By Yusuf Olajuwon Akinpelu(IH 2025-27)
As a kid, I memorized every country in the world and its capital, even though I didn't visit any of them until after college. The atlas was my toy. I was fascinated by contour lines, borders, and hard-to-pronounce city names.
By Diane Dinh (IH 2025-26)
When I came to Berkeley, I expected a dorm room, a pile of textbooks, and maybe the occasional midterm-induced existential crisis. I did not expect to gain American grandparents.
Dear I-House Community,
Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with journalists, university leaders, and fellow nonprofit executives about a range of topics, from international student mobility to institutional trust and organizational leadership.
While the conversations have been different, one theme has surfaced repeatedly: strong institutions are built long before they’re tested.
Laureen Chang (IH 1973-74) had never visited International House until she moved in. She didn't need to. She had grown up on her mother's stories about living at I-House. Her mother, Marciana Kui Chang (IH 1946-1948) — turning 100 years old this July — had arrived at I-House only months after World War II when her hometown of Manila was liberated from the Japanese Occupation.
Dear I-House Community,
Every fall, I stand in front of our new residents at retreat and tell them something I know to be true: the friendships they make at I-House will last a lifetime. Some of them already sense it. Others won’t know until it’s almost over.
This weekend, they’ll believe me.
Dear I-House Community,
As the year gathers pace, the global context surrounding higher education continues to shift in ways that directly shape student experience. Policy changes, visa uncertainty, and public rhetoric are influencing how students assess where they study, how they participate, and whether they feel secure doing so. What once sat in the background of decision-making is now part of it.
Latest data from International House Berkeley shows students support engaging with controversial ideas, but favor structured, supportive environments over disruption
Wondering what it’s really like to study abroad at UC Berkeley? For Aoife Haines (IH 2024-25), an exchange student from Trinity College Dublin, it starts with where you live. She chose International House Berkeley — and found a community she never expected.
Dear I-House Community,
Learning about other cultures is one thing. Actually living side by side with those from different cultures is another. That distinction is at the heart of what we do at I-House. We give residents both.
International House Berkeley is more than a residence. Built in 1930, it was founded on a bold idea: that students from around the world could live together, learn from one another, and challenge the boundaries of culture, race, and identity. It was the first coeducational and interracial residence of its kind west of the Mississippi, a radical vision for its time. Nearly a century later, that vision still lives within its walls, from the floors beneath our feet to the ceilings above our heads.
Dear I-House Community,
Some of my favorite moments at I-House are the ones where people choose to come together — and this month, you did.
A Personal Story About Community, Culture, and Choosing Connection
As I closed and locked the doors behind me, I surveyed the barren room around me filled with boxes of furniture, suitcases full of stuff, and empty walls. I walked across the room and opened the shaky, old, wooden window to find a direct view of the street below me with students and their families moving into new apartments, parking their cars, and commuting through the streets. I sat down on a suitcase of mine, looked around me, and felt something was terribly wrong.
I-House's Global Leadership Program (GLP)
Dear I-House Community,
With 2026 well underway, higher education in the United States continues to operate in a changing policy landscape that shapes who feels able to travel, study, and participate fully in academic life. Discussions around expanding travel restrictions understandably raise concerns for international students and scholars whose work depends on mobility and access. At the same time, they sharpen the importance of institutions that remain committed to openness, exchange, and connection.
Why Representation Matters for Understanding Peru and South America at I-House
Despite being in the same hemisphere, South America is heavily underrepresented in the United States. Regrettably, my friends and I often find ourselves projecting images of South Americans based on what we know about Mexico and its culture. A fourth-year Computer Science student from Peru, Leslie, pointed this out to me, highlighting that many Americans may view South America as merely an extension of Mexican culture rather than recognizing it as something distinct.
Dear I-House Community,
Last week, something happened on the Underhill soccer field that reminded me why I-House exists — and it had nothing to do with the final score.
One of the happiest moments in recent years was receiving my acceptance letter to Berkeley. The excitement came with countless questions: documentation, visas, travel, language, transportation, housing… All of these concerns appear as soon as one truly begins to consider studying at a university abroad. While searching for options online, as many of us likely did, we all reached the same conclusion: living in the Bay Area is incredibly expensive.
