Zoo Trip

I want to preface this blog by admitting that I forgot to reread the directions to this assignment before visiting the zoo. I got a little too caught up in the moment because I was so amazed by the animals that I forgot to take photos of those around me. Just so you know that I'm not lying about going to the zoo, here is a picture of me and my roommates who came with me!

 

To make up for the fact that I forgot to take photos of those around me, I have an amazing story that shows the contagious nature of laughter. While we made our way up the platform, surrounded by greenery that made it look like we were in a rain forest, we came to the lion exhibit. My roommates and I as well as some other zoogoers stood in front of the majestic lion who was sprawled out on the ground. He sat up suddenly and everyone in the crowd anxiously awaited to see what happened. This giant lion began to try to throw up a hair ball, looking like a domestic kitten. I instantly start cracking up. When others around me heard me laughing and realized what was going on, they joined in too. Before you knew it, this giant crowd was laughing so hard about this giant scary cat trying to throw up a hair ball. It was honestly one of the funniest experiences!

 

 

P.S. To brighten up your day here is a picture of two elephants who are totally in love.



Negative Humor

One of my roommates this year has a very interesting quality. By this I mean that she is sometimes a little bit racist. I love her, but it pains me to hear her make ignorant comments about people of different races. It demeans the years of work and progress that our country has taken to even get to this point.

On a Sunday, my roommates and I were walking to the BLUU, when she saw a Mexican man walking down the street with a thick moustache. She made an innocent joke saying "he looks like my gardener". Normally, I would have just laughed and dismiss this joke, but because of Lit&Civ II, I had a heightened awareness to negative humor.

To me, the comment was so uncalled for. She had no reason to assume anything about this man's life and it was kind of the final straw for me. This negative humor provided me with a gateway to talk to my roommate about how I felt about her attitude's towards people of other ethnicities. No one deserves to be treated as anything less than a human.

I hope that my roommate is able to learn, as I have, the effects of negative humor on our lives and the way we perceive those around us. I have noticed that by trying to cut down on negative humor I am much more accepting to those around me. By not looking for their flaws as a means to make a joke, I am able to celebrate people's differences instead of bringing them down for them. I sincerely hope this is a lesson that my roommate will learn soon.

Learning Reflection #3

Just yesterday, one of my classmates from high school passed away. His passing provided me with one of the biggest learning experiences I have ever encountered. Never take the ones you love for granted and always reach out to those who are struggling, because you don't know what that could mean.

Manny Vargas graduated from San Marino High School in the 2013 class. He transferred into our high school from a different school district. We had all gone to school together since kindergarten, so it took a lot of courage for him to enter into the social scene. The moment he stepped on campus, his infectious smile and contagious laughter blessed everyone that had the opportunity to know him. He was one of my good friends Freshman year, but we lost contact throughout the years.

On Sunday, Manny popped up on my newsfeed on Facebook. I seriously contemplated messaging him to let him know that I hoped he was doing well, but something inside of me decided not to. I wish so badly that I would have had to the courage to reach out.

On Monday, May 4th, 2015, Manny passed away by suicide. He threw himself in front of a moving train at a station in Los Angeles. I was devastated when I heard the news. It pained me so much to imagine how much sadness he must have felt to do something like that. Manny's smile and laughter will never be forgotten, but he has served to provide us with such a beautiful lesson.

Our time on this earth is limited and we need to remind those we love each and everyday of how much we love them. You never know if it's going to be the last time that you see them. I don't want to go a single day without telling my family and friends how much they mean to me. If I lost them without telling them, I would never forgive myself. Also, it is our duty as humans to help those who need us. I wish that I would've reached out to Manny. Maybe it could have made a difference. I never want anyone who feels that way to feel like they have no other option.

Manny will live on in our hearts. He will be dearly missed. RIP.

Learning Reflection #2

This spring break, I was able to go to NYC with the TCU Neeley Fellows program. This trip provided me with so many experiences to grow as a student and a professional. I came into the trip with a negative attitude, if I am being completely honest. I was homesick, tired, and felt beaten down. I didn't see myself working at any of the companies we were visiting, and most of all I couldn't see myself living in NYC. I came in with preconceived notions of what the city would be like from my past visits and my sisters experience. Lets just say all of that was pretty far off.

