Volume 27 · Number 1 · Fall 2009
End Notes
Happy quarantine to you
Paul Capito was ready to celebrate after a weeklong quarantine in a Japanese dorm.
Paul Capito, a third-year history major from Davis, will never forget his 21st birthday — well, at least most of it. Capito was one of 20 UC Davis students who were quarantined in a Kyoto dormitory for a week beginning July 3 as a precaution, after one of their Japanese tutors was diagnosed with H1N1 influenza (also called “swine flu”). Despite the lockdown, a Japanese friend sneaked in some drinks so Capito could celebrate his July 7 birthday in “somewhat typical American fashion.”
“Needless to say, I was able to make a fool of myself,” Capito wrote via e-mail before coming back home from the month-long study program at the end of July.
So what do 20 college students do for a week in a foreign country if they can’t get out to see the sights? Eat, sleep and watch movies. Oh yeah, and continue to take some classes. Capito said he was able to get about 10 hours of sleep a night — so he was well rested for the next weekend when he and his classmates made the most of being out of the dorms.
“We kept being told that we would look back on the quarantine experience and laugh,” Capito said. “However, I don’t think that will ever be the case.”
Mother/daughter graduates Emelia and Marta McFarland (Ryan Chalk/The [Vacaville] Reporter)
All in the family
When Marta McFarland of Vacaville enrolled at UC Davis, her mother, Emelia, decided to join her.
“Marta was my inspiration for returning to school,” Emelia recently told her hometown paper, The Reporter. She went back to college after a 20-year absence to obtain a second degree in fashion design.
One of their biggest challenges was working around each other’s schedule so they could commute together. As for another?
“The biggest problem was her stealing all of my friends,” said Marta who double-majored in international relations and Spanish.
The duo celebrated their graduation in June and are looking to blend their talents in the future. “Since we went to college together, I want to tie in the rest of our lives,” Marta said. “Maybe with a major international fashion business.”
Watching Big Brother
Russell Kairouz ’07, a Walnut Creek real estate broker and mixed martial arts fighter, joined a dozen other cast members of the reality show, Big Brother 11, which began airing July 9. Kairouz, who earned a bachelor’s degree in communication, is described in his short online profile as “loud and brash.” He was a member of the Aggie wrestling team for three seasons before a motorcycle accident ended his collegiate career. Among those who tuned in to watch was Lennie Zalesky, UC Davis’ wrestling coach, who said he remembered Kairouz fondly.
“He was always very positive,” Zalesky told the Davis Enterprise. “He was usually smiling. He’s a very likable young man.”
Kairouz made it to the 22nd episode before being evicted. He got to come back as part of the jury when the show’s $500,000 winner was decided in the Sept. 15 finale.
Kairouz is the latest in a line of reality TV cast members with Aggie ties. Most recently, UC Davis student Dallas Imbimbo and his mother, Toni, reached the final four on The Amazing Race, before bowing out in a December 2008 episode.
We’ve got friends
Fans of UC Davis’ Facebook page surpassed 10,000 in July, and the total was still climbing as this issue of the the magazine went to press. Care to join them? Visit Facebook.com/UCDavis. Created in spring 2008, the UC Davis page offers campus news, videos, discussion boards and links to UC Davis Facebook groups and more