S4E1: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Programs Associate Director of Marketing & Outreach Christina DiPinto

In this our first (1st) episode of Season 4, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews International Programs Associate Director of Marketing & Outreach Christina DiPinto about her experience here at Seattle Colleges and about how she helps students that want to come here to study. 

1:17 - Introducing Christina!

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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:04  
Welcome back to Seattle Colleges 'Conversations with!' Here at Seattle Central College, first episode of season four. Over 130 some episodes out there for you to check out. Guys do that. We're going to continue to build on it, do some new things for this season, very exciting. So thanks for hanging with us. We hope you like subscribe. Keep coming back every Wednesday. But today, one of our newer recruiters, outreach people, is joining us today. We want to welcome Christina!

Christina DiPinto  1:04  
Hello, thank you for having me. I'm Christina DiPinto and I am another one of the Associate Directors of Marketing and Outreach.

Evan Franulovich  1:49  
Another one of the crazy travelers out there. 

Christina DiPinto  1:52  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  1:52  
How's it going? It's been a year almost, right?

Christina DiPinto  1:55  
It's been just about a year. October 1 is my year point. 

Evan Franulovich  1:58  
Wow. Are you going to do anything to celebrate? 

Christina DiPinto  2:01  
I will not be here. 

Evan Franulovich  2:02  
That's right, you're going to be gone.

Christina DiPinto  2:04  
I will be in Europe at that time, so I actually leave in about a week and a half. 

Evan Franulovich  2:09  
Yeah. 

Christina DiPinto  2:10  
And I'll be in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France and Spain. 

Evan Franulovich  2:15  
Rough. If you're in those countries, you'll probably be hearing this episode after she's already been... Well, maybe not. You'll probably have this out before your travels. So that's good. So look for her on the road. Do you want to be a little more specific about exactly where you'll be so people can find you, or where can they find the information of where to find you? 

Christina DiPinto  2:37  
It will be available on our website if it's not there yet. Where will I be? Is a great question. I will be in Gothenburg, Malmo, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona.

Evan Franulovich  2:53  
How long are you going to be gone? That's three weeks.

Christina DiPinto  2:56  
Then I'm here for a week and I go to the other side of the world. 

Evan Franulovich  2:59  
The other side, yeah. Europe isn't your only territory, why don't you tell the listeners what your other territories are?

Christina DiPinto  3:05  
Yes. So I have all of Europe, and then I also have China, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong.

Evan Franulovich  3:11  
So does Europe include Turkey for you? 

Christina DiPinto  3:13  
No, not anymore. Allen has Turkey now. 

Evan Franulovich  3:16  
So sad. 

Christina DiPinto  3:18  
I know I'm sad. I want to go to Istanbul.

Evan Franulovich  3:20  
Right. Well, you still can, just fly through there and get a long layover or something. Well, that's really cool. Let's learn a little bit about who you are in this segment called podcast questions. Okay, I'm gonna give you two things. All you got to do is tell us which you prefer. This is going to tell us a lot about who you are as a person. Coffee or tea? 

Christina DiPinto  3:42  
Coffee. 

Evan Franulovich  3:42  
Wow. She didn't even think about it. Coffee. And do you have a particular coffee shop you go to in Seattle? 

Christina DiPinto  3:49  
No, I just drink black coffee at home.

Evan Franulovich  3:52  
Seattle's famous for coffee. 

Christina DiPinto  3:54  
It is. It's just so expensive to go. 

Evan Franulovich  3:56  
It is expensive. 

Christina DiPinto  3:56  
And I like the local ones. But I never have like a specific one. I like trying the different ones.

Evan Franulovich  4:02  
Cool. Good for you. All right, mountains or beach?

Christina DiPinto  4:07  
Depends on the day. I like being close to the beach, but I think I like the mountains. I like to go in the water.

Evan Franulovich  4:14  
Walk along the sand. That's always nice. Early bird or night owl? 

Christina DiPinto  4:18  
Night. 

Evan Franulovich  4:19  
Really? Staying up late to talk to people overseas?

Christina DiPinto  4:23  
Yeah, definitely. I would rather stay up late, because I've had to do both for meetings. A lot of the times in Europe, I have to get up super early. But for Asia, I'll stay up late. Those ones are always easier just because I'm already awake, I'm already going through things.

Evan Franulovich  4:35  
Yeah, we don't get much sleep as recruiters, as you might know. Okay, books or movies? 

Christina DiPinto  4:41  
Books. 

Evan Franulovich  4:41  
Wow. What are you reading right now?

Christina DiPinto  4:45  
Nothing right now, because I am getting ready for travel, so I'm downloading things on my Kindle, but I haven't started any.

Evan Franulovich  4:52  
And when you download things on your Kindle, do you usually get fiction or non fiction? 

Christina DiPinto  4:56  
Fiction. 

Evan Franulovich  4:57  
Oh.

Christina DiPinto  4:57  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  4:58  
Who's one of your favorite authors? 

Christina DiPinto  5:01  
I don't know.

Evan Franulovich  5:04  
Do you have a genre?

Christina DiPinto  5:05  
I like to mix it up. I like a lot of historical fiction, fantasy, I'd say those are probably the main ones. Depends on the day, it depends on the season.

Evan Franulovich  5:16  
Yeah, I hear you. A long time ago, I ran a bookstore, so I'm always interested in what people are reading. Yeah, I love books. Texting or phone calls? 

Christina DiPinto  5:27  
Texting.

Evan Franulovich  5:28  
You're so young, you whippersnappers. Cats or dogs? 

Christina DiPinto  5:32  
Oh, I can't pick. I've got one of each. 

Evan Franulovich  5:35  
You do? 

Christina DiPinto  5:35  
I do. 

Evan Franulovich  5:36  
What kind of dog?

Christina DiPinto  5:38  
She is a Miniature Dachshund.

Evan Franulovich  5:42  
My grandfather and grandmother had a Dachshund, and it was yippee, and it would get so excited. Is your quiet? 

Christina DiPinto  5:50  
Depends on what's happening. 

Evan Franulovich  5:51  
Okay. 

Christina DiPinto  5:53  
Yeah, she's quiet for the most part, but we have a backyard now, so if she sees a squirrel, or if someone knocks on the door.

Evan Franulovich  5:59  
Yeah, lose her mind, of course. And you have a cat? 

Christina DiPinto  6:04  
Yes, he is a tuxedo cat.

Evan Franulovich  6:07  
I love tuxedos. What's your cat's name? 

Christina DiPinto  6:10  
His name is Loki. 

Evan Franulovich  6:12  
We had a tuxedo cat. We named him Captain Jack Banana Pants. 

Christina DiPinto  6:15  
Oh, that's cute. 

Evan Franulovich  6:16  
That's great. All right. City or country? 

Christina DiPinto  6:19  
City. 

Evan Franulovich  6:20  
Adventure or chill at home?

Christina DiPinto  6:23  
Depends on the scenario. When I'm in Seattle, chill at home when I'm on a trip, I gotta get out.

Evan Franulovich  6:29  
Sure. So do you usually add extra time to do some playing around when you're overseas? 

Christina DiPinto  6:35  
Well, I haven't been here that long, but I'm starting to. So when I'm in China, I'm staying an extra day in Beijing. I've got a free day in Barcelona.

Evan Franulovich  6:42  
Are you trying to spend much time in Barcelona?

Christina DiPinto  6:45  
I have actually never been to Spain before. 

Evan Franulovich  6:47  
Oh. 