I started out the trip with a fun surprise. I missed my 8:00 flight out of DFW. In complete panic, I had to find a way to make it to NYC somehow. I without a doubt learned to always give myself some cushion time at the airport after a snow storm. I made my way to Lovefield Airport, waited in the terminal for 7 hours, and boarded a Virgin America flight to NYC that would land very late at night. So late in fact, I had to stay the night with my friends in the Bronx at Fordham University.

The trip began and we started visiting companies such as Footlocker, that I had no interest in before. Seeing the day to day life of an employee at a company like this showed me that I was in the right major. If I liked what they were doing at Footlocker, a company I had no interest in, then I was on the right track. My biggest learning experience came from visiting some Advertising Agencies such as VML and Translation.

I don't consider myself a very creative person, so marketing was really off the table for me at that point. I walked into VML and was captivated by the relaxed and innovative environment. I learned all about a job called an Account Manager, which is basically a person who uses management skills to serve as a link between the creatives and the clients. What they were doing was so interesting to me and I envisioned myself working there. I had no idea that through this trip I would find my future career aspirations and fall deeply in love with a city, that I had no intention to fall in love with.

Here's to the future!

Learning Reflection #1

This year I got a permission number from the business school to start taking classes for my major already, even though I am just a sophomore. I got lucky enough to have been admitted into Opportunity Recognition with the inspiring Michael Sherrod and I have truly learned so much throughout this class. Looking back and reflecting upon the wealth of knowledge that I have gained from this class, I know that I am walking away a better person, student, and entrepreneur.

Professor Sherrod has started multiple million dollar companies, including Digital City, which he sold to AOL for $400,000,000. Hearing such a large sum of money I instantly thought he would be a man that was motivated by this factor, that his success hinged upon his need for riches. At the beginning of the semester, this unbelievably bright man who was wealthy beyond belief looked the class in the face and told us that he had sold his mansion and his luxury car and had opted for smaller more realistic models, simply because he saw that those things were not making him happy.

We followed this conversation by reading The Monk and the Riddle. A book that outlines the Entrepreneurial journey and our tendency as humans to opt for "the deferred life plan". In essence this means, putting off our passions "in the short run" in order to pursue money. However, how this usually plays out is you wake up one day when you are 50 and realize that you're working a job that you actually hate. The book prompted us to explore how our passions and entrepreneurship intersected. It did not say that we aren't suppose to work hard or do things that aren't at times enjoyable. This idea really stuck with me. I long so much to find a career where I feel like I can wake up everyday, and maybe not enjoy it for each one, but at least know that I am making a difference.

The second and final learning experience that really stuck with me from this class is the idea of questioning everything as an entrepreneur. The world around us is teeming with inconsistencies that we are too blind to even notice because of our need to confirm our own biases. We as humans need to be actively searching to question authority, the way companies are being run, our own actions, and really everything that surrounds us to open our eyes to the world of opportunity that surrounds us. By practicing this discipline, it was amazing to see how much I realized, simply by opening my eyes.

Conversation Partner #6

For my final meeting with Vena, I met up with her and her sister for the Conversation Partner Social. It was so gratifying to see Vena interact with all her classmates. Each and every student was so unique, coming from completely different backgrounds. When I arrived, Vena squealed with excitement. She was so excited to introduce me to her friends. She had so much pride when she told people that I was her conversation partner. It was very sweet. Vena took me to go get some cookies and we played the most boring rounds of Apples to Apples of all time.  Playing a word pun game with foreign exchange students was a bit challenging.

I was able to meet both Hunter and Nikki's conversation partners as well. Getting to see two of my friends interact with this person that they had form such a special friendship with was really cool. Both of their partner's had such admiration for them. It really hit me that this thing that we were doing was more than just hanging out; it was making real friendships.

