Winter Break & J-Term!

Hello again,

This is Joel and I'm excited to be back, blogging about my adventures and life happenings since December. In December, I went back to Malaysia for 10 days and had a blast! I had not seen my grandparents for over 3 and a half years, and many of my friends for over 5 years so that was an awesome time!

I did so much in Malaysia: I had a big photoshoot with my relatives from my dad's side, had a Christmas party with my friends, and spent a lot of time with my parents, grandparents, friends and cousins!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Myself, parents and grandpa!

 

Us cousins :)

 

Victor, myself and Adric (Childhood best friends)

 

Christmas party with the classmates!

After the Malaysia trip, I returned to the U.S. and had drill weekend with my National Guard unit in January. It was extremely cold but I learned a lot as we dealt with a live hand grenade range. It was my second time throwing a live hand grenade and I enjoyed it tremendously!

 

Over J-Term, something huge and amazing happened in my personal life as well, I started dating this wonderful lady, Jayden, whom I've known for quite some time now. She's also in an Army ROTC program and she's from Illinois! We've been together since January and the next time we'll be together again, she's coming to visit Washington :) 

 

 

Jayden and myself at the Chicago Bean!



  

I'm excited for what the future holds for us. I will also be graduating and commissioning in about exactly 3 months from now, and am ecstatic about becoming an Infantry Second Lieutenant with the U.S. Army. Wish me the best of luck!

 

 

May 25th 2018 :)



 

Traveling during Winter break and J-term ✈ - - - ✈

Hello everyone ~ 👋  I am back again after the break 😋 .

SO this blog is to brag about how great my J-term break was haha 😂 😂 🙈 . During the break I went back to my hometown in Vietnam and I was able to travel so much during this time 😆 . 

In Jiufen Old Street

First, I went to Taiwan with my sister, it was the first trip ever that is just the two of us. Although we did argue for some time for like where we need to go next *😒 * just like some other travelers, we had so much fun together! 💕 💕  It’s always going to be my favorite trip 💛 . Taiwan is truly pretty and cute! Definitely wanna go back there in the future 😍 .

Then I spend New Year Eve in Nha Trang with my family. We had so much seafood during this time, they taste so gooddd. Love that family time 💖 .

Vinpearland Nha Trang 

I also went to the northernmost point in Vietnam, Lung Cu Flag Tower. Got to see this proudly with my own eyes and not through TV like before 😌 .

My family's first dinner in Japan  .

My last trip was to Sapporo, Kyoto and Osaka in Japan! This trip has so much memorable moments 💝  . Our flight was delayed from Sapporo to Osaka due to a snow storm, and at first they said there would be no flight until 3 days later!😥 So then we had to spend a day in the airport, but luckily we found another airline that was still able to take off. It was so crazy but I’m glad I was with my family, and we even took a picture eating and sleeping in one of the couch in the airport haha 🙋 . Other than that pretty big deal incident, everything was just perfect 😻 . Every single thing I had in Japan was bomb, they taste soooo amazing that I just wanna be there forever 😆 . Anywhere I went was like art, beautiful houses and beautiful nature. It was a great time ❤ .

Arashiyama area 

Then I came back home and pack to leave for the US. Now I’m back to school. Haizzz 😩 .

Bonus: My family year end feast this year 

Anyway you all, tomorrow, Friday Feb 16 is Lunar New Year yayyy 💃 💃 💃 . This is the best time to be with your family. I’m sad that I had to leave one week earlier than the New Year's days 😔 . In Vietnam, we called Lunar New Year Tết. This year the broadcasting in Vietnam has this quote, “Tet is hope, Tet is to be back home.” 💜  I hope everyone to have a Happy New Year (Dog year this year! ) with lots of luck and all the best .

Bye everyone, good luck with study for this term, you can do it 💪 💪 💪 .

Best,

~Cloud~ 

Guest Post: Eirik's MBA Trip to India

This week we have a special guest posting on the international student blog. Eirik graduated from PLU in Spring 2015 however continued on with the School of Business to complete a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He has held two jobs while attending PLU, working both in Dining & Catering Services and as an assistant in the Scandinavian Shop section of the Garfield Bookstore. His Masters program concludes in June and he is actively searching for positions that may allow him to do an OPT year upon his graduation. This January Eirik and the MBA students accompanied their professor Gaurav Gupta to India. Read more about his experience below!

******

Hey everyone, my name is Eirik and I am a graduate student from Norway. I am currently an MBA candidate at PLU and in this J-term I studied abroad with my MBA cohort. The MBA program requires students to study abroad under their Global Business Perspective course, and this year we could choose between India and Costa Rica and I chose India.
It was only a 10 days trip in India but we learned a lot and visited a lot of different places all around India from the southern tip and all the way to the north next to the Himalayas. The purpose of this trip was to experience the differences in business culture compared to USA but most important the difference between American and Indian culture in general.

