Tag Archives: life

My College Bucket List

By Ning Hannah Teoh

As I enter my final year at USC (oh, how the time flies), I have been reflecting on my time here. Unfortunately, I was one of many who had their freshman year disrupted by the onset of COVID-19. I am also one of many who have decided to graduate early, finishing my degree in three years instead of the traditional four. Now, instead of having four years to explore USC and LA, I have two due to the time lost during the pandemic. In an effort to get everything out of my USC experience I possibly can, I have created a college bucket list for myself. Today, we will be exploring this list together and tracking the progress I have made on my bucket list so far!

  • Make new friends

This goal of mine is somewhat intuitive and is probably the cornerstone of all incoming college kids’ bucket lists. However, this was particularly important to me. I grew up surrounded by a relatively homogenous community— mostly upper middle class, English-educated, Chinese people. I grew up in a privileged bubble, and thus was never able to fully recognize the privilege I had. It was then important for me to consider diversity as a factor in choosing my colleges. Choosing USC has been one of the best decisions to this end, as I have had so many meaningful conversations with people from diverse backgrounds and personalities. I have grown by getting rid of my isolated bubble and listening to the people around me. The beauty of diversity is that it inspires growth and empathy. While this is a goal I set for myself in college, this is merely just a stepping stone. Nonetheless, I am so glad that I have come across great friends and that we have mutually taught each other so much. 

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  • Learn how to cook

I would say that this goal of learning to cook has sufficiently been achieved. The other day, I successfully made my own dumplings! As a clumsy child, I was never allowed in the kitchen, let alone allowed to handle a knife. Cooking has always been a sign of independence and self-sustenance for me. I knew that coming to the United States, approximately 8170 miles away from home, that I would be alone and fully independent for the first time. Being alone meant that I would have to learn how to take care of myself. Thus, I began my culinary journey of learning how to blanch vegetables, season (generously), and not trigger the smoke detector. I can proudly say that my meals are edible, and quite tasty even! The next step: to branch out into different cuisines and really put my culinary skills to the test. 

  • Get involved on campus

I have had the great pleasure to be a part of several organizations on campus that are near and dear to my heart. I have met some of the most compassionate and uplifting people through the organizations that I am in and I am eternally grateful to have met them at USC. Perhaps one of my biggest takeaways I had from joining on-campus organizations was how much a community can empower you to experience personal growth. There has been a lot of learning and un-learning, realizing potential and affirming boundaries. I have learned to delve deeper into advocacy and meaningful social activism. I have developed professional networks and had great mentorship opportunities. Even through the One-on-One Conversation Partner program, I have met people from all walks of life and learned so much about them and from them. As an international student, it can be daunting to explore the variety of clubs and societies, especially when you are unfamiliar with the culture of extra-curricular involvement like I was. But I believe that the vibrancy of the people and campus can best be explored by taking the first step of getting involved. With the variety of options and opportunities on campus, there’s something for everyone. 

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  • Figure out my interests

A fun fact about me is that I switched my major and minor combination four times in the span of two semesters. One of the reasons why I chose to come to USC was the flexibility USC offers to explore different majors. I went from a Global Studies major to a Political Economy major and then an Economics major, and I also went from an International Relations minor to an East Asian Area Studies minor. I will be honest— I did not even know that all these options were available to me in the first place. Through some of the most interesting classes (and some boring ones), I managed to flesh out what I truly enjoy and what truly excites me. I’ve come to realize that Economics is more than just the technical aspects of the economy and includes interesting insights from sociology, public policy, and psychology. Some of my favorite classes at USC were from my interdisciplinary minor that allowed me to explore culture, politics, and history focused on the East Asia region. I have to thank resources such as the Dornsife Major and Minor Fair and my academic advisors in helping me discover my options. As I enter my senior year, I have also come to integrate my academic interests with my professional development. Now that I have hashed out what interests me, I am excited to see where it takes me. Will it be a career or graduate school or a gap year?— that’s for my post-graduation bucket list to figure out.

  • Be an extra on a TV show/movie

I have yet to achieve this. But I believe that one day, I will. I await the time where my friends will catch my on-screen cameo and send a picture of me living out my acting dreams now that I attend school in LA.

So, that was my college bucket list. As you can see, I have achieved some parts and am still working on others. Creating a bucket list is a great way to figure out your goals and set them in motion. What’s on your bucket list? 

Featured Image by Levi Guzman on Unsplash

Hannah is a junior at Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, majoring in Economics and minoring in East Asian Area Studies. Born and raised in Malaysia, she has a background in interacting with multiple cultures, languages, and heritages. She has also spent some time in Boston, Massachusetts, and briefly studied abroad in Osaka, Japan. Aside from English, Hannah is also fluent in Malay, proficient in Mandarin, and conversational in Cantonese and Korean. On campus, Hannah works for the Financial and Business Services and is involved in the International Students Assembly. In her free time, she loves going on food trips, listening to music, and simply enjoying a good conversation.

