Economics major Siddharth Prabhakar from Bedford, NH, is spending the year studying at the London School of Economics

Prabhakar, Sid

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryUNH International Educator Newsletter Global Education CenterSpring 2009Spring 2009, Experienceing a Trans-Atlanticversion of the U.S. electionSid PrabhakarUniversity of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/international_newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Global Education Center at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. Ithas been accepted for inclusion in UNH International Educator Newsletter by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars'Repository. For more information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationPrabhakar, Sid, "Spring 2009, Experienceing a Trans-Atlantic version of the U.S. election" (2009). International Educator: the Newsletterof the UNH Global Engagement Editorial Board. 67.https://scholars.unh.edu/international_news/67UNH Center for International Education Newsletterhttp://unh.edu/cie/newsletter/2009/spring/prabhakar.html[7/11/2016 2:59:34 PM] SearchCenter for International Education Spring 2009Sid Prabhakar ‘10 took a break from his studies inLondon to visit Rome.In this IssueFeatured StoriesAdditional ArticlesFaculty Travel ReportsDownload thisnewsletter as a .pdfCenter for InternationalEducation HomeEXPERIENCING A TRANS-ATLANTIC VERSION OF THE U.S.ELECTIONby Sid Prabhakar ‘10Economics major Siddharth Prabhakar from Bedford, NH, is spending the year studying at the LondonSchool of Economics.About half way through the month ofOctober, just a few short weeks afterarriving in London, I checked my mail and saw, to my great surprise, aletter from the State of New Hampshire. I rushed back to my room andopened the envelope to find the greatest piece of mail I’ve received allyear: My presidential absentee ballot. Within hours I had found a blackmarker and filled in my choice for president. It was indeed amomentous occasion, as it was my first presidential election, but Icouldn’t help feeling sad that I had left the US in the year of what couldbe the biggest and most important presidential election ever. Little did Iknow how involved I would be.The day I received my ballot, I happened to mention this great news tomy flatmate, Simon, a British student from just outside of London, andthe ensuing conversation was really quite amazing. Being a politicalscience student, he was very interested in the U.S. elections, not onlybecause of the historical significance, but also because of its political,economic and social impact on the world. Our discussion ranged fromeconomic recovery to President Obama’s big health care ideas to Senator McCain’s choice of running mate to our collectiveanticipation of what could be a landmark era in U.S. and world history. This conversation made me realize how incrediblyinvolved the rest of the world was in our elections and how much fun it would be to experience this election from across theAtlantic!My school, the London School of Economics (LSE), being the politically minded school that it is, took full advantage of theenormity of the situation, hosting myriad public lectures on election-centered topics. The student body was alive with debate anddiscussion, similar to the one I had with my flatmate. This fervor, for an election taking place in a foreign country, climaxed onelection night, when the results-watching party was packed with as many British students as American. Being a predominantlypro-Obama campus, the excitement was electric when it was officially announced that Senator Obama was now President-electUNH Center for International Education Newsletterhttp://unh.edu/cie/newsletter/2009/spring/prabhakar.html[7/11/2016 2:59:34 PM]Obama – almost 5:00 a.m. GMT!It was incredible to see how invested these British students were in our U.S. election and it made me realize how internationallyminded and aware they were. I do admit that the students at the LSE are more motivated, academically and otherwise, than theaverage student, so my insights into British society might be slightly skewed. However, I still get a sense that in these students,and perhaps in this society as a whole, there is an inborn interest in and desire to know about the world and what goes on in it. It’sthis, among many other reasons, which makes me so glad I picked the London School of Economics to spend my year abroad.  Copyright © 2015, Center for International Education  •  The University of New Hampshire223 Hood House  •  89 Main Street  •  Durham, NH 03824tel: 603-862-2398  •  fax: 603-862-0169study.abroad@unh.edu  •  international.affairs@unh.edu

Spring 2009, Experienceing a Trans-Atlantic version of the U.S. election

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Spring 2009, Experienceing a Trans-Atlantic version of the U.S. election

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