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I watched the presentation that the ODI here at OSU had on Ohio immigrants and their stories. As a first generation American myself, I found that some of their stories held similarities to my own parents and theirs. My father definitely had the most culture shock when coming to the states, as he did not move till he was well into his teenage years. His stories about education and learning in a third world country resonated with the ones described at the event.

The event as a whole spoke to me and my interests as a student here at OSU as well. I want to pursue educational and job oriented opportunities abroad, so I would no be surprised if I found myself telling stories one day of different countries like these fine folks shared. I hope to be so immersed in another culture and find myself as a individual and be able to experience life and moments that I couldn’t find anywhere else one day.

I attended my first online event for my IA scholars event. We went over various scholarships and fellowship programs that were specifically geared towards study abroad and other various international extra curriculars. The session provided me with lots of valuable information for my potential future abroad endeavors as well as important deadlines for applications. Some of the biggest takeaways I got from the meeting were:

• The more applications you send in, the better your chances are of getting accepted for one
• Good recommendation letters are incredibly valuable (bonus points if from Steven or your foreign language teachers)
• There is a lot of money to be had from various places, you just have to look and ask the right people
• Even if you don’t end up getting accepted, it is really good practice for interviews and just figuring out what you want to do with your career

Dec 4th 2019

I had the pleasure of joining my fellow IA and other scholars down in the Smith side kitchen for a late night breakfast. We all were gearing up for exams and took this Wednesday night to relax and prepare ourselves mentally for the task to come. The sense of community and belonging was a very welcoming aroma as well as the pancakes and syrup. I talked with a couple of my friends from the floor and realized just how well I had gotten to know a few from just being around them for the past couple of months. IA has given me a wonderful community and sense of belonging since my time arriving on campus, and I could not have chosen a better group to be with.

I had a nice conversation with a member from ACES that went to my high school. The world seemed so small for a moment, with the seemingly strange mixture of both high school and college colliding for a single moment. We talked about our grades and our lives since we had arrived, how much things had changed, and yet how we were still able to connect with the things that didn’t.

January 16th 2020

I attended the Spring SIF this past January and found some interesting clubs and activities to join in. Some of the following were just a couple that caught my interest.

• Japanese Student Organization – meets to discuss and learn about Japanese culture. This club peaked my interest since I am currently planning on minoring in Japanese and the topics they discussed seemed very interesting. They also have various community events that are based on overseas festivals and celebrations.
• Artificial Intelligence Club – brings in various guest speakers to do lectures on various AI related topics. This is very closely related to my major and also is generally cool to hear/read about in the news.
• Rock Climbing Team
• Buckeye Gaming Collective
• Engineers Without Borders

November 20^th, 2019

1. Australia and New Zealand Leadership Adventure
   1. A self-discovery journey that was prefaced by outdoor activities and leadership development in a foreign country.
   2. Their project was not strictly related to academic work like many of the other presenters we talked to, she seemed very passionate about how the STEP program could be used for self-improvement in a variety of fields.
   3. This kind of non-academic focused project interests me for the entertainment and enrichment purposes, but I personally am more interested in a professional development or educational experience.
2. Japan: The Nation in the Mountains
   1. A study of the history of public health and natural disasters of the island nation of Japan.
   2. The openness of the described people the presenter interacted with, especially about sensitive topics and the language barrier between Japanese and English
   3. This trip seemed both informative and entertaining, and it was set in a culture that very much interests me personally. I would definitely consider doing a similar project to this one.
   4. The trip was focused on the health and history of Japan, and had a focus on the procedures of a foreign country that could benefit the world one day with their methodology.
3. Deloitte Internship – Madrid, Spain
   1. An 8 week internship as a Security Innovations IT Intern with a Spanish company through the Fisher school of business.
   2. The presenter lived and worked in Spain without having any formal language classes during his time at OSU, his ability to adapt and succeed is very impressive.
   3. I would consider doing a project similar to this one, it had both career oriented and enjoyment aspects to the overall experience.
4. Global May China – A Collision of Two Worlds
   1. Summer semester study abroad trip set in a Southwest Chinese university focused on ethnic minority culture in China.
   2. The presenter was paired with a local Chinese student and the description of his friendship that formed between the two was both inspiring and heartwarming.
   3. I would like to take a more long duration, study abroad based project like this one, just to fully immerse myself in a foreign culture and get to know people across the seas.
5. Knowlton Rome Program
   1. An onsite study of the architecture, landscapes, and history of Rome along with a 3-day weekend to explore the surrounding cities.
   2. The whole project was done through the school of architecture, very well organized, and had plenty of extra time to experience the area of Europe as a blooming adult through studies.
   3. The overall organization and location is very intriguing to me and seeing real world applications of my studies would be gratifying and inspiring.