We gathered all of out conversation partners and were determined to find a more fun alternative to Apples to Apples. I ran over to the side and grabbed Jenga, hoping that they would like it. To my surprise all of us knew what the game was, no matter what country we were from. I can't really explain it but I felt such pride building that Jena tower up with Vena. Sharing something as stupid as a game with three pillars sounds a little ridiculous, but it made me feel closer to her. We played four of the most intense Jenga rounds in the history of the universe. When the day concluded I gave Vena and her sister a big hug and told each of them how special they were to me. Both of them expressed how much it had meant to them to have me as more than just a conversation partner, but also a friend.

Conversation Partner #5

I went to Potbelly's with Vena and her sister for dinner. Our last meetings conversation over the value of money in Taiwanese culture stayed in my mind. I wanted to know more about their culture and how it had influenced their outlook on life. I began the conversation by asking them if they had put any thought into a career that could make them happy and make them money. They said that it was a dream for them now, but they didn't think it was a reality.

They began to expand more upon the topic and about how the need to make money effected family life, so this became the center of our conversation. They explained that both men and woman had to work; there wasn't even any other option. I asked them how they could possibly raise kids and they responded that they would make it work. I expressed my want to have a big family and they asked me how many kids I wanted. I responded that I wanted four. They sat there in shock with absolutely no response. It was almost like they had never heard of someone having 4 kids before.

In order to get over the silence, I asked them how many children people have in Taiwan. They said that most people only have one and if they are rich they have two. To me it seemed like their evaluation on whether or not to have a kid was completely economic and not at all about the happiness that a child could bring.

I continued that conversation by asking them if either of them had boyfriends. Vena, in her normal sassy manner, responded that she was single; however, her sister told me that she had a boyfriend back at home. She talked about him in a very distant manner. I asked if she missed him or if it was hard for her to be away from him. She said no and asked me why I was always feeling "homesick" for those that I loved. It seemed to me that she and her boyfriend had only been dating for a bit, because they did not seem to have a deep and meaningful connection. In addition, when I asked Vena what she thought about him, she said that she didn't really know him very well.

I asked how long they had been dating and she said that they had been dating for ten years. Ten years. Her lack of sadness because of their separation was interesting to me. I wondered how Vena barely knew her sister's boyfriend if they had been dating for that long. The depths of how their culture had shaped them was evident to me. She was in this relationship because he could give her two things for her future, money and a child. One of these two things was not love. I'm not trying to be ethnocentric, but this value of their society brought me a lot of sadness. Maybe just because I know that both of them deserve so much more than what they expect.

(P.S. I learned an interesting fact in this meeting both Vena and her sister are in their 30s.... I thought they were 22. Looks like it's time for me to invest in some night creme)

Conversation Partner #4

I met up with Vena and her sister for dinner at Pizza Snob for our fourth meeting. They were a little overwhelmed at first with making their own pizzas, but did an excellent job communicating. In past meetings I had talked with them a little bit about the culture in Taiwan, but wanted to hear more about it. I was intrigued to see how their experiences here had differed.

The most interesting part of our conversation centered around money and passion. Both sisters informed me that they had received their bachelors degree back in Taiwan. Vena had majored in computer science and her sister had majored in accounting. I asked them what had prompted these decisions and their answers were quite interesting to me. Vena shrugged her shoulders and her sister bluntly responded, "to make money". I sat in silence for a while, questioning these responses. I asked a simple question in response "do you like it?". Both answered with a fervent NO.

I know in American culture there are many people that work in areas they may not be passionate about. I am not arguing that. BUT, I do think there is a large difference between something that maybe is not your favorite and something that you disdain. Many people that I know that have opted for a "deffered life plan" by putting their passions off until they have made enough money at least majored in something in college that they enjoyed. Maybe later on in life, or after graduation, they chose a job because it would make them more money. Very rarely have a talked to someone who majored in college in something that they absolutely hate. I believe that Americans maybe value money to an extremely high degree, but I also do believe that we don't value it to the extent that we would put ourselves in the state of absolute and total unhappiness to attain it. There are people who do this, but I believe that most of American citizens are not this way (but then again maybe I am naive and idealistic).