Christina DiPinto  6:48  
I'm very excited. 

Evan Franulovich  6:49  
You should be. 

Christina DiPinto  6:50  
I've been to a lot of places in Europe, but I was supposed to go to Spain when I was younger and study abroad, and we missed our flight.

Evan Franulovich  6:57  
Well, you're gonna love it. This should be a good time of year to go to Barcelona, because most of the tourists will be kind of disparate. 

Christina DiPinto  7:05  
I was hoping, because that's the end of my trip. So it'll be October 1 is when I arrive in Barcelona.

Evan Franulovich  7:10  
That should be good. Barcelona is cool. Let's see, summer or winter? 

Christina DiPinto  7:15  
Summer. 

Evan Franulovich  7:16  
Cooking at home or eating out? 

Christina DiPinto  7:19  
Delivery. 

Evan Franulovich  7:20  
So we're gonna call that eating out. You're not cooking for yourself. 

Christina DiPinto  7:23  
Absolutely not. 

Evan Franulovich  7:25  
But can you cook? 

Christina DiPinto  7:27  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  7:28  
All right. Well, good. That gives you guys a little insight into Christina's World. So where did you go to school when you were back in the day? I know in your high school years, you did kind of a special thing.

Christina DiPinto  7:42  
Yes. So I have been all over the US, basically. So I grew up originally in Massachusetts, when I was younger. 

Evan Franulovich  7:49  
Right. 

Christina DiPinto  7:49  
I went to high school in Minnesota, which is in the Midwest. Massachusetts is as far east coast as you can get. Northeast Minnesota is in the Midwest, right below Canada. And I went to a private Catholic High School. 

Evan Franulovich  8:03  
Yeah? 

Christina DiPinto  8:03  
From there, I went to undergrad in California at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which I called it Southern California. People from Southern California did not. 

Evan Franulovich  8:15  
I think it's Southern California. 

Christina DiPinto  8:17  
Depends on who you ask. I thought it was Southern California.

Evan Franulovich  8:20  
I mean, it's south of San Francisco, for sure. 

Christina DiPinto  8:22  
That's definitely true. 

Evan Franulovich  8:26  
Why? Well, I mean, you were in Minnesota. Did you just get tired of the cold? 

Christina DiPinto  8:30  
I was done with the cold. We moved to Minnesota when I was about 14, and that's when you're starting high school, and did not want to be there. Didn't want to be in the cold. Looking back, it was a fantastic opportunity, but at the time, I needed something warm. I needed no snow.

Evan Franulovich  8:50  
Well, Santa Barbara is a great school. 

Christina DiPinto  8:53  
It's gorgeous. 

Evan Franulovich  8:55  
What did you like best about UC Santa Barbara?

Christina DiPinto  8:58  
Well, it's right on the beach. 

Evan Franulovich  9:00  
Right on you at the campus. 

Christina DiPinto  9:02  
On one side you have the beach, and on the other side you have the mountains. You can't pick they're both there. 

Evan Franulovich  9:06  
They're both nice. 

Christina DiPinto  9:08  
And it's just a beautiful campus. It's kind of a condensed little city almost, because everything's right there. I am not a party person, but for those who are, it had Isla Vista right next to it, which is fair. All of that happened. 

Evan Franulovich  9:22  
Yeah? 

Christina DiPinto  9:24  
It's was just really convenient and really just condensed and great classes.

Evan Franulovich  9:29  
Go check it out. If you get online, you can find information about it. Many international students there?

Christina DiPinto  9:36  
At the time, I had no idea. I didn't really think about international students, which is weird, because I ended up studying abroad. I was an international student. 

Evan Franulovich  9:45  
Do tell. 

Christina DiPinto  9:46  
So I studied abroad twice. 

Evan Franulovich  9:48  
Oh. 

Christina DiPinto  9:49  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  9:49  
That's not common, right? 

Christina DiPinto  9:50  
Usually not. But I just wanted to keep going. So I was minoring in French, so I studied abroad in Paris for a summer, and then I studied abroad in Lyon for a quarter. 

Evan Franulovich  10:01  
Nice! Both times in France. Yeah, did you consider other countries? Or did you know 'I want to go back to France?'

Christina DiPinto  10:07  
I really wanted France, but when I went for my first masters, I went to Ireland and did the whole thing there.

Evan Franulovich  10:14  
Okay, so you went to UC Santa Barbara, then you went to Ireland?

Christina DiPinto  10:17  
Yes, I did my masters at Trinity College Dublin.

Evan Franulovich  10:20  
Why Ireland? 

Christina DiPinto  10:25  
Because when I was studying abroad, we did a weekend in Ireland, and I fell in love with it. It was beautiful. If you've ever been to Ireland, you've got to go to Trinity College and look in their library. The long room. It is the most impressive thing in the world. 

Evan Franulovich  10:43  
Really? 

Christina DiPinto  10:44  
It was fascinating. I just fell in love with it, and I ended up studying medieval literature. I mean, where else are you gonna do that?

Evan Franulovich  10:53  
Where else? What better place did you just live in the library then? Because you must have been reading all the time.

Christina DiPinto  10:59  
I was there a lot, especially because medieval literature means you're doing a lot of the books. I wasn't in the fun library a lot. I was in the old library, which is a little cold and drafty, but I spent probably most of my time in the libraries.

Evan Franulovich  11:14  
Nice! But your major wasn't medieval literature, was it? 

Christina DiPinto  11:18  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  11:18  
Oh, it was? 

Christina DiPinto  11:19  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:20  
And what did you plan to do with that? 

Christina DiPinto  11:22  
I had no idea. I was 22. 

Evan Franulovich  11:23  
You were 22. You're gonna work at Seattle Colleges. 

Christina DiPinto  11:27  
I ended up having to go back to school again, and I got my second master's. So I have an MBA from Pepperdine.

Evan Franulovich  11:33  
Oh, nice school. You like that, Southern California?

Christina DiPinto  11:37  
I do, but that one was online, so I didn't actually go. It was a covid MBA.

Evan Franulovich  11:41  
Have you been to the campus? 

Christina DiPinto  11:44  
I was able to go twice for classes, or once for a class, once just for a visit. But yeah, it's pretty much on par with Santa Barbara.

Evan Franulovich  11:53  
Yeah. Well, if you had to choose which campus did you like better?

Christina DiPinto  11:58  
I guess Santa Barbara is a little bit more convenient, because for Pepperdine, you have to cross the highway to get to the beach.

Evan Franulovich  12:04  
Right. And Pepperdine is kind of up on the hill, right? 

Christina DiPinto  12:08  
It's definitely a little bit more on the hill. But I didn't notice it a ton, but I also was only there for a couple of weekends.

Evan Franulovich  12:16  
Southern California surfing is big. Did you get to learn to surf? 

Christina DiPinto  12:19  
Absolutely not. 

Evan Franulovich  12:20  
What? No, did you swim? Did you go out in the ocean? 

Christina DiPinto  12:23  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  12:24  
Really?!

Christina DiPinto  12:25  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  12:25  
Okay, what'd you do? 

Christina DiPinto  12:26  
It's cold.

Evan Franulovich  12:27  
Yeah, I know Pacific isn't so warm. 

Christina DiPinto  12:29  
I am not a swimmer. Oh, actually, that's not true. I used to swim, but not in the ocean. It was always in a pool. I used to love running on the beach in Santa Barbara though. They had the pier right outside the dorms, and you just run down, go down. So that was perfect. Just studying outside when you're there, the weather's always fantastic. 