The one thing that you need to know about me is that I love food so the first thing I looked to experience was the cuisine. I always have been a fan of Indian food and I always though food like Tikka Masala and Tandoori Chicken was all over India but I was wrong. India is a country with different cultures and every different state has its own food. For instance food in southern part of India use more rice while in the North they use more potatoes, and they do not eat beef since cows are considered holy in the Hindu religion. Food such as Tikka Masala and Tandoori are famous dishes from Punjab province. Also another fun fact is that most of the food I saw and most of the people I meet where vegetarian which is quite interesting and good for the society.

Well that is enough about my passion for food. We did learn other things as well, for instance according to our first business lecture India has over 45 languages and 300 dialects (some sources indicates that they even have more languages and dialects.) One thing that I notice is that the culture is quite calmer and relaxing in India compared to USA. For instance things take time which is not good for an impatient Norwegian such as me. I call it Indian time where things are supposed to take an hour takes 2 hours or more. But I envy them though; they are appreciating the time more than what we do while we are always in a hurry.

Eirik at the Taj Mahal!

Other thing that I notice is all the poverty that we saw. Many people live in shacks covered with dirt and trash and I remember that we said that how we feel sorry for them, but the weird thing that surprised us is how happy they looked. Even though they lived in terrible conditions, they were able to appreciate what they had and where happy. If we compare it to the western world we like to complain about everything we have and do not have.

This trip has been amazing, I have seen and learned a lot, much more than what I have been mention here and I would definitely go back to India and see the rest of the country and meet all the wonderful people again. If you have any questions about my experience in India or my experience with the MBA program at PLU please leave a comment below and I will try my best to answer you!

Eirik

Studying Away While Studying Away??

If your an international student studying away at PLU you might be asking yourself if you can still study away through a PLU course. The answer is OF COURSE! Many international students study away during their time at here and go places they might not have been able to go previously.

I just returned from a month long trip to China and South Korea studying Business Culture (BUSA 496A). I was especially excited because not only was I able to visit a part of the world I had never been to before through an in-depth course, I was able to use the course to fulfill the final credits in my business minor!

The group was small, with nine students and one faculty member. I really enjoyed the small size as it allowed us to get really get to know each individual and there was no formation of cliques.

As part of the coursework each student was assigned days on which they would write about company visits, cultural sites, observations and comparisons of business practices in that country and the USA. Here are the links to my blog posts in three different cities:

Blog Post 1: Shanghai
Blog Post 2: Guangzhou
Blog Post 3:  Seoul




I also thought it would be easier to show my family my trip, than to only tell them in person or in writing. So I took a lot of footage, both picture-wise and video wise to use as visual aids when telling them about our adventures. I made a movie from each major city we visited, and you can watch them below!

If you have any questions regarding Study Away please feel free to message me or to go to the Study Away Website!

Madeleine
 Live Well. Eat Lots. Travel Often.

 ENJOY!

My First J-Term Experience

Hello beautiful people,

I hope that you're all resting well and taking good care of yourselves. The start of Spring Semester is quickly dawning upon us. In less than 24 hours, we would all find ourselves sitting in classrooms (again) while ferociously scribbling down notes. Our poor brains would have to readjust to 'school' mode. I also assume that most of our brains are thinking about Spring Break, or the weekend, dinner, lunch, my pet dog, his pet turtle and all of that good stuff.

Me studying 2 minutes before a test(http://media3.giphy.com/media/NN0hIFfU8htug/200_s.gif)

Sometimes your mind just blanks out in class

(http://i.imgur.com/t3kqK.gif)

Alas! That is the life of a student. I think we PLU students have it good though, we have extremely helpful and nice professors, a friendly community (everyone here's just so nice) and tons of awesome resources.

Anyways, I want to tell you all about My First J-Term Experience. Ever. Now, before you continue reading, I just want to let ya'll know that I forgot to take pictures during J-Term. Ha ha, I know right. I mean, I do have a few pictures (like 3) but I was too caught up with life, moving homes, classes, etc. But not to fret, I have a few awesome tools right in front of me that will help me portray my experiences of J-Term perfectly. Google images, the internet, my lovely keyboard and mouse. Yes, I will be using some pictures  from elsewhere to describe my feelings and life during January. Wish me luck!

Soooooo, how do I begin... Oh yes, the biggest/most significant thing that happened for me was moving. I moved out of my old place and into this new place that I absolutely love. I actually do have some pictures moving process. I had to rent a U-Haul van to move my furniture cause I had so many big and bulky items. 