When I voiced my concerns to them, they asked me what I wanted to do when I get older. I said that I just simply want to do something that makes me happy. This idea was so foreign to them that they laughed in my face. Most Americans might not hold my same idealistic nature, but deep down inside might have that same yearning. For Vena and her sister, there wasn't even a yearning because this idea was so foreign to them. I asked them bluntly would you rather have money or be happy. They instantly blurted out that they would rather have money.

Seeing how much their culture revolved around this idea of money above happiness was very saddening to me. Imagining Vena working for the rest of her life in a job she absolutely hated brought me a lot of sadness. I dream that one day both of them could find professions that could both bring them money and happiness.

Incident of Unrestrained Laughter #2

As I discussed in my Conversation Partner (3) blog, I took it upon myself to teach my foreign exchange partner slang words in English. One of the obvious choices to teach her was the infamous "YOLO", coined by the rapper Drake. Just incase you are culturally inept, YOLO means "you only life once." It has been equated to the carpe diem of our day and age, urging people to go out and seize the day and do something crazy because.... you only live once.

I was that annoying girl in high school that would say YOLO to anything anyone said, just because I wanted to grind people's gears. To say I love this saying is an understatement. I think it is so tacky and overused that it has become funny to me. Seeing that I already has a base appreciation for the word, the events that unfolded created a perfect situation for unrestrained laughter.

I explained to Vena that the next word I was going to teach her was YOLO. I tried to explain that it was an acronym; however, that concept was a little over her head. I broke it down by drawing her a diagram and showing her how the letters related. She got the acronym concept, but didn't seem to grasp the meaning of the saying. I asked her if she knew what it meant. She confidently looked me in the eyes with her sweet and innocent eyes and said "yolo is when you really hungry, but you don't know what you want to eat."

Reflecting back on it, it really isn't that funny, but I cracked up. I just could not stop laughing. Overtime, my incessant laughter caught on and we were both busting up in laughter as she realized what she said was pretty far off. For me, the pure incongruity between what she thought it meant and the real meaning was so funny. I just couldn't fathom how she possibly could have even made something like that up. To say that I wasn't expecting that response would be an extreme understatement. The incongruity of the situation for me resulted in unrestrained laughter, not at her expense but instead at the cultural differences that existed between us.

The affects of this experience were two fold. First, I was really able to see how laughter is uncontrollable. It is simply just a bodily reaction that is triggered inside of us. Seeing Vena bust out in laughter, even though she really had no grasp on what was happening showed me that sometimes we can simply just laugh because others our laughing. Second, just as with the last experience, the situation created a large bonding effect between us. Now YOLO is kind of like our inside joke. This fit of unrestrained laughter was able to give us a bond that could only be created by the universal language of laughter.

Incident of Unrestrained Laughter #1

During snow days this February, my friends and I had a brilliant idea. Being the idiots we are, we strapped on some rollerblades, conveniently forgot that none of us knew how to rollerblade, and set out on a hallway adventure. What seemed at first to be some casual wipeouts, set up a scene for an incident that would cause me to laugh harder than I have in a long time.

We started by just rollerblading up and down the hall with a casual spill, but this became too trivial for us within a few minutes. I'm not sure who, but one of us got the brilliant idea that the person on the roller blades would go to one end of the hallway, while another one of us would run behind them to build up momentum and give them a little push to let them fly. On the first few tries, we were all extremely hesitant, scared to get anyone moving too fast. Being the daredevil that I am, I insisted that everyone was being wimpy and commandeered the rollerblades for my personal use. Just as I was tying on the second blade, my third roommate, an ex-soccer player, returned home. I insisted that Kylee would be the person that would push me.

Let me preface this. Kylee is the only person that I know who lives life with as much disregard of fear as I do. Because she hadn't seen any of the other runs, she had no idea how much momentum to give me. Just because she is someone who gives her all in everything she does (in addition to her extremely muscular legs and long stride), she started booking it down the hallway. I got halfway down the hall way and I was flying. Before I knew it, she had let go. There was a moment of perfect clarity, where I was staring at my other two roommates, with cameras in hand, at the other end of the hall and felt like I was on top of the world.