Evan Franulovich  12:48  
It is really nice. 

Christina DiPinto  12:50  
Coming from Minnesota at the time, I was one of the few people who'd show up to classes if it rained.

Evan Franulovich  12:56  
You had an empty hall just you. So if you want, you could start at Seattle Colleges and then transfer down to California. 

Christina DiPinto  13:06  
I have a lot of students who are interested in that. Yes, a lot of people want to go to California, but for those who don't know, it is very expensive. 

Evan Franulovich  13:13  
It is really expensive, for sure. 

Christina DiPinto  13:15  
Yeah. So you can start at Seattle Colleges, save a ton of money, and then go to California for your second two years.

Evan Franulovich  13:20  
And the kind of cool thing about that is, you get that two state experience. Seattle's really beautiful in the summer, it's like California, in my opinion. But then winter comes and it's not like California. 

Christina DiPinto  13:32  
A little dreary.

Evan Franulovich  13:32  
Yeah, a little more dreary, for sure. How long have you been in Seattle? I mean, the city not the job.

Christina DiPinto  13:38  
I've been in Seattle for about four, five years. 

Evan Franulovich  13:43  
Okay, cool. So you've been here a while. Okay, so after you get your MBA, you got the medieval literature first, then the MBA, and then you decided to get a job?

Christina DiPinto  13:56  
So I was working full time while I was getting my MBA. I was working full time at a law firm, and I was bartending to pay for that, so I had two jobs at the time, and I was living in Virginia. So I've moved around a lot.

Evan Franulovich  14:10  
You have moved around a lot. Now, when you were a kid, you moved around a lot. Is that because your parents were military?

Christina DiPinto  14:16  
No, my dad just had a lot of work opportunities with his career. He worked in engineering, and his company has a couple different areas in the States. 

Evan Franulovich  14:26  
Nice. And they live here in Seattle now? 

Christina DiPinto  14:28  
No, they live in Cape Cod in Massachusetts. 

Evan Franulovich  14:30  
Oh, they're in Massachusetts. Do they come out and visit? Are they travelers?

Christina DiPinto  14:36  
Yeah, they've come out a few times. My dad, his company, actually works with Microsoft right now, so he comes out quarterly.

Evan Franulovich  14:42  
Nice. That's good. And your mom, does she travel as well? 

Christina DiPinto  14:46  
She does when she can. She is a teacher, so her schedule is a little less flexible.

Evan Franulovich  14:51  
Especially right now, school's getting started. 

Christina DiPinto  14:53  
School is getting started. 

Evan Franulovich  14:54  
In Massachusetts, do they start right after Labor Day, or do they start in August?

Christina DiPinto  15:00  
Yeah. That's a good question. I think they start before, or at least they used to. I don't know what they do now.

Evan Franulovich  15:09  
My grandson goes to school in Tucson, Arizona, and they start like early August. 

Christina DiPinto  15:14  
I know they start early in Massachusetts, because they have to be very aware of snow days. 

Evan Franulovich  15:19  
Oh, sure. 

Christina DiPinto  15:20  
So to try and prevent them from going to class until the end of July, they start a little bit earlier.

Evan Franulovich  15:27  
Yeah. If you're interested in snow, Massachusetts is a good place to go to school. If you're interested in surfboards and sunshine, Southern California. Yeah, really cool. Oh, so you were well educated. You end up in Seattle at some point. How did you get from Virginia to Seattle? 

Christina DiPinto  15:45  
That was a bit of a couple jumps. So there was one fantastic summer in 2021 where I decided I had to do something with my MBA, because I had graduated. Covid was over. It was time to get out. I was in Massachusetts for half the summer working as a restaurant manager, and then a job happened in Seattle, at City University of Seattle, and I moved out to Seattle for that. My sister's out here too, so it wasn't...

Evan Franulovich  16:14  
Oh, so the two of you are here together. 

Christina DiPinto  16:15  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  16:15  
You don't live with your sister, though? Yeah, older/younger?

Christina DiPinto  16:19  
That sister is older. I also have a younger sister. 

Evan Franulovich  16:21  
You're in the middle. Oh, it's rough.

Christina DiPinto  16:24  
It's a big gap, though, my younger sister is actually adopted, so she is 11 years younger than me. 

Evan Franulovich  16:29  
And big sister, mean?

Christina DiPinto  16:32  
She was great. She actually helped me get my job. 

Evan Franulovich  16:34  
Oh, that's great. 

Christina DiPinto  16:34  
She introduced me to the person who was hiring. 

Evan Franulovich  16:37  
All right. Does she work at City University? 

Christina DiPinto  16:39  
She does. 

Evan Franulovich  16:40  
Oh, is she still there? 

Christina DiPinto  16:42  
Yeah, she's in HR. 

Evan Franulovich  16:43  
But we stole you from City University. But City University is a four-year institution, yeah?

Christina DiPinto  16:49  
It's a four-year school. They also have grads programs, and they're a tag partner.

Evan Franulovich  16:55  
Oh, a tag partner. What is a tag partner? 

Christina DiPinto  16:58  
What is a tag partner? Good transition. 

Evan Franulovich  17:00  
Yeah. 

Christina DiPinto  17:01  
One of our tag partners, that means they are part of our Transfer Admission guarantees. So students who come to Seattle Colleges when you apply, you can also apply for a conditional letter of acceptance to one of our tag partners, and as long as you graduate with the minimum GPA in one of their majors, you are guaranteed admission into that school. 

Evan Franulovich  17:21  
It's a great deal. 

Christina DiPinto  17:22  
Yeah, it is a great deal.

Evan Franulovich  17:24  
I know you didn't work at International Programs at city? 

Christina DiPinto  17:28  
No, I work domestically. 

Evan Franulovich  17:30  
Do you know if City University offers international transfer students, transfer scholarships?

Christina DiPinto  17:37  
Twhey offer transfer scholarships, I don't think it's specific.

Evan Franulovich  17:41  
Oh, it doesn't matter if domestic or... 

Christina DiPinto  17:43  
I could be wrong. 

Evan Franulovich  17:44  
Well, you can check out on their website or contact them directly, but most of our tag partners are pretty good about offering transfers scholarships.

Christina DiPinto  17:50  
I know they have specific scholarships for international students. They used to have an entire list for them.

Evan Franulovich  17:55  
Yeah, is City University known for any particular fields of study more than others? For example, when I interviewed Menlo College, they're really well known for like psychology and business. 

Christina DiPinto  18:08  
They definitely have a lot of business and tech programs. Those were the ones that I worked in marketing. So they're the ones that I promoted the most. They did have education programs as well. I didn't promote those as much because their education team was fantastic at self promotion, so I worked with them a little bit, but just not quite as much. 

Evan Franulovich  18:25  
Right. 

Christina DiPinto  18:26  
And then they have the psychology as well. But again, they did a lot of promotion on their own. Just because they filled up a lot. 

Evan Franulovich  18:33  
Gotcha. So when you say education, you really mean like people wanting to be teachers?

Christina DiPinto  18:37  
People wanting to be teachers, people wanting to be administrators in education. 

Evan Franulovich  18:42  
Gotcha. 

Christina DiPinto  18:42  
Stuff like that.

Evan Franulovich  18:43  
Cool. So you were there for how long?

Christina DiPinto  18:49  
Three four years. Three to four years somewhere in there.

Evan Franulovich  18:53  
Right on. And now you're here at Seattle Colleges, and it's going pretty well. 