November 24th, 2019

I joined the IA community in watching the movie “13^th”. The film was deeply striking and brought light to an interesting side effect and phenomena I previously had no idea about. The film explores innate racial prejudice, specifically increased incarcerations of black men, that sprouted from the passing of the 13^th amendment.

My personal history with racism is limited but being of Asian and Hispanic decent has led to a few altercations in the past. The idea of being persecuted on something you can’t control about yourself seems both absurd and inconsiderate to me. The amount of crime that happens in this country from interracial violence and the way that society treats it all is so archaic, but the deeply rooted issues between groups of people is hard to usurp.

Films like this one that look at the history and effects of historical events help to provide context and give people a mindfulness to investigate solving issues. By knowing the lead up that leads to the modern issues, we can more effectively take the entirety of the problem into consideration before producing solutions.

The large amount of jail time being served in the United States, predominantly by only one racial group, shows the imbalance in judgement and rational of the courts. The using of fear tactics and inflated data creates both distrust and societal unrest, and to seemingly no end except racially charged prejudice. We cannot move forward as a collection of people when there is still some who willingly release falsified information and hold their own race as a point of superiority. The push for equality in America must come in more multifaceted means, both in legal and social scenarios.

REUPLOADED since the system deleted the previous post for some reason

August 29th, 2019

I spent some time at the Welcome Back Cookout on the Park-Stradley and Smith-Steeb lawn. This was during our first couple of weeks of being on campus, and there were many bright faces to meet and talk to.

The experience that I took away from the event was a sense of community and individuality of each person that I talked with. Everyone had their own story of origin, their own interests, their own lives to live; but at the end of it all we were all united by our common interest about the world around us.

The event served as a very good steppingstone to really connect to people with similar interests as my own and we were able to exchange contact information, chat about classes, and relax before the workload of school became too overbearing. While the event didn’t directly relate to international affairs itself, the idea of it served as a good starting point for any conversation. I spoke about topics that I would have never thought about with a normal group of random students, but the opportunity to bring up those topics was presented for the first time.

An interesting interpretation of the jam-packed campus was described to me by my brother before I began attending here. He said that everyone resides in small bubbles for the interests groups that they are involved in. When you find someone that you really connect with, they are typically overlapping in many of these bubbles. The campus becomes a much smaller place once you find which bubbles you want to be in. This idea of microcosms of people began to make sense to me once I started talking to people that I related to. It made the campus go from a grand, sprawling region to just lots of focused groups of people that I could connect to with others.

This ideology also has had its effects on my view of the world itself. Each nation and culture lives in its own bubble of interests. When we cross those lines to another place in the world, we can see into their lifestyles more clearly and find that we are all that different after all. The human connection that we share with all people will help us to live in a world of compassion and realize that we all must share this Earth together.

The biggest takeaway I had was a removal of some of the hesitations I had of college before coming here. I am not a very outgoing or social person, but once I find a group of people that I enjoy talking to, I become much more open. I hope to bring my passion and enthusiasm for my studies and use them to connect with those around me to enrich the lives of those around me.

October 19th, 2019

It was a chilly October afternoon on a Saturday, and I happened to be walking past the south oval and towards High St. Since it was El Dia de los Muertos, there was a festive display of skull faces and children running about in a courtyard. The event that caught my attention had little to do with the Hispanic culture, however. It was a display of traditional African dances and their effects on the modern dance moves of America.

They started off the event with a speech by the director of the group speaking about the universality of dance across cultures and the historical significance of dance as communication. There was a short display of traditional African drumming techniques and a small introduction of some of the most commons moves that were seen in their culture. This captivated the audience’s attention thoroughly, and the resemblance to some more modern dance moves could be seen clearly. The migration of these tribal movements and ceremonies were shown to have leaked into the modern culture all the way here in America to this day.

