Dear SUSI Friends and Friends of SUSI, I hope this letter finds you well and as excited as I am for the upcoming week with the SUSI program. We have an incredible lineup of activities and sessions that promise to…
From Sunday to Sunday: 7 Days, 18 Scholars, Dozens of Experiences
Do you remember when we shook hands, exchanged greetings and shyly smiled to each other as Rakib wrote in the first SUSI 2023 blog? It has been one week since then, and we have got plenty of reasons to forget…
Desert Delights: an Epic Road Trip from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon
On June 10, 2023, at 8 in the morning, all of the SUSI scholars gathered and boarded the bus. Our first destination was a gas station surrounded by magnificent Arizona cactuses. With our driver, Ronnie, cautioning us about snakes, we captured…
A Borderless World?
“The world is flat.” This statement was made in the early 21st century by Thomas L. Friedman, who argued that globalization makes the world become a level playing field. The “flatteners” he suggested included the collapse of the Berlin Wall…
Rodeo Day!
Who could miss it? Not me! I woke up from my sleep at 7:38 AM. We were supposed to leave at 8:00 AM. I don’t know why I slept so long! Alam Asraful, my roommate, knocked at my door. “Louis,…
Wild Forest
“It was an amazing day. We fed wild animals, explored the hidden beauty of the forest and met with some of the native people of Arizona…” No, it didn’t happen like that. This is all my wild imagination. I and…
Unity in diversity…the SUSI Way
Scorching, arid, sweltering, sizzling, etc. Mr. Thesaurus may have more options to shout upon stepping into the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, Arizona. This is what I felt when I first set foot in Phoenix, the home of the best…
From Historic Flagstaff to Symbolic Cacti: A Sublime Beauty
Sunday morning, 11:00, in front of a hotel in Flagstaff. Sunny weather with a blue sky, 74°F, fresh with a gentle breeze. The green tree leaves are swaying softly. Mountain views in the near distance with fluffy white clouds draw…
The Grand Canyon, an Overwhelming Experience from a Sacred Place
As the sun goes down, the Grand Canyon transforms. The sunlight is like brushstrokes on a canvas of rocks, drawing shapes and textures. These natural paintings are ephemeral, changing from one minute to another, showing magical landscapes, an echo from…
Einstein and Cronkite Meet SUSI
Time and space are relative Most of us have traveled 24 or more hours and we still arrived the same day we left our home countries. For the first few days, we woke up in the middle of the night…