Christina DiPinto  18:58  
It's going great. 

Evan Franulovich  18:58  
Yeah, of course. Yeah, and you're getting ready to travel again. What question do you find the most from students that are connecting with you from either China or Europe? What are they asking about? And what do you want them to know?

Christina DiPinto  19:18  
So I get different questions a lot of students, I do have to explain what community colleges are, which I think that it's just a very American institution. 

Evan Franulovich  19:28  
For sure. 

Christina DiPinto  19:30  
I like to explain that to them and just let them know what the benefits are, the low cost for tuition, which is unique when you consider American schools. 

Evan Franulovich  19:38  
For sure. 

Christina DiPinto  19:39  
And the transfer opportunities, and that it's not as hard as it sounds. It's can seem intimidating. Have to needing to apply to school again, but it's not that bad. 

Evan Franulovich  19:48  
No, it's pretty easy. And actually, if you do the tag program, you really don't have to.

Christina DiPinto  19:53  
Yeah, I get questions about safety a lot. Which, again, those are always interesting, because I traveled to some big cities. 

Evan Franulovich  20:02  
Yes, you did. 

Christina DiPinto  20:06  
I think for the most part, Seattle is a relatively safe city, especially compared to some other places in the US. I think I always tell people to have a normal degree of caution. 

Evan Franulovich  20:16  
Sure. 

Christina DiPinto  20:18  
And just be responsible. There's certain areas I wouldn't go to at night, but for the most part, I haven't ever felt unsafe in Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  20:24  
That's true in every city I've ever been in, really, with the exception of China. I mean, most of the big cities in China are pretty safe. 

Christina DiPinto  20:32  
Yeah, I was actually just talking to a friend who lived in China for a while. And she was saying that Shanghai was the safest place she's ever been to. Regardless of the hour at night, no matter what was happening.

Evan Franulovich  20:42  
You still have to be careful. I do know a few Westerners who've been in China that have had some problems, but usually it involves being in the wrong places, being drunk, and that is never a good combination, so just keep your wits about you. Well, what do you do for fun in the city?

Christina DiPinto  21:03  
In Seattle? 

Evan Franulovich  21:04  
Yeah. Are you concert goer? 

Christina DiPinto  21:08  
No, like I said, when I'm home, I'm definitely a homebody. I like staying home. I like reading. I like spending time with my pets, going on walks with the dog. 

Evan Franulovich  21:16  
Cool. You play an instrument? 

Christina DiPinto  21:19  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  21:20  
You seem like you should play an instrument. 

Christina DiPinto  21:23  
I should, but I don't. Growing up, I was more into dance than instruments, so I never really got musical like that. 

Evan Franulovich  21:31  
Did you ever consider studying dance? I mean, did you get to that level where you're like, maybe I could do this?

Christina DiPinto  21:37  
I danced competitively, but I was never that good. 

Evan Franulovich  21:40  
When you mean competitively, you mean like, ballroom dancing?

Christina DiPinto  21:43  
Dance competitions, yeah. I did jazz, tap, ballet, and yeah, there were competition seasons, and yeah, all of that nonsense. And then I would travel for the nationals and stuff like that. 

Evan Franulovich  21:55  
And would you usually dance on your own, or were you part of a team?

Christina DiPinto  22:00  
Both. I did solos and I did group work.

Evan Franulovich  22:03  
We got to get on YouTube and see if we can find something.

Christina DiPinto  22:05  
No, definitely not. Like I said, I was decent, but I was never great. 

Evan Franulovich  22:09  
All right, fair enough. Yeah, I know that we have Olivia in housing. She's a big dancer. She dances a lot. Yeah, you should talk to her. She's got some stuff going on, and she competes as well. 

Christina DiPinto  22:24  
Still? 

Evan Franulovich  22:25  
Yep. 

Christina DiPinto  22:26  
Oh, wow. 

Evan Franulovich  22:29  
There's quite a few dance places in Seattle that you can get into that. I'd love to do it. It's just a matter of time and location.

Christina DiPinto  22:36  
Yeah, that's the hard part, especially now, when we're traveling for huge chunks of time.

Evan Franulovich  22:40  
Yeah, one of the things about this job that's kind of tough is, like, if you wanted to take lessons for something, we just get disrupted all the time.

Christina DiPinto  22:47  
Yeah, I used to have a gym membership, but I was missing like, months at a time, so now I have my mini home gym with our treadmill and all our weights. 

Evan Franulovich  22:58  
It's nice. Did you get calls from the gym saying, 'Hey, how come you never come in and work out?'

Christina DiPinto  23:04  
No, luckily, they were nice about it because they could tell it was happening, because I went from going three to four times a week to like less and less and less and less because I wasn't here.

Evan Franulovich  23:13  
Right, right. Yeah, I finally broke down and got on Facebook marketplace and got a cycle, a little stationary bike, and it's great. It's very small, doesn't take up too much room. 

Christina DiPinto  23:24  
We got a treadmill, and it's fantastic. 

Evan Franulovich  23:26  
Yeah? 

Christina DiPinto  23:26  
It has the incline and all of that.

Evan Franulovich  23:28  
You don't use your treadmill as a hanger?

Christina DiPinto  23:32  
I mean, again, I just moved fairly recently, so it's been setting up slowly, and we've been using it a lot. We try to do it at least three times a week. 

Evan Franulovich  23:44  
Right. Yeah, it's good for you. 

Christina DiPinto  23:45  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  23:46  
And for this job, it's pretty stressful. Okay, so those are some of the questions you hear the most. What kind of advice would you give them if students are thinking about coming to a community college, you didn't go to a community college, but what have you found about community colleges that you think is the most compelling thing?

Christina DiPinto  24:08  
I wish I had known about community colleges when I was younger. I think the tuition savings is probably huge. And I say that as someone who does have a lot of student debt. 

Evan Franulovich  24:18  
Right. 

Christina DiPinto  24:20  
I didn't realize how much you could potentially save and how big of an impact that would have. And then what people don't realize is that a lot of the coursework is the same for a bachelor's degree in the US. You have to get all of your general ed classes, and then usually there's pre major classes. So I sat in a lot of lecture halls with 100 plus students, where we have little clickers to answer questions. 

Evan Franulovich  24:44  
Really?

Christina DiPinto  24:45  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  24:46  
I've never seen that. 

Christina DiPinto  24:47  
Oh, really? 

Evan Franulovich  24:48  
So they have a thing up on the screen?

Christina DiPinto  24:51  
That was for math class. I remember doing clickers, and that's how they took attendance, because the professor is not going to know who you are when there's that many students and you're on a giant lecture hall. 

Evan Franulovich  25:00  
Couldn't you just give your clicker to your buddy to go to class for you.

Christina DiPinto  25:03  
Theoretically, but again...

Evan Franulovich  25:06  
Sure. You're a good student.

Christina DiPinto  25:08  
I liked classes. Me too. But yeah, you could do those same exact classes at a community college, and you're in class with maybe 25 people, and you actually get to know your professor. 

Evan Franulovich  25:20  
Yeah. 

Christina DiPinto  25:20  
Students who don't know English or who are learning it, you actually get to practice. When I was studying abroad, that was a huge thing. I was taking classes in French. So having that opportunity to speak French helps a lot, because if I didn't have it, I never would have done it. It's so much easier to speak your native language than to have that requirement to speak the foreign one.

