EMBASSY TOUR. A group of Xavier Ateneo International Studies students visits the Embassy of the United States in Manila as part of an elective subject. Photo courtesy of the US Embassy in Manila.
By Jinky Mejica and JC Salas
A group of International Studies (IS) students of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan flew to Manila for their Summer Embassy Tour slated on May 28 and 29.
Each summer, IS students taking IS93 - Embassy Tour elective go to Manila to learn how embassies work and interact with diplomats. This year, the IS93 class went to observe the embassies of the United States, Japan, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the Royal Thai Embassy.
As a program that promotes the values of respect and understanding for cultural diversity, diplomacy has always been at the heart of the International Studies program. Extending the horizons of the program through exposures in the embassies, IS students are given the opportunity to experience firsthand contact with diplomats representing different nation-states. These exposures allow them to have discussions with diplomats on cultures and international relations.
As future diplomats, the IS students have to be equipped with the necessary tools such as openness to multiculturalism and tact in dealing with people of varying socio-politico-cultural backgrounds. Through the discourses given by diplomats in the different embassies, students got a glimpse of what awaits them in the field of foreign affairs.
Some of the diplomats shared their most notable experiences in the field while at the same time telling them to be ferocious in reaching their dream of becoming diplomats, as key international political actors who would soon represent the best interests of the country in the global arena.
As a portal towards more academic and professional opportunities abroad, the program aims to narrow the distance between the IS students and their future careers in the field of diplomacy. By immersing them in the embassies, they are given the venue to share their interests and career plans with diplomats, and, in return, seek firsthand pieces of advice from them.
Aside from the embassy exposures, the class visited historical and cultural sites such as the Rizal Museum, San Agustin Church in Intramuros, and the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo.
Gleford Lagcao Jr, a French language instructor from the Department of History, International Studies, and Political Science of XU, spearheaded the class in their discussions on the said tour.
Accompanying the students along with Lagcao were Manilee Lorraine Pagapulaan, chairwoman of the Department of History, International Studies, and Political Science, and Don A Velez, OIC-chairman of the XU Department of Sociology and Anthropology.∎