Of the dozens of campus events I have attended while here at Ohio State, Taste of OSU was undoubtedly one of favorites. From the wide variety in delicious foods to the incredible cultural dances being performed, there was not a dull moment in the Ohio Union on the night of February 15th.

I have always been fascinated by different cultures, and I love trying new things, especially food. Therefore, ever since I heard about taste of OSU during the very first week of college, I knew it was going to be the perfect event for me. The moment I walked into the Union on the day of the event, I was overcome by joy; The loud music, colorful costumes, and people of various ethnicities taking pride in their heritage made me excited to learn more.

I first tried Indian frybread, a sweet dough coated in honey or jam. I then tried chicken and rice from the Bangladesh booth, and some empanadas. All of the food was incredibly flavorful and unique; there truly is not any other event that I could have tried so much at once!

My favorite part, however, was not the food, but the dancing! Before taste of OSU I had no idea that Ohio State offered so many clubs for so many different cultures. I was genuinely in awe by how talented these people were at dancing, and I was impressed by their courage to perform in front of everyone just to share their culture.

Because of this event, I now have a greater understanding, appreciation, and respect for cultures all around the world. I had no idea Ohio State represented so many different backgrounds, and I am now more aware of and interested to learn about all of the ethnicities that surround me daily. I learned so much about diversity, food, and other cultures from Taste of OSU, and I would attend again in a heartbeat.

HackOHI/O 2018

From 7:00am on Saturday October 27th until approximately 6:00 am on Sunday October 28th I was in the Ohio Union ballroom with about 800 other students from all over the country coding and working to create high-tech solutions to challenges given by large scale companies.

I created a team with some of my friends from my computer science engineering Java class, and we worked all night. The beginning of the day went by very quickly. Enterprises such as Honda, Chase, and even the Ohio State environmental council first presented their challenges. Then we, the students, got time to brainstorm ideas and decide whether we wanted to try to build a solution for one of the companies or if we simply wanted to build something else (like a game) on our own.

My friend Annabelle and I decided we wanted to use this time to further learn about the functions of Java, so we chose to build the game Mastermind while other people in my group got a start on the layout of how to create a program that uses algorithms to detect fake news. The start of the Mastermind  project went very smoothly. We used our knowledge from class to create methods and an outline for the game. This only took about an hour. However, it took about more 8 hours, much research, determination, and some expertise from a Google worker to work out a single issue in the code. The expert fixed our problem using a technique we have not learned yet, which made me feel better about not getting it right away, and made me happy to learn something new.

Although this is much longer than I would have ever expected to work on a game, I can truly say I learned so much from that experience. Despite the frustration, I never gave up. I didn’t ask for help from an expert until I had exhausted every other idea in my head and option on the table. The satisfaction of the game working properly now makes all that time and effort worth it.

HackOHI/O 2018 was a fantastic experience, and I cannot wait to do it again next year,  and see what I learn then.

My Educational Tour Around Italy

In the summer of 2016 I took a 10 day long trip to Italy with a small group from my high school and some teacher chaperones. Little did I know going into the trip that I would come back to the states with an abundance of gained knowledge, incredible friends, and new a perspective on life.

Our tour began in Assisi, Italy, a really small, yet beautiful town right in the center of Italy. While we were there, I got to admire the magnificent churches, wander through specialty shops, and eat some amazing dishes (the rosemary infused olive oil roasted potatoes were to die for!). While in Assisi, I also learned to make pasta by hand, and I started to pick up on some of the cultural differences such as paying for public restrooms and greeting people with “Buongiorno ” .

Two days later we traveled to Florence, stopping in a small town called Orvieto for lunch.  Florence was full of music and art and life; it was by far my favorite place I’ve ever visited. Florence was beautiful and there was so much to take in at all times. We walked the 400+ steps to the top of the Duomo (definitely worth the hike), ate some gelato, and went to the Accademia museum to see wonderful, historical art.

Our last pit stop was in Rome: a city that was just full of history. I honestly believe I learned much more on a few days of touring than I could have in a year long class back home.

My trip to Italy truly gave me a new perspective of culture, an appreciation of food and friendships, and above all a passion for travel. I think this trip not only made me more independent by being in a new place essentially alone but it also made me a more well-rounded person and student by teaching me to be curious and eager to learn . I cannot wait to study abroad in college to widen my horizons even more!