Evan Franulovich  25:43  
So when you went to Pepperdine or University of California, Santa Barbara, what was the tuition? If you don't mind us asking, just so they get an idea of what is the difference.

Christina DiPinto  25:56  
So for my first semester or quarter at Santa Barbara, I was out of state.

Evan Franulovich  26:04  
Which is what an international student would probably pay out of state.

Christina DiPinto  26:07  
I couldn't tell you what that was. I think when I was in state, it's been a while. 

Evan Franulovich  26:13  
Okay. 

Christina DiPinto  26:14  
Not entirely sure what it was. I know my tuition for Pepperdine, because I'm still paying that off. So for two years for my masters, I ended up owing $112,000.

Evan Franulovich  26:28  
Right, right. But keep in mind... 

Christina DiPinto  26:30  
That was with interest. 

Evan Franulovich  26:30  
...Pepperdine is private. 

Christina DiPinto  26:31  
Pepperdine is private. 

Evan Franulovich  26:32  
And it is a graduate program you were doing. So keep that in mind, when you come to Seattle Colleges, you'll probably be doing undergraduate work. In fact, only undergraduate work. 

Christina DiPinto  26:43  
I don't remember what Santa Barbara was, just because that was so long ago, and that was paid off. 

Evan Franulovich  26:49  
If I had to guess, I'm guessing it'd be like the University of Washington, somewhere in the $40,000-60,000 range. 

Christina DiPinto  26:54  
I wanted to say $30,000 but I haven't looked it up recently, so I couldn't tell you if that was true. And then I'm guessing International, I know for University of Washington International is around $62,000 last year, so it's probably 64 or something this year. 

Evan Franulovich  27:08  
And as a basis of comparison, so the parents out there know what is tuition at Seattle Colleges. 

Christina DiPinto  27:14  
It's just around $11,000 per year. 

Evan Franulovich  27:16  
Just around $11,000 a year. So if I was going to fill out an application, I have to show proof of finances. Well, if I was going to do proof of finances for an academic year, how much do I have to show? 

Christina DiPinto  27:28  
So for one academic year at Seattle Colleges, you have to show proof of finances for $30,000. 

Evan Franulovich  27:33  
Is it 30? 

Christina DiPinto  27:34  
Yeah, I think it's $28,050. 

Evan Franulovich  27:37  
Oh, yeah. 

Christina DiPinto  27:38  
So I rounded up. 

Evan Franulovich  27:39  
Rounding up is a good idea. I think the cutoff is $28,050, but 30 is a really great idea. I should just start telling people that too. It just makes it easier. It does make it easier. The more the better. We want you to get here and not stress about money for sure.

Christina DiPinto  27:54  
Yeah, it can be easy to stress about money. I like when students have host families or the dorms, just because then, like, at least housing's covered, but it's scary. I know when I was studying abroad, you're constantly thinking about it, because I didn't work when I was studying abroad. I know international students in the US, they can work part time, but still, at $20 an hour, it's great to supplement your lifestyle, but it's not going to cover your entire life.

Evan Franulovich  28:19  
No, probably not, although, if you work up to 20 hours a week, and you're getting paid over $20 an hour, you could pretty close to cover year two this year, which is nice, but you're right. Yeah, you don't want to have to count on that, if possible. What did you do in Ireland for housing?

Christina DiPinto  28:38  
I rented a house with two other international students. 

Evan Franulovich  28:42  
Cool. 

Christina DiPinto  28:43  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  28:43  
And how'd you find the house? 

Christina DiPinto  28:46  
It's great. It was a little further away from the campus, we actually found it at the Trinity's housing office. Okay, I think I lucked out, because they told us we couldn't get into a house or apartment until I got there. So when I showed up to Ireland, I didn't have housing, no housing, which I don't recommend. Don't do that when you travel. So no, I didn't have housing secured yet, until I got there and I was in the housing office, and there were two other girls who were studying abroad. One was from France, and one was from Germany. And they were looking for house at the same time, and they're like, 'Oh, how about you three get this place?' And we're like, 'Great!'

Evan Franulovich  29:29  
Let's do it.

Christina DiPinto  29:29  
Let's do it. 

Evan Franulovich  29:31  
Was it a challenging process to do, a contract with a landlord?

Christina DiPinto  29:36  
Not really. It was pretty straightforward. He had done it before. He rented the house to students, usually. So it was standard contract.

Evan Franulovich  29:44  
And did the landlord wear a green suit and have a beard with big top hat? 

Christina DiPinto  29:49  
No.

Evan Franulovich  29:50  
No? So shocking. Wow, that's cool. Sorry to keep on this Ireland thing, but it's so interesting. What was your favorite thing about being there?

Christina DiPinto  30:05  
I don't know. I mean, obviously I loved the literature, because that's what I was studying. I also did their ladies boating team for a semester. 

Evan Franulovich  30:17  
Boating meaning rowing? 

Christina DiPinto  30:19  
They call it like boating, for some reason. 

Evan Franulovich  30:21  
Wow. 

Christina DiPinto  30:22  
So that was really fun, and that was a unique experience. I really enjoyed it.

Evan Franulovich  30:27  
So you get in a scull? 

Christina DiPinto  30:28  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  30:29  
And there'd be a coxswain at the front yelling at you? 

Christina DiPinto  30:32  
I don't know, we weren't that good. I had never made the full team. So the first semester that I was there, I had a lot more free time because I hadn't started my dissertation or anything yet. They let most people on it for the first half because they weren't competing yet. I think by the time they got to the second half, their team is pretty good, so they only had the really good people competing, but I also had started my dissertation at that point, so I didn't follow up to see what was going on. 

Evan Franulovich  31:00  
Sure.

Christina DiPinto  31:00  
But I don't think I would have made the actual team. I did it more for fun. 

Evan Franulovich  31:03  
Yeah, so you had to go out and practice with them. That's so cool. Hard though, right?

Christina DiPinto  31:10  
It's hard. I mean, if you've ever rode before, it works everything,

Evan Franulovich  31:14  
Yeah, I'll bet. I've been on Facebook marketplace. I live on a lake, and I've been looking for maybe a used scull, and they don't come up very often. I've seen a couple. They're a little out of my price range, but maybe one day.

Christina DiPinto  31:27  
Yeah, you should. My dad used to be on his rowing team in high school, so growing up, we had kayaks, and I loved going out.

Evan Franulovich  31:36  
When you say kayaks, are you talking about whitewater or sea kayaks?

Christina DiPinto  31:41  
Mainly lakes. 

Evan Franulovich  31:42  
Okay, yeah. I'm in the market for a sea kayak too. I really love it. It's great. Can you roll?

Christina DiPinto  31:49  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  31:50  
You can't? If it tips over, can you help yourself?

Christina DiPinto  31:53  
No, I've never had to. Again, I was in lakes. 

Evan Franulovich  31:56  
Still, you know? 

Christina DiPinto  31:57  
And again, purely recreational.

Evan Franulovich  31:59  
Purely recreational. All right, fair enough. So tell us what are your plans for the upcoming year. And we know you're going to Europe. We know you're going to China, but spring is coming as well. Do you already have an idea of what you might be doing in the spring?

Christina DiPinto  32:16  
I've started looking at it. I think I'm going to be in Sweden again in January, the end of January, and then probably China again, that would be more towards May. And I'm debating about if I have enough in my budget to go anywhere else. 

Evan Franulovich  32:34  
Hopefully. 

Christina DiPinto  32:35  
Yeah, that's always what the trick is.

