"You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?" --- Dr. Seuss
Dear friends,
Photo Credit: Shunying Wang
The first 7 weeks of the semester have passed rapidly, in a speed like a time traveler's machine. Sometimes I like to lay reminiscing about the new student orientation days like they happened not too long ago. But the reality never agrees-- it always reminds me about how many days I have already lived through and how old I have gotten. I am only 20, but it felt like forever.
Photo Credit: Shunying Wang
I love that time is often forgotten at PLU. It is ironic I know because time is also mentioned every single day -- deadlines for homework assignments, fixed time periods for courses and on-campus jobs, and scheduled times for group meetings -- we deal with time all the time. But time is often forgotten because it slips through my fingers when I get so involved with school work and activities. I never need to worry about getting bored. I am never bored.
Photo Credit: Shunying Wang
It also makes me smile when I get around people. I am a people person. Human interaction is my soul food. My days progress faster when friends are with me. When walking around campus, my favorite thing is to spot those whom I know of. Not to be creepy, but to have a little chat with you or to simply wish you a good day is all I want. My name is Shishi, or Shunying if you can remember. Please say hi to me if I didn't see you. I would love to hear about how you have been.
Photo Credit: Shunying Wang
Photo Credit: Shunying Wang
And then it is the colors of autumn. I cannot stress enough about my love and passion for season autumn. I mention autumn leaves at least once a week. I am being repetitive and redundant I know. I don't mean to annoy anyone, but PLU has a enchantingly colorful campus in fall that is too beautiful to forget.
Photo Credit: Shunying Wang
One more week to push through, until we can officially end the first half of this semester. Good luck and good day.
Happy October! The first month of school went by really quickly! I realized that I never really talked about the things I get to do as a Psychology Major, so let me tell you 4 things that I really like about studying psychology at PLU.
1. Interesting classes- Although Psychology 101 (Intro to Psychology) teaches you the general concepts in psychology, the specialized psychology courses at PLU take you through concepts from different perspectives. For example, I took Cultural Psychology last year, which taught me the cultural differences in the ways people think and behave. Currently, I'm taking Psychology of Women, which is mainly discussion based and goes over the psychological differences with women.
2. Contributing to real-life research- In my stats class, we are working on a survey project where we collect surveys from participants and write a research paper. What's cool about this project you ask? We have three projects that we can choose from, and two of these projects contribute to real-life research. So we not only get to do this for class, but we are also contributing to real-life research by being
part of great opportunities like this!
Xavier in the snow!
3. Great professors- So far out of the psychology classes I've taken at PLU, I've never had a professor that wasn't helpful or knowledgable. I have visited them during their office hours with questions about class or about my future, and they are always willing to help.
4. The psychology building- A lot of the psychology classes happen at Xavier. What I love about the building is the big classroom. It looks like something that would be in in Harry Potter!
It feels nice to write again. When the summer is leaving in silence, the fall returns. Like I would always tell you, my favorite seasons, fall and winter, are just right around the corner. I appreciate the happy, sun-shiny days, but what I love the most are the colorful, leave-dancing fall and the magical, mysterious winter.
***
I had been luckily involved with the International StudentOrientation a week before the school started
and got to be one of the orientation guides. Being able to meet new students from all over the
globe was the most exciting event on my summer calendar. Frankly I was not prepared for school mentally or physically after the orientation. But I kinda put myself together. So a big shout out to myself! Who am I?
Photo credit: Yannet Gudeta
I am a senior carrying 17 credits(full load) this semester, along with 3 part-time jobs on campus.
What do I do when I am free?
I interview people, create and edit video stories, and write stories for the student media (school newspaper, tv station).
I hang out with friends in the library or the coffee shop near by to
finish students' never-ending nightmare-- homework. And I am also active
in club activities.
Photo credit: Yannet Gudeta
That being said, I am a SUPER busy person!
Many friends think that I am crazy when I told them how many things I am trying to do at the same time. I get tired at times, but the truth is:
I enjoymycrazylifeverymuch.
The more activities I am involved in, the more human interactions I get,
and the more HYPER I become! And believe me, friendship is the most
valuable assets you can receive from college experience.
Ready for a quote? Here we go...
"You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose."― John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson
I don't know if you guys remember but I posted something about Campus Employment last year but I did not really talk about my job. For those of you who are interested in Campus Employment, please visit this link: http://pluinternationalstudents.blogspot.com/2013/01/working-on-campus.html
However, stay tune for 5 Things I love About My Job
Thing #1: The Golden Name Tag Can you think of a better color for a name tag? I don't think so. Even the iPhone is gold :) . At PLU, all staff, faculty members, and student employees will get their own golden name tags. We wear it with pride!
