What I have learned during this semester at UConn

           

During my semesters, I learned a lot. But the first thing I learned was that organization in UConn is really important. Do not follow the motto: “If tomorrow is not the due date, today is not the do date.” I can tell; it is the worst motto ever. Once you have started, you cannot go back. But anyway, that was a fun experience to go to bed at 3 o’clock to finish my assignments and to wake up at 8 to go to class. It was a real challenge. And I think I succeeded!

            Moreover, I discovered that no matter the differences between cultures, you can be friends with people from all over the world. That is the most incredible feeling ever. My best friend in UConn is Korean. I never knew that I could be friend with someone whose culture is so different from mine. I mean, I do not eat with chopsticks (LOL). In addition, I have friends from all over the world now: Australia, England, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark… Oh, and America also! I think I will be able to crash at somebody’s place in one of this country. Do not get me wrong, I am not really friend with them because they are cool, but mostly because I will not have to book something in one of those countries. I am kidding of course!

            I also learned that I did not travel enough in France. The United-States are so big and I have never traveled so much and so far! In France, I am always telling myself that I have time and that I will do it later. But I never take the time to do it. The result is that now, I have more visited American cities than French one! That is a weird feeling to tell yourself that you almost know better the United-States than your own country. And it is not like if we do not have the means to travel in France. Indeed, “[we’ve got planes, and trains and cars; I walk [there] if I had no other way” (reference to Plain White T’s, Hey There Delilah of course!) Anyway, we have the means and I do not take advantage of it. It is a shame. I mean, to go somewhere in the United States, you almost need your car every time!

            This experience in the United States makes me realize that I love my family and I wish I was sharing this adventure with them. But it is also good that there are not here, because if they were, I could not have gone out on week nights and gone to parties as much as I did. So, in some way, I am happy there are not here!

            It was a fun experience and I am eager for it to start again next semester, with new people and new adventures. I cannot wait to see how it is going to be. Though, I must say, I am going to miss every single one of the international exchange students who shared that adventure with me and I thank them for making my life here, a treasure.

            See you next semester!

PS: I also thank my teachers, especially Katrina and Sara who made that class one of my favorite!

Written by: Mathilde Jouanne

The Election

I’m the sort of the person will very little political awareness within wherever I’m living in. When I was still studying in China, I only knew that the name of our leader--“chairman” is just the same as “president” on the western side, and that’s it--no idea of the new legislation, socioeconomic issues around the country or national political events happening during the time.  And same when I moved to Australia, I still barely can understand the core ethics and purposes that each divisional party beholds and what really Australia is about. But the intensity during the election and public/media attention that I have witnessed at the United State of America has stunned me in many ways. It feels like I’m part of the roles of voting and changing the history. It feels like, for the first time that voicing does matter and be cherished in the country.

Although I wouldn’t say the voting system is totally fair and free of errors, after watching the election, it raises up so much public concern that the media, the country has seldom heard of. It might be astonishing as it sounded, I think what I saw out of the election, is that America is consisted of two countries on the land. Many prominent local media sources have failed to align with the actual thoughts of the people. The majority has signaled their discontent with the status quo and feeling not represented in the country today. Therefore for many of them, they have to voice up their concerns, especially of their economic states. Their intimidating frustration towards the lack of economic progress and the feeling of being stuck in a rut have urged me to impress by how much freedom can be expressed in this country. But at the same time, I’m worried because the price that the majority willing to pay for is the morality and the preservation right for being an equal human being, in order to achieve what they want. What I’m even more surprised and shocked about is that the years and decades they fought to gain for what is the social progress and respects for the vulnerable minority group can be abandoned and regressed in the expense of more “actualistic” victory.

On the other side, there’s still half of the country would like to be listened to their mourning and despairing, in the hope that America’s foundation of democracy, America’s values and commitments to social justice will not be changed overnight. There’s not going to be a sudden stop protecting the weaker side just because one person is elected to be the president. However, It’s haunting to imagine that over just half year, the leaders of the country will switch enormously from democrats to republicans and how much America will be affected by such. But I have a strong feeling that the republican party has put on a mask to confuse people and in fact, it might not be as bad as it was during the presidential race, when they are ruling the country. So for the people that side with the democrats, I firmly believe there’s still laws and people will fight to ensure you feel valued and protected, regardless of your race, gender, sexual orientation, or legal status.

Purposefully, I didn’t name any of the presidential candidates in my article, because I really think a leader is only one representative of a more cohesive force behind. The political leaning is just like a playing on swing. Soon enough, the swing will be back to the middle. Ultimately, it isn’t about who wins the presidential campaign, but who can “make America great again”, who can break the icebergs that America is frozen in to rescue the country. Though I have very limited understanding and knowledge to comprehend deeper in the complexity/controversy of this political debate, all I know is the eventual goal after all is to build bridges between parties but not walls, the eventual goal is to reunite as a country and move forwards with the world. 

Written by: Nicky Li 

Sports, UConn Athletes, Cheerleaders & Husky Pride

"Final Line of Defense”

My University Life with Sports

 I love sports very much. When I was very young, I learn playing table tennis in a sports training center for nearly a year. Although I didn’t want to grow up as a professional table tennis player and gave up training after going to primary school, experiences during that time strongly fostered my interest in sports.

 I learn swimming and playing soccer in my PE lessons in high school, and became a member of the soccer team of our class after I entered university. Unlike UCONN, sports programs in my home university are often held within and between different schools. For example, I study in School of Pharmacy which locates in Zhangjiang Campus of my university where there are also School of Computer Science and other schools of engineering major. Each year we have Zhangjiang Cup soccer games and basketball games between these schools. There are not so many sports programs in university or interuniversity level other than the annually held sports meeting in my university as that in UCONN. I still remember going to see the soccer game between UCONN Husky and IONA with my friends during my first week in UCONN. We shouted in the bleachers “UCONN! Husky! Woo~~~”, and when the game came to an end with Husky’s winning, people all arose from their seats, applauding and waving their hands to the players with great excitement.

 That game recalled me the days in my class soccer team. The first month after I entered there was the Freshmen Cup soccer games among all schools of our university. I was the fullback in our team which was often called by our captain “the final line of our defense”. Though there were not so many students coming to see our game at that time, I really enjoyed fighting with other members as a team. I fought back each ball together with other fullbacks, and helped our strikers accomplish their shooting. Although I was not the man who directly shoot, I felt greatly proud and excited after my team got the goal. Although my team didn’t win all the games in that year’s Freshmen Cup and later the Zhangjiang Cup, we were very happy to fight together every time.

Even though I don’t participate in UCONN Husky soccer team (there is only one semester for me to stay in UCONN), I wish that UCONN Husky and all other UCONN sports teams could win more games in the future!

P.S. Attached with this blog there are three photos of our Freshmen Cup in 2014. Photo 1 is our class soccer team and I was the “temporary captain” in that game because our real captain got injured and could not play. In Photo 2 I am the man in red in the left running towards the ball, and in Photo 3 I was the running red men in the middle.

 Written by: Xingyu Zhou