Evan Franulovich  32:38  
Yeah. So Chinese families that are interested in getting a hold of you, that can find you on our website, but you're also going to be at these education fairs. Do parents generally show up?

Christina DiPinto  32:50  
It depends on the fair. So last year, I did a bunch of school fairs with one of our agent partners, and depending on which fair it was and what time of day, because a lot of them were hosted by high schools. Sometimes parents would be there. Sometimes it was just the students, because it would be a lunchtime fair, or it was a boarding school. So parents weren't there. But I did see a mix of both, and again, it depended on the cities too, there were a lot of parents at both the fairs that we did.

Evan Franulovich  33:22  
That's cool. And what kind of questions are you hearing from parents? 

Christina DiPinto  33:25  
Cost. 

Evan Franulovich  33:26  
Cost. 

Christina DiPinto  33:27  
First question is always cost. Second question is usually ranking, which is interesting, because we are not part of that system.

Evan Franulovich  33:35  
Yeah, let's talk about ranking, because I think that's really important, not just for the Chinese market, but I know in India it's a big deal as well. I don't hear it so much in my territories, but it comes up. 

Christina DiPinto  33:48  
It comes up. So there are a lot of different ranking programs for universities, but as a community college, we are not part of those systems because we're not evaluated the same way. So we don't have a ranking.

Evan Franulovich  34:02  
Yeah, as far as I know, there is no equivalent for community colleges. 

Christina DiPinto  34:05  
There is no equivalent for community colleges, which I know throws people. I've had people like, as soon as I say that, they immediately just turn around and walk away.

Evan Franulovich  34:13  
No, don't walk away. 

Christina DiPinto  34:16  
But what you don't know is that you can start here and then transfer to one of those ranked schools. 

Evan Franulovich  34:20  
Yes! 

Christina DiPinto  34:21  
It's still an option. It's just saving money because a lot of the schools that do have higher rankings are often more expensive.

Evan Franulovich  34:27  
And unlike Christina, I did go to a community college, and then I went to the University of Arizona, which is a nationally ranked research institution, Division One school. And I can tell you guys, community colleges are legit. They're a really great way to get those first two years done and save a bunch of money, like you had talked about. So all you Chinese parents out there that are listening, don't walk away. Get more information. I promise you you won't regret it. We've had students transfer to some really major schools. 

Christina DiPinto  35:00  
So we have a list on our website, it's the Transfer Success Page, and there is a list of some of the top schools, and there's a couple Ivy Leagues on there. There's some really highly ranked schools on that list.

Evan Franulovich  35:10  
Yes, we've had students go to Columbia, Boston College, Stanford. I just talked to somebody who started here and they went to Stanford. Yeah, that's really amazing. 

Christina DiPinto  35:25  
Stanford has a lower acceptance rate that Harvard.

Evan Franulovich  35:28  
And it's a beautiful place to go to school, and beautiful gallery. 

Christina DiPinto  35:32  
I took some classes there too once. 

Evan Franulovich  35:34  
Did you? 

Christina DiPinto  35:35  
Yeah, they have a high school program for the summer. 

Evan Franulovich  35:38  
Oh. 

Christina DiPinto  35:39  
It's like a high school summer start. So I spent a summer there when I was a junior in high school. 

Evan Franulovich  35:44  
Cool. Did they just put you up in the dorms? What'd they do?

Christina DiPinto  35:48  
Yeah, we were in the dorms taking classes.

Evan Franulovich  35:52  
That's great. Did you get to go to any parties while you're at Sanford? 

Christina DiPinto  35:55  
No, I was 17 at the time, I mean, I guess if I really wanted to, I probably could have. 

Evan Franulovich  36:03  
Well, in the summer, maybe there weren't that many people around anyway. Did you see Chelsea while you were there? Chelsea Clinton went to Stanford. 

Christina DiPinto  36:11  
No, I don't think we're quite the same age.

Evan Franulovich  36:14  
She probably wasn't there. So when I was in the military, I was at the Defense Language Institute, and we would go up to Stanford on the weekends, you know, because we want to get off the base. And we would wait till the parties got going, and then they would eventually open their windows and we just dive right in. 

Christina DiPinto  36:29  
Oh my gosh. 

Evan Franulovich  36:30  
It was great. Good parties at Stanford. Had a lot of fun there. So what did you study for that summer?

Christina DiPinto  36:39  
I took random classes. So I took an etymology class, like origin of words and stuff. I took a physics class, and I took a swimming class, and I know I have, a writing composition class too. I don't remember what the theme was. 

Evan Franulovich  36:56  
And did you get college credit for this class? 

Christina DiPinto  36:58  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  36:58  
That's awesome. So you do a lot of reading, so you must have a favorite author that you read a lot of when you were at your masters program?

Christina DiPinto  37:12  
I was reading, I wouldn't call my masters favorite authors. It was alot of old medieval literature, so like 1100s kind of era.

Evan Franulovich  37:27  
Canterbury Tales? 

Christina DiPinto  37:28  
A little bit recent. 

Evan Franulovich  37:29  
That's a little recent. Oh, my God. 

Christina DiPinto  37:31  
I was reading older stuff than that.

Evan Franulovich  37:33  
Stuff on cave walls or something?

Christina DiPinto  37:35  
So a lot of the French medieval so Christian Latoya, Marie de France, stuff like that. 

Evan Franulovich  37:45  
Interesting. Wow. We'll have to talk books eventually again. Oh, do you hear that? It's Trivia Time. We're gonna ask Christina a couple of really tough questions. See how she does. You get five questions. If you get them all right, you're on our wall of fame. And if you don't, then we're going to shame you every day for the rest of the year. Okay, first question, we are in the city of Seattle. We have a new women's soccer team, a new Pro women's soccer team. They were just giving out free tickets the other day. Can you name that team?

Christina DiPinto  38:20  
This is embarrassing, because we talked about this yesterday. 

Evan Franulovich  38:22  
We did just talk about it.

Christina DiPinto  38:26  
I cannot, I can still name the football team, though. 

Evan Franulovich  38:29  
Okay, what's the football team? 

Christina DiPinto  38:30  
The women's football team is the Majestics.

Evan Franulovich  38:32  
Wow. And see, I didn't even know we had the Majestics.

Christina DiPinto  38:35  
See that one I know, like I said, someone I know at City University is on their team. 

Evan Franulovich  38:41  
The soccer team, think of stuff falling out of the sky, although it's spelled differently. It's wet, it's water, the Seattle Reign. 

Christina DiPinto  38:51  
The Seattle Rain? 

Evan Franulovich  38:52  
But it's spelled Reign.

Christina DiPinto  38:57  
I will probably forget that again. I don't watch a lot of sports.

Evan Franulovich  38:59  
That's all right. Well, you've been around the country a lot. We are a state like all the other states you've been to. What's the capital of our state? 

Christina DiPinto  39:09  
Olympia. 

Evan Franulovich  39:09  
Olympia. That's really great. 

Christina DiPinto  39:12  
That would have been embarrassing. 

Evan Franulovich  39:12  
It would have been embarrassing. Okay, when a student applies to Seattle Colleges, if they're not from an English speaking country, they have to show some sort of English proficiency. What's two examples of English proficiency exams they can take?

Christina DiPinto  39:30  
Yeah, most of the exams we accept, so TOEFL, IELTS, and then we have a couple different programs that we accept as well. 

Evan Franulovich  39:38  
Duolingo. 

Christina DiPinto  39:40  
Yes, Duolingo, I think is everyone's favorite. 