Hit Reset and Climb Out of Your Rut

By Nathan Kim

Rut: a habit or pattern of behavior that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change

As we are reaching the midway point of the semester, it’s easy to become unmotivated and exhausted from the ever-increasing pile of work. I know that for me, I’m finding it harder to get up each day and consistently keep up with balancing my school life, social life, and personal life. It’s a constant battle to not feel burnt out and keep on working hard each day, but I’ve tried to combat this by utilizing some methods to regain that drive again and get out of this rut. Here are three ways you, too, can escape that feeling of being stuck and unable to move forward.

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  1. Take a walk outside and observe your surroundings

You’ve probably heard of the concept of mindfulness, but for me the purpose of taking a walk is to clear your mind. It’s best to do this without thinking too much about where you’re walking or how long you’re going to walk. Walking in nature and listening to the ambient sounds of your environment is a surefire way to heal your body and your mind. This helps you to clear your head and take a step back from the burdens of life while appreciating your life as it is in that moment. As you walk around, you should simply observe what’s happening around you and let your thoughts pass by without dwelling on them too much. After your walk, you will be able to return to your work feeling refreshed and hopefully less stressed.

  1. Clean your physical and digital clutter

We all have things in our lives that need some cleaning. It can be rather therapeutic to set things back into their places and to tidy up your life a bit. At first, it might seem overwhelming to take on such a large task, but approaching messy situations in a step-by-step fashion is the best antidote to a chaotic life. For physical clutter, it starts by putting one item back in place. For digital clutter, cleaning your cluttered email inbox might be a good start. Cleaning gives you another opportunity to not have to think about other appointments in the future and engage in some introspection on how you’re feeling about your life in general. It’s important to have an organized environment because that is the location where you will be doing the majority of your work at.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
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Friendships, Fun, and Funny Situations: MY FAVORITE SITCOMS

By Matthew Kim

Edited by Natalie Grace Sipula

[3.5 minute read]

When I need a good laugh or a moment to escape the hardships of reality, I always rely on sitcoms to cheer me up. A sitcom is a comedic TV show that typically focuses on the funny day-to-day interactions of a group of characters. With most episodes being around 20 minutes in length, it’s very easy to mindlessly continue watching your favorite characters and enter their universe. Sitcoms are usually packed with ensemble casts with diverse personalities that create relatable content. With good chemistry, a sitcom show can gain popularity for their loveable characters or for just being straight-out funny. For a non-native speaker, watching sitcoms is also a great way to improve your English as they typically contain jokes with references to American culture or customs. Over the years, I’ve seen a countless number of sitcoms and wanted to share two of my favorites with you all!

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New Girl

The premise of New Girl begins when Jessica Day, played by Zooey Deschanel, goes through a bad breakup with her ex-boyfriend, Spencer. In the pilot episode, she moves out of her shared home with Spencer and moves in with new roommates Nick, Schmidt, and Coach. Thus, she is the “new girl” in the apartment. Jess, is a quirky, offbeat teacher who is seen as a dork by most. The show mainly follows her life adventure of relationships and work. Nick Miller is one of Jess’ roommates who dropped out of law school so he could work as a bartender but he has aspirations to be a writer. He’s apathetic, socially awkward at times, very sarcastic, and struggles to share his emotions. I consider him to be the rock of the group because he provides stability for the craziness around him. Schmidt is another roommate who lived with Nick in college. He’s a funny character and in my opinion has amazing character development throughout the show. The third roommate is Ernie but he is better known by his nickname: Coach. He leaves after the pilot for undisclosed reasons but makes recurring appearances throughout the show. Due to this, his character lacks a bit of depth but he’s generally a force of good in the show. Following the pilot, Coach is replaced by Winston Bishop who is Nick’s childhood friend from Chicago. His facial expressions and love for his cat are some of the most entertaining moments on the show. In my opinion, the on-screen chemistry between Nick, Schmidt, and Winston is one of the key factors to the funniness of the show. The last member of the core gang is Cece: Jess’ best friend from childhood. Her character seems a bit stuck-up in the beginning but as the show progresses, she becomes more and more loveable. All in all, this hilarious, feel-good show features a cast of characters that’ll show you what real friends look like.

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How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother is one of my favorite shows ever and actually the first sitcom I finished from beginning to end. It is packed with comedic content but is a deeper show than most initially anticipate. The show follows Ted Mosby as he tells his children the story of how he met their mother. Ted Mosby is an architect who believes that he will eventually find “the one”. He is a romantic and constantly entangled in all sorts of drama in his love life. His best friend is Marshall, who he roomed with in college. Ted and Marshall’s friendship is something that I really admire in the show because they are always there for each other. Marshall’s wife, Lily, is a kindergarten teacher who can be the most loveable in the gang but also the most aggravating at times. The last character in the group is Barney Stinson, who is a wealthy serial playboy. He is another one of Ted’s best friends and has numerous catchphrases. Initially, he’s the most “immature” out of the gang but he transforms into a character that is loving and caring. He is my personal favorite out of all of them. This is a another great show to watch if you like shows focusing on groups of friends. It is packed with a lot of relatable content: first cars, relationship problems, financial hardships, childhood traumas, embarrassing situations, etc. All of these components make me feel more connected to the show.

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