It was not known what long-term psychological effects a viewing of the Broadway hit Blue Man Group, which features men dressed in thick blue makeup, would have on six college students visiting from Iraq.
But by all accounts the students appeared well-adjusted a day later Friday, the ninth day of an 11-day whirlwind trip to cram in as much of the US as they could, including the New York Stock Exchange, the UN and Harvard University.
PHOTO: AFP
The students from universities in Baghdad and Basra began their day with a stroll around the UN before heading to a briefing on counterterrorism and then a two-hour lunch with Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie.
The day before, they had stopped at the exhibit on Alexander Hamilton at the New York Historical Society and then saw Blue Man Group.
"At first I was bored but then I started to get it: It was about cycles, the cycle of life," said Suha Muhammad, 21.
The Blue Man Group Web site describes the show as a "multi-sensory experience that combines theater, percussive music, art, science and vaudeville." It features the eponymous blue men banging on makeshift instruments.
Muhammad said the show was appropriate given her passion for the theater of the absurd.
"If you don't feel bored, it means the theater of the absurd didn't give you the real message," she said.
These were obviously no ordinary Iraqi college students. Qusay Hussein -- no relation to Saddam Hussein's slain son -- appeared on CNN and was scheduled to head to Fox News for an interview later on.
Like the other five students, Hussein, 24, is an English major, with a focus on literature -- 17th century poet John Dryden in particular.
Hussein had wanted to study feminist literary criticism, but the library at Baghdad University didn't have any.
The students were visiting under the auspices of Providence, Rhode Island-based Roger Williams University, whose president, Roy Nirschel, arranged the trip.
He had decided to get involved after hearing about Basra University students who held a protest to demand they be allowed to go to school and take their final exams.
"This is just one way of giving back to people who have been deprived of so much materially," Nirschel said.
He planned to visit Basra -- "conditions permitting."
Roger Williams has established a scholarship for a Basra University student and has sent supplies totaling US$10,000 to the school.
The students had made several stops in Providence and visited Harvard. On Saturday, they're scheduled to visit the Statue of Liberty.
After Friday's two-hour lunch with the group, Iraq's ambassador, Sumaidaie, left duly impressed.
"There are a lot of people here in the US who are surprised to see young, articulate Iraqis come over and explain their difficulties, explain the situation in Iraq in human terms," he said.
Several of the students were nervous about heading back to Iraq. While Basra, to the south, has seen relatively little violence, car bombs, shootings and suicide attacks make Baghdad an extremely dangerous place.
Insurgents have targeted many Iraqis seen as collaborating with the Americans, so the Iraqi students planned only to tell a few people about their trip when they got home.
"If [the insurgents] hear that you are going to the states, they say `What for?"' said Nazar Hamdan, a computer science professor at Baghdad University, who accompanied the students.
"We wish to go back safely so everyone has wonderful memories," he said.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to take action against the EU if it moves forward with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to make Canada the bloc’s first associate member. “If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act; I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump told reporters en route to an event in North Carolina, calling the proposal “laughable.” “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he said. Von der Leyen made the proposal
SECRET FOOTAGE: A 17-year-old girl told British broadcaster Channel 4 that she had been approached by a man who covertly recorded her and their interaction Calls are growing louder in Europe for action against “pervert” smart glasses after secretly filmed footage of girls and women appeared online — with a petition in Britain demanding a ban on their sale. Anyone wearing smart glasses can take photos, film videos, listen to music, make phone calls, translate text or interact with an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, with sales now hitting millions. The devices grabbed attention this summer after a marketing tie-up between Kylie Jenner, beauty mogul and member of the Kardashian dynasty, and tech giant Meta. Since smartphones are now embedded in daily life, “big tech” is
FROSTY RECEPTION: ‘I conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalization of war and genocide can never be accepted,’ the Irish president said US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he would “love to see” a united Ireland, wading into a politically sensitive subject as he embarked on a two-day Irish visit that blurs the lines between his presidency and personal business interests. After meeting Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, Trump said reunification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland — split for more than a century — would be “a fantastic thing.” “It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now,” he told reporters, adding that “the UK will have something to say about it, obviously.”
North Korea yesterday fired multiple ballistic missiles, Seoul said, a day after South Korea concluded five days of joint maritime drills with the US and Japan that were focused on the North. Pyongyang last month slammed plans for the so-called Freedom Edge joint exercises in international waters off South Korea as a “threat” to North Korea and other countries of the region. Yesterday, Seoul’s military detected “multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea [the Sea of Japan],” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The missiles were detected at about
RSS