Lets just say that feeling did not last for long. In a split second, all 5'11 inches of me, dressed in baggy sweatpants and a shirt with my roommate's grandma, came crashing down. My butt skid across the floor for a solid few inches and my knee banged into the wall with a lot of force. The moment I wiped out every single one of us fell into a fit of unrestrained laughter. There were tears streaming down our face and no one could even catch their breath. The reason it was funny, is that you knew that it was coming. There is this tremendous tension that is built up while I fly down the hallway, and a monstrous release when the inevitable happened, epic failure.

This incident had a tremendous affect on all of us. I can't even count how many times we have watched that video. I think this situation of unrestrained laughter created an extreme effect of solidarity between us. It is a moment in our lives that we will never forget, because it really was that funny. This was a specific moment in my life where I really was able to see the bonding effect of laughter and its ability to bring people together.

Chinese Humor Presentation

http://prezi.com/zex4zj07crc7/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Conversation Partner #3

On March 26th, Vena and her sister met me at McAlister's for dinner. While our first two meetings were more serious, allowing us to get to know each other on a deeper personal level, this meeting was full of joy. Because all of the my anxiety had been resolved in our last meeting, I came into this one simply excited to spend more time with them. We waited in line to order our food. I feel very protective of Vena and her sister in public, because I see how people look at them. In such a homogenous culture such as Texas, anyone who looks or speaks differently than the "southern norm" is put under a microscope. Growing up in California, with a graduating class that was 75% Chinese, I have a deep appreciation and tolerance for immigrants limits. I do not feel that a lot of people share this respect. People will give them impatient looks when they cannot understand what they are saying or roll their eyes when they cannot understand what is said back to them.

When Vena made it up to the counter, she rocked it. She stumbled a little bit on her words and got a little bit confused, but kept her composure and was able to communicate effectively with someone who had little tolerance to her limitations. Immediately when we sat down, I commented to her on how much improvement I saw in her speaking ability. Being a humble person, she incessantly denied my compliments, giving herself no credit. Both her and her sister fixated on the fact that in class they were learning things like "how are you" and in real life people will say things such as "what's up". Their inability to understand this slang was extremely distressing for them. What seemed like a point of weakness for them led into one of the most entertaining conversations that I have ever had in my life.

I took it upon myself to teach Vena and her sister slang words. We started with the basics like "sup" and "nothing much". Later we moved on to some throwbacks such as "yolo", "homie", "down", and "rad". To get them really culturally up-to-date, I taught them the words "turnt" and "ratchet". This conversation resulted in endless laughter on the incongruity of these slang words that we view as so common in our slang vernacular. To say that I left that dinner with a smile on my face was an understatement. Vena sent me the sweetest text message after telling me how much she appreciated me taking time out of my schedule to meet with her. She sweetly signed off yolo.

Conversation Partner #2

On March 10th, I had the opportunity to meet up with my conversation partner Vena again. I was nervous seeing that I hadn't met with her in over a month. I think I came into this experience with very skewed expectations of what this experience would be like. Even though my first encounter with Vena had been nothing but enjoyable, I still came into this meeting viewing this as a class assignment, something that I was being forced to do. Despite everything I had learned about Vena and her sister in our last meeting, I still had the same sense of anxiety that this meeting would be awkward.

Let me set the record straight. After hanging out with Vena and her sister at the bookstore for the second time, they are not just a class assignment, they are my friends. They are people I deeply enjoy spending time with and getting to know on a deeper level. We talked for two hours about their life in Taiwan, their hopes and dreams for the future, and their family. I am constantly astounded by their strength and courage to pick up everything, move across the country, and work tirelessly to make their dreams a reality. Both of them want to be business women back home in Taiwan, but faced the reality that in order to be successful they needed to be able to communicate in English. It was eye opening for me to see how much influence our culture has in foreign countries. After this conversation, something of gravity hit me, which seems so simple, but is a serious realization. At the core, Vena and I, were the same. We had similar dreams and values. Looking at her, standing at 5'2 speaking scattered English, she is almost a polar opposite of me, but in the end of the day we are all human. We all share an innate need to be wanted and needed, to be in community, to share laughter.