Evan Franulovich  39:42  
It's very popular. 

Christina DiPinto  39:43  
You need a 90 in all four subcategories.

Evan Franulovich  39:45  
Plus it's the cheapest, from what I understand. 

Christina DiPinto  39:48  
And you can do it from home. 

Evan Franulovich  39:49  
And you can do it from home, but the rules are very strict, so you have to follow the rules, or you get locked out. I talked to a student the other day that took the IELTS, and they really liked that test a lot. Yeah. I think it's a little more expensive, but they just really liked the format, and they wanted to get a good feedback on their English.

Christina DiPinto  40:08  
I know that academic people prefer IELTS and TOEFL. 

Evan Franulovich  40:12  
Yeah. 

Christina DiPinto  40:13  
Because Duolingo is not necessarily catered towards an academic background. 

Evan Franulovich  40:17  
Right. So when you went to France, did you have to take an French proficiency exam?

Christina DiPinto  40:22  
No, but that's because I was in the language program, so I passed. I think you had to get through French six, and then you could take classes. 

Evan Franulovich  40:30  
Oh, then you're good to go. And did you find that the French you had prepared you well for being in the classroom?

Christina DiPinto  40:36  
I think it did. I wouldn't be able to do it now, but back then I could. 

Evan Franulovich  40:41  
I was a French major at the University of Arizona, and I'd never had an entire class taught in French until I got there. I mean, I'd lived in Belgium, so I spoke the language, but I was a little nervous about going into class and having the entire thing done in another language. But you get used to it. It's not a problem.

Christina DiPinto  40:59  
You get used to it. It's not super hard. I will say I made the very stupid choice of taking Latin while I was in France. That was hard. 

Evan Franulovich  41:08  
That is hard. 

Christina DiPinto  41:09  
Yeah, I had to translate everything two or three times.

Evan Franulovich  41:16  
That's a tough language, but useful, right? In what you do? 

Christina DiPinto  41:21  
Definitely, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  41:22  
I mean, did you also have to take ancient Greek?

Christina DiPinto  41:25  
No, I wish I did, but I only had to pick one for the emphasis that I had. 

Evan Franulovich  41:31  
Right. I don't know the answer to this question, but do we have Latin available at Seattle Colleges?

Christina DiPinto  41:36  
I haven't seen it. I also haven't had anyone ask about it. I don't think so. No, because we have our language programs, and they're all actual spoken languages.

Evan Franulovich  41:48  
Yeah, I think we have a lot of spoken languages available, but I don't think we have any ancient languages. 

Christina DiPinto  41:53  
I think that would have stood out to me. 

Evan Franulovich  41:54  
Yeah, if you're interested in those languages, we may not be able to help you, but Seattle University might be. It's a Catholic school, private school. They probably have ancient languages, I'm guessing. 

Christina DiPinto  42:04  
I'm sure they do. 

Evan Franulovich  42:05  
Udub for sure.

Christina DiPinto  42:06  
Yeah, Udub definitely does. I've looked at their classics program before, just for fun. 

Evan Franulovich  42:10  
It's a good program, right? 

Christina DiPinto  42:11  
Yeah. I mean, obviously it's UW they've got a lot of great programs. 

Evan Franulovich  42:15  
They have a lot of great programs. Okay, next question, I know you hear from students a lot, and they say, 'Do I have to pay an application fee?' 

Christina DiPinto  42:23  
Yes, you do. There is a $50 application fee.

Evan Franulovich  42:26  
$50 bucks. And why do we charge a $50 application fee?

Christina DiPinto  42:30  
That is because of the processing fee? 

Evan Franulovich  42:32  
Yes. 

Christina DiPinto  42:32  
And how much it costs for our staff and our admissions team to review all the paperwork go through it, you would be shocked at how long it takes them to go through an application because things don't line up correctly. Things are missing, documents are missing wrong things are submitted.

Evan Franulovich  42:48  
$50 does not begin to cover the cost of our review time. For sure. I think the other nice thing about charging an application fee is it kind of weeds out people that aren't super serious.

Christina DiPinto  42:57  
Yeah, it definitely does, because that was an issue at the other university that I worked at. Just having that application,  that way, you didn't have a bunch of people just submitting mass applications with no intent to enroll. 

Evan Franulovich  43:09  
Right, right. It's a waste of everybody's time. At City U, did you have to have a SAT or ACT score? Do you remember? 

Christina DiPinto  43:19  
I don't think so. 

Evan Franulovich  43:20  
I don't think so. We don't require it here either. We're open mineded. 

Christina DiPinto  43:27  
It's been a while since I looked at their application, but no, they were open enrollment too, as long as you have the minimum GPAs.

Evan Franulovich  43:33  
What was the minimum GPA there? Remember? Good question. We're digging up the pass here. You don't have a minimum GPA either. I get a lot of, I don't know about you, but I get a lot of students who send me messages. They're like, Hey, these are my scores. Do you think I can get in? I'm like,

Christina DiPinto  43:50  
yes, okay,

Evan Franulovich  43:52  
And why can they get in? We have open enrollment. We have over enrollment. But that's kind of a term that a lot of students may not understand. What does that mean? Open Enrollment?

Christina DiPinto  44:00  
Yeah, I think that is a term that's confusing and also sounds almost like, 'What do you mean anyone can get in?' But it's a public access school, which means we are a pathway to an affordable education. So we want you to come. We want you to get that education, which means we are not creating barriers towards it.

Evan Franulovich  44:17  
Right. You still have to prove yourself, like if you want to go to those really great schools we talked about, you still got to get a great GPA show that you can do it. They're not going to give you those grades. You have to earn them.

Christina DiPinto  44:28  
And once you're in, you do have to maintain your GPA while you're in classes. You can't just not show up and not do the work. You have to do it and continue.

Evan Franulovich  44:36  
Then the other nice thing about community colleges is we take people from all ages and backgrounds. So even if you've been working for 10-20 years, you can come and work on a degree in the United States. We had a woman from China on the podcast, and she had been a lawyer in China for years and years and years and years, and then decided to come here and do our accounting program. It's amazing. She passed the bar in the United States while she was working on her bachelor's degree. 

Christina DiPinto  45:05  
That's crazy, because that's not easy. 

Evan Franulovich  45:06  
Yeah, check out that podcast if you are joining us recently. Season Three. Well, really interesting. We have one more question. This one's probably going to be the toughest for you. What is the last movie you saw in the movie theater?

Christina DiPinto  45:27  
I couldn't tell you the last time. 

Evan Franulovich  45:28  
This is a tough question for people.

Christina DiPinto  45:30  
I don't go to the movie theaters often. Most of the movies I watch are on planes and they're reruns, because I don't pay a ton of attention to them.

Evan Franulovich  45:39  
Okay. What was last great movie you saw on the airplane? 

Christina DiPinto  45:47  
That's embarrassing, because it's not gonna be a great movie. 

Evan Franulovich  45:49  
Okay. 

Christina DiPinto  45:51  
Going back to the theater, I think the last one I saw in theaters was probably the Barbie movie, because I do remember seeing that one.

Evan Franulovich  45:56  
A lot of people say the Barbie movie. What do you think? 

Christina DiPinto  45:59  
I enjoyed it. It's better than I expected it to be. 

Evan Franulovich  46:02  
I liked it. I thought it was cool. 

Christina DiPinto  46:04  
Yeah, I definitely liked it more than I thought I would, but I had no clue what it was gonna be.

