2020-2021 Year in Review

I’m not sure if it’s possible to begin a Fall 2020 – Spring 2021 review without a cliché, so I’ll just go for it. This school year was unlike any other. Everyone, not just the first years, had so much to adjust to. We all had to make sacrifices that we (probably) never had before. But through it all, I have grown, learned, and experienced so much during my first year at The Ohio State University. I’m not saying there’s nothing I wouldn’t like to change, but my time here so far has been amazing. I know that will continue for the next three years.

I’m not even sure where to start. Last semester, I took third-year Russian, Intro to Linguistics, Intro to Psycholinguistics, and Software 1 (plus a couple required seminars). Looking back, that sounds like a pretty simple schedule. It didn’t feel like it at the time. I spent the second and third weeks of my time at OSU in on-campus COVID isolation. I tested positive (which proved to be a false-positive after multiple other tests) and had to leave society for a while. Thankfully, all of my in-person classes had Zoom streams available, but living alone in a hotel room for eleven days was not my idea of a good start to my time at OSU. That experience made me realize that I wasn’t untouchable. While I never actually had COVID, I easily could have. My family has been extremely lucky when it comes to avoiding COVID (partly due to incredible vigilance and adherence to safety precautions), so it was almost easy for me to take its absence in my life for granted. Not so after my experience in isolation.

After being released into the world again, I started focusing on joining student organizations. I ended up joining the Association for Computing and Machinery Women’s Chapter, a small organization called Code 4 Community (C4C), and the Underlings linguistics student group. I also spent time attending weekly Linguistics research discussion groups to get some more exposure to the field. C4C became one of my main focuses. We spend weekly meetings designing and implementing small computer programs that, when finished, will be used to teach students at local Columbus schools. Because of the pandemic, we had to put our workshops on hold, but thankfully we were able to begin those again (online) in the Spring semester. This semester, I helped give two virtual student workshops (using a program that C4C members completed a year ago). What we get to teach is dependent on what program we use for that specific workshop, so I got to help teach students about writing basic programs, using while-loops, and writing their own methods. Each workshop has been a great experience for me (and hopefully the students as well). Next year, I hope to be able to be the Outreach Coordinator, meaning I will lead and organize the workshops. As an introvert, I was a bit nervous about applying for this position, but I know it will be a great learning experience for me.

This semester, I’ve been able to get a little deeper in all of my majors. I’m finishing up my Phonology course right now, and it’s been my favorite course of the whole semester. I got just a brief look into phonology during my introductory linguistics course, and I didn’t realize how fun it could be. Phonology is the study of sound systems, like what sounds can appear next to what sounds, what sounds can begin/end a word, and what sounds are actually just variations upon one underlying sound (each of these being language-specific). To me, it’s just like looking for patterns and trying to figure out why those patterns exist. I’ve been having a blast. However, this is just my first core linguistics course, so I’m not sure if I love it because I love phonology or if I love it just because I’m finally getting deeper. Either way, it’s been great, and I’m excited to move onto Semantics next semester.

I also started getting involved in research this semester. I’ve been working in the Speech Perception lab to get some “hands-on” out-of-the-classroom linguistics experience. I’ve spent a lot of time annotation sound files and learning about phonetics. I’m not exactly sure how long this work will continue, but I’m excited to see where it takes me next.

Outside of academics though, I’ve found that the pandemic has made me a bit more closed off. COVID has made it harder for everyone to get out and meet new people, and I haven’t been doing a good job of fighting that. So I’ve decided that next year I will be joining one of the concert bands here on campus! I started playing trombone in sixth grade but haven’t had time to continue it here at OSU so far. I’m really excited to “get back to my roots” and meet a bunch of new people along the way.

As expected, this year had a lot of ups and downs. But, through it all, I’ve been improving as a student and as a person. OSU has proven time and time again that it’s the right place for me, and I’m so looking forward to continuing my journey.