I know we are told to never talk about politics, personal matters, or religion in public, especially not on a public forum for a class that has no relation to these subject; however, I would not be true to myself if I didn't address this. Conversing with Vena and her sister has brought me a much deeper spiritual understanding of God's creation. He made each and everyone of us in his own image; we are all fearfully and wonderfully made (in my opinion.... anyone is free to disagree). When Vena shared with me that she was a Christian and had been attending church in Arlington, it hit me hard. This connection that I felt with Vena and her sister, despite the abundance of cultural differences was a connection that couldn't be explained by words, but instead in a share relationship and devotion to our Creator. There are certain things that God has simply blessed the world with, universal love languages to express our joy in his creation. One of those is laughter. Looking at Vena, I understand the beauty of his creation in such a pure and simple way. She loves tirelessly, lives her life in courage, and has a dependence on her Lord and Savior. A lesson like this is so much greater than a class assignment, it is something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Funniest Comedy Film of All Time: Anchorman
Best Scenes: http://scenecreek.com/lists/funniest-8-scenes-anchorman/
Best Quotes: http://www.ifc.com/fix/2012/03/anchorman-one-liners
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-WhOERP3ng

Conversation Partner #1

When we were told that we were to receive conversation partners for this class, I was instantly intrigued. I had no anxiety about my ability to make conversation with a person I didn't know, especially someone of a different culture. That has always been a talent of mine; I can talk to a brick wall. However, on Friday, waiting in the bookstore, the anxiety hit me. I realized how little ("in theory") I thought Vena and I had in common. She is an adult in her 20's who just moved to Texas three weeks ago from Taiwan and I am a teenager born and raised in California. I sat there pondering the endless scenarios of awkwardness in my head. Vena walked in with her sister and I instantly knew it was her. Her small 5'3 frame was dwarfed by all 5'11 inches of me. She came up introduced herself and her sister and we waited in line for coffee. I started out with a simple question, "How did you decide to come to TCU", in slow and plain English. All I got back was a blank stare. The depths of our communication barriers hit me, and for some reason I panicked. I don't know why... I have been on three week long missions trips to Central America and found a way to communicate despite my atrocious Spanish. I learned to be patient, to clarify meanings as many times as needed, and to use gestures until the message was received. I also learned that despite cultural backgrounds, in the end of the day, we have so much in common. If you just focus on common factors that are universal such as laughter conversation will follow. Despite all of my experience, I had forgotten these simple facts. I reminded myself of my strengths and made a resolution just to have fun and get to know her. I left that anxiety behind as soon as we sat down and there was an instant connection. Conversation just flowed. We talked about her time in Texas, her experiences in Taiwan, and why she decided to study English. I told her that I had gone to a high school that was 75% Asian, and shared with her my knowledge and experiences with her culture. I showed her a bit of the Mandarin that I knew, which really served to break down walls. By putting myself in a situation where I was vulnerable and showed weakness, it made her more confident to ask questions about my culture and language. To be honest, when reflecting back I can't even remember specifics about our conversation. This might at first seem as if it was because the conversation was mundane, but it was the exact opposite. I wasn't trying; I didn't feel forced. I just sat down, laughed, and listened with open ears. Before we knew it, an hour had passed. Vena is such a sweet and loving girl. I was astounded by her courage to pick up everything and move to America. I left the meeting with an overwhelming sense of happiness and a realization that I have a lot to learn from her.

What makes you laugh?

Apparently I didn't get the memo that we were suppose to be asking our peers about the definition of humor and laughter, as well as the implications of negative humor. So instead, I simply just asked them what exactly it is that makes them laugh?

Claire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7ldd7bVb8

Kylee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc3-c67l6Is

Grace:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjYt0Syy8yg

Literature & Civilizations Definitions

I interviewed my brother and his roommates on what they thought the definitions of literature and civilizations were. They came to a pretty clear consensus. All in all, they viewed literature as written works that display some type of meaning. In addition, they saw civilizations as groups of people living with one another. My brother added the fact that he viewed civilizations as a system of people that have a governing body or some type of order. They thought that in this class we would be surveying literary works throughout different civilizations in order to compare and contrast.