languages (a total of 5) due to the different dialects spoken within her family and the fact that German was mandatory at her school. This has turned out to be quite handy during her travels as ut helped her understand European football (not soccer) commentators and complete her odd childhood dream of memorizing the world map. She is a History concentrator interested in art, having practiced Chinese Ink Painting since the age of 6.

Indira Pranabudi ’15 hails from Indonesia and is soon to be a proud Computer Science alum. Indira speaks English, Indonesian and has a passion for photography as well as traveling (who doesn’t?). You can

Emma Radmilovic, ’18 comes from South Wales, UK and speaks some French and a little Welsh. She likes to spend her free time taking part in theatre on campus, and trying her hand at writing. Her real passion is reading, and she hopes to concentrate in Comparative Literature.

Piyawadee Raksasil, MPH ’14 hails from Thailand and speaks Thai and English.  Piyawadee tells us that Thai people usually have a short nickname and hers is “Off.”  Her father thought she would be the last child when he gave her this nickname but her younger sister was born 8 years later.

Jakob Schneider ’16 comes from Austria and speaks German, English, and French.  He concentrates in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics here at Brown and is one of seven children!

Jia “Euphy” Shi, MPP ‘15 comes from China and speaks Chinese and English.  She is pursuing her graduate degree in Public Policy.  When we asked Euphy for a fun fact for her bio, she laughed and mentioned her big eyes.

Bonginkosi Sibanda ’17  comes to Brown from Zimbabwe and speaks Ndebele, Shona, English, and some Zimsign and ASL.  While her concentration is still undecided, she loves math, the sciences, and writing.  You can read more of Bongi’s writing on her .  Bongi loves to laugh and reports that the sillier the joke the better!

Anne-Caroline ‘Acey’ Sieffert PhD’16 is from Strasbourg, France, which she left in 2007, to come study in the United States, first at Syracuse University and then at Brown. She speaks French, Italian, and understands somewhat the two dialects of her childhood, Calabrese and Alsatian, although she sadly doesn’t speak them. When she isn’t writing, or drawing on her iPad, Acey is always looking for vintage photographic paraphernalia to add to her ever growing collection that now has around 100 items, including a 1917 Kodak Brownie camera, late 19th century photographic glass plates, and a Japanese 1950s mini-camera with a lens about the width of a quarter.

Brigitte Stepanov, PhD’18 is pursuing a doctorate in French Studies. Her research focuses on questions of cruelty and compassion, language and memory in 20th-century and contemporary literature. Brigitte came to literature through the study of mathematics. She speaks English, French and Russian, and will soon be reveling in the experience of learning a fourth language.

 Sarah Thomas is a native Rhode Islander who came back to Providence after completing her undergrad in Biology at McGill University in Montreal.  She attended Brown as a grad student in Environmental Studies, and the left RI again to pursue her passion for travel and ride her bike around the world.  After traveling around the US for three years, she ended up back at Brown to help build the new , but is always plotting her next move by bicycle.  She also plays trumpet in the .

Hankun Ung ’18 originally comes from Cambodia but spent some of his high school years in Italy.  He speaks Khmer and English and hasn’t decided his concentration at Brown yet.  Hangkun tells us that he doesn’t know how to correctly pronounce his name!

Alyssa Wan Hui Toh ’16 was born in tropical Singapore, and loves sunshine, humidity, and coffee. In order of fluency and comprehension, she speaks English, Chinese, Hokkien (a Chinese dialect), and some Spanish. She has great respect for words and wordsmiths, and truly believes that in more ways than one, languages keep us alive.

Yifei Wu ’19 was born and raised in Southern China and lived in California for five years before coming to Brown. She likes math but secretly wishes that she has taken more literature classes. She likes telling stories but also experiences bouts of anxiety before publishing stories. Having never experienced a real winter, she is happy that she finally lives in a place that snows.

Soyoung You, PhD ’19 is from South Korea and she speaks Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English.  She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Religious Studies with a focus on Asian Religions, but she tells us that she is also looking for “a cat with a man” or “man with a cat.”

Xuran You ’19, is from Beijing, China. She speaks Chinese, the Northeastern Chinese dialect (LOL), and English. Xuran is thinking of concentrating in philosophy and music, but is actually undecided. Here is an un-fun fact about Xuran: She took the Chinese Gaokao. And a fun fact: She has two pairs of glasses and wants a third pair.

Zihao Zhang, ScM ’16 is from China and speaks Mandarin and English.  He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Biostatistics.  Zihao loves mathematics.

Yiwei Zhao ’16 is from China and speaks Mandarin, English, and some French.  She is currently concentrating in Economics and International Relations.  She also spent two months with Grammy-award-winner Imogen Heap as her personal assistant and translator during her 24-hour project in Hangzhou, China.

More coming soon…