Thing #2: The $$$
Most of the positions on campus are minimum wage but did you know that minimum wage in Washington is $9.19/hr? Federal minimum wage is only $7.25/hr. And therefore, although you are making minimum wage, you still make a lot more money than a lot of other people from other states :)
The best thing about on campus employment is that if you keep the same job, they might increase your every semester. And if you are a student lead at your department, you might make more than $10/hr.
For RAs, like Loana, I know that they get paid differently than others so you might want to ask Loana more about this :) she is super friendly, she won't bite, ask her :)
Thing #3: Leadership Training In the beginning of each year, we have Student Leader Institute (SLI) that provide us with awesome leadership training where we can meet other student leaders on campus. SLI usually lasts for 3 days. It might seem short but we've learned so much from it and I am trying my best to apply it wherever I go, not only at work, but also in class and at my internship place.
I can show you one of the interesting video we watched at SLI. The video below show us to think outside of the box, to do things that we are passionate about, and to lead others.
Photo credit: SLI. Here's the group picture of Student Leaders at SLI 2013
Thing #4: Friends and even More Friends Part of my job is to talk to prospective students who are still in the process of choosing the best university for themselves. I talk to them on the phone, via email or via any other social media sites out there. It is so fun to be a part of the voice of PLU to represent who we are to the new students so they can join us.
Every year, we create many on campus events so other students around the area can come and visit. We even take our own PLU Students to local community colleges for their events so we can make new friends and learn more about each other.
Orientations are the best times of the year. We do 2 orientations/year: Fall and Spring. And as you can see, I get to hang out with a lot of cool people. Besides the important stuff that i have to present at orientation, I also drive people for shopping trips and that's when all the fun begins :)
Photo credit: SLI. Intl Students Fall 2013
Thing #5: YOU GUYS, I'M FAMOUS
Just kidding, I am not actually famous. I just like to think that I am, haha. But guess what, once in a while, I get to be on brochures and flyers that the University sends out :)
With Loana and Shunying :)
Back when I was super tan
Happy Reading
I guess what I am trying to say is that it is easy to get a job but it's hard to keep doing what you're doing if you're not passionate about what you do. Find the things you love about your job and think about them when time gets hard. I think it's the easiest way to get me motivated and I hope you can find at least 5 things you love about your job.
Summer is over and we are just getting back into the groove of things here at PLU! The second week of classes have started and the homework piling up again. C'est la vie.
I had a great summer vacation, visiting my family and friends back home, but I was definitely having serious PLU withdrawals during the three months I spent away. I missed my roommate, neighbours, wingmate, co-workers, classmates and the PLU population in general!
I also missed the PLU campus! It is so beautiful!
This year I was a part of the International Orientation process that helped me during my first year here. Orientation involves several information sessions specifically to help international students, fun activities and trips to get acquainted with the area around PLU and the available transportation.
Intl Students waiting for the bus!
We took a trip to downtown Tacoma to get the new students familiar with the surrounding area! We had put together a photo challenge for the new students. They got a map with locations where they had to get pictures of their groups! It was very fun and people got pretty competitive!
Photo: David Chen
Some of the great Orientation Guides!
It was awesome working with such wonderful people!
During orientation we took a trip to Paradise Bowl, the local bowling alley, where we knocked some pins! The new students are very good bowlers!We also took a trip to some of the local flavors of Garfield Street, Rayna`s and Ferrelli`s!
Photo: David Chen
We were mostly hanging out in the Diversity Center!
This room is filled with comfy chairs, couches, pillows and they often
have snacks. This is a place where students come to hang out, have
discussions, sleep or do homework!
A fun game of Apple's to Apple's in the Diversity Center!
Photo: David Chen
President Krise and his wife invited all the new students and staff to his house, the Gonyea House! It is such a beautiful place and they always have wonderful food and drinks! We never miss an opportunity to dress to impress and the new students looked great while having conversations with the President and mingling with other new students!
Many of the Intl students at the Gonyea House.
We had the highest number of new international students in 10 years! To make it better they are a great group of people that I was privileged to get acquainted with. It was very sad when orientation ended and we were no longer together everyday, but I meet many of them around campus and they seem to have grown accustom to the PLU way of life. I’m so proud of you guys!
With such a big group of new Scandinavian students, we have also restarted the Scandinavian Club again! We had our first meeting of Fall 2013 a few days ago and it was a great success! Many domestic students and international students gathered to get to know each other, more about the club and to join us in sharing some tasty Norwegian waffles! Yum!