Elliot the Retriever

My awesome housemates

Messy room = start of moving in

Well, I'm so glad that's over. I'm settled in this new house and it's been great so far.

For J-Term, I took an exciting Communication class called Communicating the Brand (COMA 387) and it's a special topics class. It was really fun and engaging. Professor Amy Young is awesome! :)

We talked about analyzing brand image, brand strategy, looking at competitor brands etc.  For this class, we worked with Safe Streets, a non-profit organization that focuses on neighborhood safety. We did a brand audit for them and for our finals we gave a presentation on their brand image and provided some recommendations. You can learn more about Safe Streets here: http://safest.org. 

Burger King trolls McDonald's
(http://i.imgur.com/ctYoZdf.jpg)

I really learned a lot from this class. I'm also confident that I can put what I've learned to good use in the future. Thank you again, professor. 

Finally, right at the end of J-Term, we welcomed our NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS!!! YAY! 

WELCOME TO PLU :)

Well, before that, on February 1st, we had a Superbowl party at the diversity center. That also coincided with the move-in day for new international students so we were helping them move in and were watching the Superbowl when we had time. Some new international students had never watched football before and they were trying to grasp at the concept of grown adult men wrestling and fighting for a ball on a field. Honestly, I was the same when I first arrived in the U.S. in 2012. But now, I love football! It's really a fun game to watch (not so much the commercials though). 

Our Superbowl party at the D-Center

Sadly, this year, the Seattle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots 28 -24. However, the Seahawks played an awesome game and was unfortunate not to win. We 12s will never back down and I read somewhere on Facebook that the 12s bleed blue and green. YEAAAAHHHH!!! #GOHAWKS #SUPERBOWL50ISOURS

SEAHAWKS
(http://images6.alphacoders.com/458/458506.jpg)

The next day, we had our official New Student Orientation (NSO) for the international students. It was fun meeting new people, making new friends and showing them life at PLU. A the end of the day, a few of the new students went for a shopping trip to get home essentials and stuff they needed.

Well, all in all, it was a great month. I really enjoyed my first ever J-Term.

Thank you for reading and take care always.

Sincerely,

Joel Goh

J-Term: Mixing Business and Pleasure

This J-term I decided to mix Business and pleasure... Literally. I decided last minute to add a Skiing class to my J-term schedule and I am not regretting it one bit! I am taking an intro to Business class four days a week and get to ski two nights a week! Who ever said that was a bad thing?

My Business class is very fun. We are split into groups and have to come up with a Business plan which we will present to "investors" at the end of the term! Our business idea is a glow-in-the-dark mini-golf course! So we decided to visit a real mini-golf course to do research and to check out "competition".

Business Team Bonding

For my skiing class we are split up into ability levels and have some days with instructors and some days with free ski! Our advanced group, the #geneteam, has the coolest instructor of all. His name is Gene and he is awesome.

#geneteam doing the #genelean!

It is nice to get up to the mountain and snow since it is still green down on campus and only getting warmer! The mountains really remind me of HOME <3

 Otherwise I am using my three day weekends wisely, bonding with great people, going on adventures,   sleeping and laughing. J-term goes by so quickly, you have to enjoy it while you can!

Studying at 208!

Live. Laugh. Love.

Madeleine

My J-Term

Hello hello :)

It's been a while since I posted something and I do apologize. I gotta admit, senior year is crazy. I have to not only work on school stuff but also my resume and my portfolio so I can get a job after graduation. Is it too early to think about "the reality" already, you might ask? Nah. It's never too early

So on a happier note, I just want to share with you guys some fun things I get to do over J-term to "de-stress" myself and I hope that you have your fun as well. College is stressful, work is overwhelming, and life is always hard so why not live to the fullest?

First stop, Seattle. This place is gorgeous. Here's a photo I took at Alki

Then I went to the Waterfront. If you haven't noticed, there's a Ferris wheel there and I did go up there. As you can see in the picture below, the wheel is literally on top of the water, so when your little cabin is going down, it almost feels like you are going to fall into the water. I'm afraid of heights (big time), so I might've sounded a little crazy when I described the wheel earlier :)

 

Next stop, Green Lake near University of Washington, Seattle. And FYI, the photo below is a raw image. Hashtag no filter.

My puppies are ready for a walk around Green Lake

 Want some Butterbeer in Seattle instead of flying all the way to Harry Potter Land in Florida? Come to Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery. This place is in Ballard, which is a little North of Seattle.

 And here's some photos I took on the Road :)

 

Last but not least, if you're like me and you enjoy being home and just relax. Here are some movies I got for Christmas and trust me, a day at home, wrapped in warm blanket, watching all these movies is like heaven :)

How is your J-term? 

It's ok if you're busy, just remember to take some times off for yourself to do something that YOU enjoy.