Tag Archives: motivation

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. 

Photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash
  • 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. 

Photo by Kimson Doan on Unsplash
  • 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.

Learning about Myself in a Pandemic

Tiffany Hsia 

Edited by Natalie Grace Sipula

[3 minute read]

2020 started off great. I was looking forward to having an amazing year at USC and was excited about my classes. However, just around the time when spring break was starting, a global pandemic hit. I was excited about going on a trip with my friends, but instead of going to Mexico I packed my bags to go home. Little did I know, that was the end of my time at USC. Now much time has passed by, I have come to learn some things about myself.

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

Initially when I went home, I still had hope that I would be able to finish the rest of my sophomore year on campus. I thought that I was just enjoying an extended vacation back home, spending time with my family. However, as summer drew closer, every day grew to become the same. Time seemed to drag on and I could see no end to quarantine. In May, I decided to make a list of things I have always wanted to do, but never got the chance to do. Here are some of the activities that I embarked on in an attempt to try things that I never had the opportunity to before:

  • Working out

Since I had so much time on my hands at the start of quarantine, I knew that this was the time to get into the best shape of my life. I have always put off working out, using my busy schedule as a convenient excuse not to do it. I figured that making an effort to work out during quarantine would be a good way to improve my daily schedule. Studies have shown that working out increases dopamine release, which in turn can help increase our feelings of optimism. I started off with a few times a week and kept to a routine, focusing on how I felt after to help motivate me to keep going.

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash
  • Finding a new hobby

At the start of quarantine, I didn’t have much to do and I felt constantly bored. I decided to go on Amazon and bought a paint by numbers. With some practice, I was able to create my own masterpiece, even with my limited artistic talent. I enjoyed spending hours on end painting and felt a sense of accomplishment afterwards. I now proudly own art that I created myself, and it is hanging on my wall. 

Continue reading Learning about Myself in a Pandemic

USC Student voices on connecting in uncertain times

By Megan Tran, Sarah Ta, Sarah Selke, and Rachel Priebe

[13 minute read]

Editor’s Note

As the Covid-19 pandemic has continued through the spring semester, wrapping up a year at USC which no one could have foreseen, many of us are left feeling disconnected from our friends and peers who we socialized with regularly before the pandemic. This can be a very isolating feeling, despite the fact that most people are experiencing these exact circumstances at the present moment. Below, ALI leaders have shared their own advice and experiences on how to stay connected with your friends and make your online interactions a bit more entertaining!

-Natalie Grace Sipula, Editor

FUN WAYS TO CONNECT WITH FRIENDS VIRTUALLY

By Megan Tran

The Covid-19 pandemic has really pushed all of us to think creatively when it comes to activities we can do safely with friends and family. Since we may not be able to see each other in person, it’s good to come up with alternative activities to do online to keep our friendships and relationships strong. These activities allow us to still stay in touch with our loved ones from the safety and comfort of our homes. Making the effort to connect with people is extremely crucial in a time like this in order to combat the feelings of loneliness that quarantine can bring about. I have listed some of my favorite activities for remaining connected virtually below!

Photo by sgcdesignco on Unsplash

Game Pigeon– These games on iMessage used to be all the hype when they first came out but have since been long forgotten. I’ve recently started playing them with my friends and realized I had forgotten how much fun they are! Game Pigeon has a wide variety of games to choose from so you can find the perfect one to play either against one opponent or with a group of friends. Anyone who has access to iMessage is able to play. Cup Pong, Crazy 8, and Sea Battle are just a few of my favorite games!

Virtual Movie Nights– One of the things that I miss the most about pre-Covid life is being able to go to the movie theater. But now there are ways to stream and watch movies with your friends without having to be in the same room! With websites like Netflix Party, you can have watch parties and long-distance movie nights where you’ll be able to synchronize video playback and utilize the chat rooms to share your reactions. I think a current must-see TV show is Queen’s Gambit.

Virtual Escape Rooms– This is something I haven’t personally tried yet, but I’ve been wanting to because it seems so fun! I used to love doing in-person escape rooms with my friends as a fun way to test our teamwork and problem-solving skills. This virtual activity would be best to do with a large group of people to maximize your chances of winning. They come in many different themed adventures, like Hogwarts or bank heist, so it’s easy to find one that everyone will be interested in.

Photo by Surface on Unsplash

Zoom Happy Hour- This one is for those of us who are 21 and older only! With the majority of bars closed, most of us miss being able to go out and get drinks with friends on a Friday night. But who says you still can’t? You could host a Happy Hour on Zoom with friends and spice things up by playing a fun drinking game.

Collaborative Playlists– Music is something that always brings people together. Even though we can’t go to concerts or music festivals right now, we can still share our love of music with one another! Collaborative playlists on Spotify are a good way to keep in touch with others. My friends and I have a Spotify playlist where we each add our favorite song for that week, and after a couple of months, we already have such a long and diverse list of songs!

HOW TO STAY CONNECTED DURING QUARANTINE

By Sarah Ta

When self-isolation was first mandated back in March, no one expected that it would continue for the rest of the year. Other parts of the country started opening back up at various times, with varying degrees of success, but Los Angeles county has remained diligent in its efforts to not reopen sooner than necessary to prevent an outbreak. Like many others, I have stayed at home as much as possible to do my part in protecting those who are immunocompromised, and while we all know that it was the right thing to do, it doesn’t make missing our family and friends hurt any less. As the year went on, I found new ways to connect with my loved ones without jeopardizing anyone’s health. Reaching out to friends through social media is still by far the easiest and most straightforward method, but if you’re looking for some new ways, here are a few of my personal favorite methods I’ve been using for the past few months! 