Evan Franulovich  46:10  
Did you play with Barbie as a girl, young girl?

Christina DiPinto  46:15  
We had the tiny Barbies. They were smaller. I don't remember what they were called.

Evan Franulovich  46:20  
More like the action figure Barbies? 

Christina DiPinto  46:23  
They're this big, I don't know, like Polly Pocket things. I don't remember exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  46:27  
Cool. 

Christina DiPinto  46:28  
I mean, probably for plane movies, like I said, I watch a lot of reruns that I don't want to focus on. One of my last China back and forth, I made it through most of the Harry Potters. 

Evan Franulovich  46:37  
Wow. It's a long flight. 

Christina DiPinto  46:40  
It's a long flight. I think I made it through like three per flight. 

Evan Franulovich  46:42  
Did you fly direct to Beijing from here?

Christina DiPinto  46:45  
You can fly direct to Shanghai. I haven't flown direct to Beijing yet. I know on my flight back from China this upcoming trip, I have a layover in Seoul.

Evan Franulovich  46:56  
How long is it to Seoul? 

Christina DiPinto  46:59  
I haven't even looked yet. 

Evan Franulovich  47:01  
Shanghai is what? 12 hours?

Christina DiPinto  47:03  
Shanghai is 12-13 hours. Last time it wasn't direct to Seattle, but it was to Vancouver, and that was nice, because I like that airport.

Evan Franulovich  47:12  
Oh, in B.C? 

Christina DiPinto  47:13  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  47:14  
Cool. Well, those are the questions. Didn't quite do it, but that's okay. 

Christina DiPinto  47:20  
Almost there. 

Evan Franulovich  47:21  
We won't give you too hard a time. Normally, if we have international students, I ask them to say something in their first language, but you're a native English speaker and you're not a student, but you do speak French. You speak any other languages? Did you pick up Gaelic while you're in Ireland? 

Christina DiPinto  47:35  
No, I didn't pick up that. I tried learning German and Chinese for a while, but I would not count myself even remotely fluent.

Evan Franulovich  47:42  
Okay, are you doing Duolingo to learn Chinese?

Christina DiPinto  47:47  
I was doing Duolingo for a while, but then it got too advanced for me.

Evan Franulovich  47:50  
It gets tough pretty fast. What about the students here? You know, they might be able to help you out with some Chinese. 

Christina DiPinto  47:58  
They probably could, but my accent is pretty bad. 

Evan Franulovich  48:01  
It's hard. 

Christina DiPinto  48:02  
It's very hard, even when I was trying to say things when I was in China, last time I ended up having to pull up my Google Translate.

Evan Franulovich  48:13  
So be prepared if you come to see Christina at one of the fairs in China, she won't speak Chinese.

Christina DiPinto  48:21  
You speak Chinese though, you could have done it. 

Evan Franulovich  48:23  
I could have, yeah. Do you hire a translator to sit stand at your table?

Christina DiPinto  48:27  
A lot of the times, the schools will have a student translator who stands with me.

Evan Franulovich  48:30  
That's great. And they're pretty good? 

Christina DiPinto  48:32  
They're fantastic. 

Evan Franulovich  48:33  
Wow. Do you ever hook up with alumni in China, people that have gone to school here?

Christina DiPinto  48:39  
I have not done that yet, but I've only been to China once, so this is going to be my second trip, so maybe this time, or maybe next spring when I go.

Evan Franulovich  48:49  
Or if you're a Chinese student, alumni out there, you can send her a message. Say, 'Hey, I'd love to see you. We'd love to have you hang out at the table with us and just talk about, who knows Seattle Colleges better than the students?' Well, very cool. Last question I always ask on the show is, if you've been a study abroad student, you've lived overseas, so what advice would you give students in Europe, China, or any of your regions, really, if they were going to be a student, international student, what would you advise them? What wisdom would you give them?

Christina DiPinto  49:26  
Firstly, I would say, be very organized. Know what you need to do and have it prepared. I think it's getting harder and harder every year, so just make sure you have all of that organized. 

Evan Franulovich  49:35  
Yeah. 

Christina DiPinto  49:35  
And then secondly, just do it there. 

Evan Franulovich  49:37  
Just do it. 

Christina DiPinto  49:38  
It is a fantastic experience, and you learn so much about yourself and about the other culture. And yeah, I absolutely loved studying abroad, and I kept going back, so it's worth it. 

Evan Franulovich  49:49  
But were you nervous the first time you did it? 

Christina DiPinto  49:52  
I was nervous every time, but it goes away.

Evan Franulovich  49:54  
Yeah, for sure. Just do it. That's really good advice. Is there something you think they should really put in their suitcase? I had a student say they didn't really bring a heavy enough coat. But I don't think Seattle gets all that cold. I mean, it does a little bit.

Christina DiPinto  50:15  
It depends. I mean, I did the same thing when I went to France. I did not bring enough warm clothes because I was living in Southern California at the time, and then all of a sudden, it was December in Leon. 

Evan Franulovich  50:26  
Yeah, chilly. 

Christina DiPinto  50:29  
But I don't want to say you can buy anything you need, because that's not necessarily true. 

Evan Franulovich  50:35  
Especially when you're a poor student. 

Christina DiPinto  50:36  
I ended up walking around in a leather jacket in the snow. 

Evan Franulovich  50:39  
I don't recommend that. 

Christina DiPinto  50:40  
I don't recommend it. But for the most part, there's nothing that you absolutely have to take. Seattle's a huge city. If there's something that you need that you're missing, you can buy it. You can also ask your parents to send it to you. 

Evan Franulovich  50:54  
That's true. Getting packages is getting more challenging, though. 

Christina DiPinto  51:00  
That's true. 

Evan Franulovich  51:00  
I just read in the times, there's a whole list of countries now, because of some of the things that are happening, they're refusing to send packages now. 

Christina DiPinto  51:10  
Oh, I don't know it was all packages. I thought it was just...

Evan Franulovich  51:12  
Small packages. So I would guess it'd be like, DHL, FedEx.

Christina DiPinto  51:17  
I heard those ones were pausing it, but I thought it was for purchases. I didn't know it was all packages. 

Evan Franulovich  51:23  
Maybe, I have it wrong.

Christina DiPinto  51:25  
No, I didn't finish reading the article. 

Evan Franulovich  51:28  
One of us might be wrong. So we advise you to do your research. 

Christina DiPinto  51:32  
Do your research.

Evan Franulovich  51:32  
Get out there, because you may not be able to get a package. Yeah, I didn't expect some countries, Belgium was on there.

Christina DiPinto  51:39  
Yeah, I was reading about DHL and I think that's Germany.

Evan Franulovich  51:42  
Yeah, we want you to be able to get your packages. Well, good to meet you. Christina's desk is right behind mine, so she gets to hear me sneeze and make sounds. Yeah, you're very quiet though, I don't hear you typing loudly or belching or anything, so you're very quiet. Allen's quiet. Gina is not as quiet as you guys. I hear her a lot. Well, cool. Have a great trip. 

Christina DiPinto  52:20  
Yeah, thank you, and you too. 

Evan Franulovich  52:21  
Thanks. I leave tomorrow. If you're in Africa, I'm coming for you. I'll be in Belgium first though. All right, thanks for coming. You guys, thanks for joining us every Wednesday, right here on 'Conversations with!' Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Season Four has begun. Thanks for being with me. Appreciate it. Bye, bye.

Evan Franulovich  52:48  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.