Author Archive for Cleo Tobbi
Staff Writer Creator of the World Section Third-year literary journalism student
The Dish List: La Sirena Grill
The words “healthy” and “Mexican food” are seldom seen next to each other, but at La Sirena Grill, it is common vernacular. Mexican food can be found in almost every mall, shopping center or street side in Southern California, but few provide you with items like calamari (squid) burritos, blackened wild salmon salad and watermelon-strawberry [...]
The Column of Babel: Franz from Venezuela
Many students come to UC Irvine because their parents like that it is one of the safest universities in the country. Being from Caracas, Venezuela, Franz Hernandez loves the fact that he can roam the streets at night and not have to worry. Hernandez, a doctoral candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department, does not have [...]
Bursting The Irvine Bubble: China’s Water Problem
China has a plumbing problem. Actually, it has a pollution problem mixed with a daunting water crisis. The country that is currently second in the world’s economy is one of the 13 countries with the most severe water shortages. China is such a powerful country, yet something doesn’t seem right. But let’s not forget that [...]
The Column of Babel: Alireza from Iran
Unlike many of the other international students on campus, Alireza Farahmand immigrated to the US from Iran with his family before beginning his studies at UCI. Farahmand is 25 years old and is a Ph.D candidate in civil engineering. He has been studying in the United States for two years and plans to continue for [...]
Bursting the Irvine Bubble: Sixteen and Voting?
Legislation passed in Argentina earlier this week that dropped the required voting age from 18 to 16. As a first-time voter in this year’s US election, this idea horrifies me. I am 21 years old, and, personally, I could not have imagined being well-educated enough to vote at an age when I was still learning [...]
Column of Babel: Nua From Barcelona
UC Irvine offers international students the opportunity to try courses in a field they normally wouldn’t have experienced in their home country. Nua Watford from Barcelona, Spain, is here studying film and media and couldn’t be happier. Watford has been studying at UCI for two months and plans to stay for the rest of the [...]
Bursting the Irvine Bubble: Why The World Loves Barack
You’re probably sick of hearing about the election. In all honesty, I’ve reblogged enough memes of Romney being rich and Obama having swag for one lifetime. Alas, this one more article will be dedicated to the election, but bear with me, because this one’s interesting; this one deals with the world. American citizens are not [...]
Column of Babel: Marco From Italy
When studying abroad, students often experience homesickness, but for Marco Maggia, Irvine has become more of his home than Padova, Italy. Maggia has been working toward his PhD in aerospace engineering at UCI for the last three years and although he misses his family and friends, he cannot imagine living anywhere else. Maggia did not [...]
Bursting the Irvine Bubble: Pashtun Poets in Afghanistan
I have recently gotten back into writing poetry and it is exhilarating, but I never conceived the idea that something as simple as scribbling down a few lines of emotion would be considered illegal in other parts of the world. Unfortunately in Afghanistan, female poets are living in this inconceivable reality. Pasthun poetry is known [...]