Join an Organization on Campus– This may be a cliche suggestion, but from my personal experience, I can confidently say that joining a cultural organization completely transformed my USC experience. I’ve been a part of the Vietnamese Student Association for two years now, and the community it has given me is irreplaceable. I know that joining an organization virtually is not the same as attending events in-person, but most clubs are still hosting virtual events with their members and would love to have you join them. These events also give you a chance to interact with people outside of a virtual classroom setting. While it can sound exhausting to be in another Zoom call, it’s less like a class and more like a fun group video call. Also, the people who attend virtual club events are also there to meet new people, and once you find the right organization for you, it will feel like you’re hanging out with a large group of friends. 

Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash

Teleparty (formerly known as Netflix Party)- Like most friend groups, my friends and I love watching movies and shows together as a way to bond or just to relax after a hard week. Quarantine may have prevented us from having physical get-togethers, but it hasn’t stopped us from having virtual ones. Teleparty is an extension that synchronizes video playback so we can easily watch a movie together. It’s completely free, and while it does lack a video call function, that can be solved simply using a separate video calling platform (such as Facetime or Zoom) to chat in real-time while watching the movie. It can support Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and HBO, so there’s plenty of options available no matter what streaming platform you prefer.

Discord– If you have a large group of friends and struggle to keep all of your group chats organized, this might be the platform for you. Each ‘server’ is organized into ‘channels,’ which allow different conversation topics to be separated. Anyone can create a server, and since a server can only be joined via invite, it can be as private or as public as you want it to be. There is a small learning curve if you’re not used to the layout, but it’s relatively intuitive once you get the hang of it. My favorite part about it is that texting, voice chatting, and video calling is all on one interface, allowing users to easily switch between them with just a few clicks.

Schedule Video Calls– While staying connected is easier than ever, it can also make it harder to actually keep in touch. Reaching out is only a few taps away, but because it’s so accessible, it can be easy to push it off. Before you know it, it’s been months since you’ve had a genuine conversation with the people you care about. Scheduling video calls as you would a regular outing helps carve out space in your busy schedules to sit down and take a minute to catch up. It might seem a little awkward to set up something as simple as a video call, but I can promise you, having it marked into your calendar makes a world of difference. 

Photo by Kate Macate on Unsplash

Send Some Snail Mail– Lastly, if you’re looking for a break from being connected to the internet all day, try writing a physical letter and mailing it to your friends. Receiving a package you ordered online is always something to look forward to, but receiving mail you weren’t expecting is an even better surprise. It’s a more old-fashioned method of staying in touch and definitely a lot slower than shooting someone a simple text, but that only adds to the charm of it, and I can guarantee it’ll brighten the rest of the recipient’s week. 

There are many other ways to stay connected while staying at home, but these five have been my favorite. Wherever you are in the world, I hope these tips can help you feel closer to your loved ones, or at the very least, remind you to reach out and reconnect with friends you might not have spoken to in a while. Best of luck, and let’s all do our part to get through this together. 

DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTIES

By Sarah Selke

When I was younger, I used to hate waking up early to go to school. When my alarm went off, I would try to stay under my covers for as long as I could, but eventually had to rise since every second I lingered in bed was another second wasted. When I wake up now, time is no longer measured in seconds but in weeks. The days fade into one another much the same way we drift into sleep at night. I’m simultaneously surprised by how much time has passed and how little it has in the scope of a season. Perhaps time has always been an erroneous concept, however — we don’t recall things systematically but as asynchronous scenes. We measure things in befores and afters, and perhaps this is the only way we can differentiate the important from the trivial. 

The pandemic is one of those divisive events that exacerbates the arbitrariness of the units we give time. And this is how I say farewell? I ask myself when contemplating the possibility of never returning to campus as a student. Except, to a certain extent, I never did feel as if I had found a home on the grounds that I walked on a near daily basis before. As someone who commuted to USC and therefore didn’t live near campus, it was the bus rides to campus that were the strongest familiarity to me – the only constant from semester to semester.

Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash

In the face of the future’s uncertainty, I’m reminded of the concept of negative capability. According to the concept’s founder, the English writer John Keats, negative capability is when we are capable of living in doubt and uncertainty without reaching out to facts or reason to justify the actions we take. It’s a mode of thinking that can apply to every stage in one’s life, but especially in moments of transition. You may not be sure of exactly where you’ll be or what you’ll be doing in a few years, but it’s important not to let the unknown intimidate you into avoiding any exploration. After all, many students do not follow a linear path towards a specific career. I’ve had my fair share of doubts and switched plans and come to realize that cutting possibilities out before even trying them is never beneficial. At the same time, I’ve realized that it’s important not to do anything halfway, which can often happen when juggling too many goals at once.

Ultimately, there is no constancy in our lives because nothing ever happens exactly as we expect it to. While I often see every transition as a farewell to something I used to take for granted, I know that ruminating on the past does not lead me anywhere. If you have been struggling with doubts and lack of motivation, I encourage you to set small, tangible goals that may not be inherently useful but once completed will make you feel as if you have accomplished something. I also find channeling any anxieties I have into art – especially music and writing – to be somewhat consoling. If you find yourself fatigued from working too long at a specific task, I highly recommend taking a break to work on something creative to help prevent burnout.

ONLINE FUN DURING THE PANDEMIC

By Rachel Priebe

It goes without saying that the pandemic has been difficult for most of us. With events canceled, online school, and the future being unpredictable, loneliness and stress are feelings shared by most. Fortunately, online events can help give us an escape from boredom, a place to build community, and the opportunity to learn new skills. While USC has many great online events, I’ve also found some other sources that provide a variety of unique activities.

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash
Continue reading USC Student voices on connecting in uncertain times