One demonstration that was particularly intriguing to me was when they invited audience members down to the stage to learn some moves and join in the dancing. They started by showing the moves, one at a time, and asking the volunteers to repeat after them. They started off shakily, but only after a couple minutes they were already moving with the precision and recognizability of the actual dancers. After they started playing traditional music to accompany the learned dance, their perceived proficiency only improved too. That whole exchange of culture and knowledge happened at such a fast rate, demonstrating the tendency for music and dance to transcend culture barriers and history.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and informative experience that helped to widen my lens of the human nature. Rather than just saying, it showed the visual similarity of the body in motion and what we can do as people when we open ourselves up to new cultures.

October 20, 2019

I don’t usually watch documentaries for pleasure, but the viewing experience of American Factory was beyond satisfactory. The film was well shot and directed, focusing on a recently reopened factory in Dayton, OH that had been purchased by a Chinese company. The story revolves around the worker’s adjustment to new management, having Chinese international coworkers, and realizing that the factory floor isn’t what it used to be. It beautifully interweaves an incredibly rich and perplexing story with real meanings of consumerism, the clashing of cultures, and the human condition. There are many conflicts that the film presents throughout, but I’ll talk about some of the ones I found particularly interesting.

The documentary prominently shows the interactions between the Chinese workers and the American workers as a point to demonstrate miscommunication and stereotyping from both sides. The Americans assume that the Chinese have a superiority complex and work extra hard to outshine and embarrass them. They think that the Chinese workers will undercut their pay and their hard work, and they have different standards when it comes to safety and work ethic. The Chinese see their English counterparts as lazy and uninspired. One of the Chinese presidents even remarks on the American educational system’s obsession with undeserving praise and how it leads to an inflated ego. Both sides make incorrect assumptions about the other, mistaking key characteristics of a few for the personality of every person. The film never outright states this fallacy but respects the attentiveness of the watcher and presents it in other ways.

They show the duality of backgrounds between American and Chinese workers, even how they intersect at times. The Americans lament the loss of their old factory and jobs, ones that were much higher paying and less work intensive. The Chinese struggle to adjust to life in a radically different culture and save their money for their families back home. This dichotomy of lifestyles perfectly illustrates the human condition and how everyone struggles with something in their lives. No matter how idyllic the other lifestyle seems, both have their own issues and must overcome the cultural divide to solve it.

This film speaks to my own heritage and even to this campus and its interesting relationship with international students and inclusivity. I feel as if there exists a cultural divide between the students here on our campus, due to a language barrier and a sense of familiarity. Most people are not willing to break from their known culture to enrich themselves, and the fear of being caught in the middle between your people and another’s is often enough deterrence. This is not to say there is hostility amongst the two groups, but any friendships past courtesy are few and far between. If this documentary has anything to teach us, we must share in our commonalities of being human and rejoice in each other’s strange and different ways of life. It’s only through discomfort and venturing out can we grow as people and understand the world at large.

September 6th 2019

I have been interested in nation of Japan for almost a year now, studying both in class and on my own time. One of the most fascinating aspects, to me, is the relation of both the culture and language have heavy influences from other nations. They use a derivative symbol library from the Chinese and have many modern words based off English and German. Japan’s connections to the world around them is deeply implanted in their nation and customs. All of this is why an interaction like having an atomic bomb being dropped on them is so interesting.

The presentation was given Michiko Yamaoka, the daughter of an atomic bomb survivor and activist for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan. She spoke about the historical background of the decision to drop the bomb and her mother’s personal story of living a couple miles out of the city. Her description of the bodies, screaming children and mothers, and rivers running red with blood were haunting. She remarked that her mother could not keep herself from crying every time that she recalled those events.

The sentiments of the Japanese people were brought up many times throughout the presentation. Ms. Yamaoka was very adamant in saying that the Japanese people did not hold any ill will or spite towards the Americans, not even to those who flew the planes with the bombs. They believe that they were merely following orders and trying to end the war as quickly as possible to spare the most lives possible. Their incredible humility and progressiveness were both humbling and shocking. To have such a sense of worldliness to not prioritize a Japanese life over an American life is stunning.

Ms. Yamaoka’s closing remarks were about peace and forgiveness. She says that if people can learn from the horror and death of the events that happened at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, then the pain would have been worth it. If the world wants to avoid such a tragedy from every happening again, we must learn from our past and come together in solidarity.