This is a nursing home I went to while volunteering with the Tzu Chi Foundation. While we were there, we kept the elderly company and also helped them wherever possible. This was a truly humbling experience.  Going to the nursing home really taught me to cherish those around me because they might not always be there. Also, I have a greater appreciation for my time as it seems like just yesterday I was a freshman in college. I will continue to do community service with this organization and help the Columbus community anywhere I can.

I participated in a New Year ceremony with the Tzu Chi Foundation volunteer group. We performed a sign language song from Buddhist texts and gave blessings to those attending. I’m not religious so this was truly something new for me. However, the group was very welcoming and didn’t ostracize me for not being Buddhist. I had never really thought about anything spiritual but now I may have to read up on some of Buddha’s works.

Here my friend is defending his Alzheimer’s thesis to a board of supervisors and scientists here at OSU. I attended his defense to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease because my maternal grandfather is suffering from it. Also, since I am pursuing a degree in business and Chinese, I rarely involved with STEM events. STEM has always been an interest of mine and as much fun as it is to be a part of the International Affairs Scholars, it’s nice to see other events. I believe that it is important to be attend events not part of my major so that I can expand my horizons.

This is a pair of Traditional Chinese Lion Dance lion costumes. I taught three of my classmates how to do a lion dance routine so that we could perform at the Language Festival here at OSU. It was quite the learning experience for me as I had to teach my classmates who had no idea what this was in 4 days time. However, despite the time crunch we performed spectacularly! It was a true pleasure to share a bit of my culture with others. The story behind the lion dance is that every new years day, monsters and ghosts would return and haunt everybody. The lion dance was a means to scare off the monsters and ghosts so that they would not come back for another year. Among all of the fun events I have gone to, I think this one trumps them all. Teaching others is an amazing thing.

I went to a Kendo Tournament at Case Western with the OSU kendo team. I wasn’t participating in the tournament but I learned a lot about Japanese culture while I was there. For lunch, we ate a traditional Japanese bento lunchbox. In an age where the Middle East, China, and Russia dominate American media, experiencing Japanese culture was not only a breath of fresh air but also a truly educational time. Kendo is such an ancient martial art form that it feels like I’m looking back in time. I can’t wait to participate in the next tournament!

During the summer of 2016, I went to Taiwan to study Mandarin Chinese to further develop my Chinese skills. However, learning isn’t all done in the classroom so I also went around Taiwan to experience what Taiwan had to offer. Here two of my friends and a former OSU Chinese teacher also happened to be in Taiwan where we took this O-H-I-O photo in front of Taipei 101. Studying abroad really broadened my horizons and helped deepen my understanding of what it means to be Taiwanese.