One of the great things about attending the Rose Cafe is having the opportunity to learn about various topics that I would be unlikely to encounter otherwise. At the Rose Cafe with Paul Wilcox, the Honorary Secretary of the Achilles Club, we learned about the Transatlantic Series, which is a track and field competition pitting Ivy League schools in the United States against universities in the United Kingdom. It originated in 1894 (which predates the modern Olympics!), and in its current iteration, Penn and Cornell team up against Oxford and Cambridge, with the location of the event alternating between the universities.
As an avid sports fan, I personally feel that such events are truly awesome. When we think about college athletics and also professional athletics in today’s world, there typically is little interaction between sports teams in the United States and teams in other nations in numerous sports (ex: NBA, NFL, etc.); this is unfortunate since I have always believed that sports possesses a unique unifying power for human beings. Having such events as the Transatlantic Series can be crucial for breaking down barriers and experiencing cultures from all over the world. The fact that the event involves college students is especially neat, and it seems like a bit more exciting and shortened version of studying abroad!
You make a really great point that even within the United States, there is often little interaction between different regions or institutions. I had not fully considered how the Transatlantic Series not only forms created unity between different nations, but it also facilitates unity and sharing within a nation. Facilitating unity within a nation is certainly not something to be taken for granted, as is becoming increasingly clear in recent times. This sharing within and between nations reveals that the differences that divide people often do not compare to the commonalities and bonds that unite them.