Linsanity!

Recently an Asian boy has come to the spotlight of attention and became the most popular topic among both Asians and Americans. His name is Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of college, the 2010 Harvard University graduate reached a partially guaranteed contract deal later that year with his hometown Golden State Warriors. In February 2012, he unexpectedly led a winning streak by New York while being promoted to the starting lineup. Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American player in the league to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. (from Wikipedia).

From a Chinese perspective, Lin is the perfect example of outstanding and successful. He's smart, hardworking, and humble. He went to Harvard, which is the dream school for almost every one of Chinese students. He plays in NBA and had such a legendary performance. And yet, he's very low-key person, he never show off or be very satisfied with what he has achieved. He's also a very humorous guy. This video of him "how to get into Harvard" is viewed by thousands of people online.

I hope that he can keep playing well and create more legends as a Asian NBA player! I believe he will make us very proud!!! Go Lin!!!!

The Vagina Monologues

I went to watch the Vagina Monologues presented by Penn students at the Irvine Auditorium on Feb.10th and it was awesome. I have heard about this play for so many times and finally I got the chance to watch it myself.
The play was very thought-provoking, especially for me since I am taking the "language and gender" course this semester and I found so many connections between the scripts and what I have learned in the class. The play made me re-think about lots of issues in gender and enhanced my understanding towards topics regarding feminism, gender, and equality etc.
After watching the play, I began to notice a lot of ideologies underlying the gender issue. As I have learned from the class, gender is a social constructed attribute of a person. People do not behave in a certain way because of their biological gender, instead, people are shaped as certain identity because of their being. Therefore, how the society treats the issue of gender, especially women, in this case, can to a great extent reinforce the ideology and as a result, put women or other gender identities is a very vulnerable position.
I believe that the Vagina Monologues is a very innovative and brave action to advocate the equality of different gendered groups and it aroused awareness among people, no matter regarding males, females or other gender identities. It's a clever way to provoke reactions.
Some information about the Vagina Monologues from Wikipedia:
The Vagina Monologues is made up of a varying number of monologues read by a varying number of women (initially, Eve Ensler performed every monologue herself, with subsequent performances featuring three actresses, and more recent versions featuring a different actress for every role). Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality. Some monologues include:

• I Was Twelve, My Mother Slapped Me: a chorus describing many young women's and girls' first menstrual period.
• My Angry Vagina, in which a woman humorously rants about injustices wrought against the vagina, such as tampons, douches, and the tools used by OB/GYNs.
• My Vagina Was My Village, a monologue compiled from the testimonies of Bosnian women subjected to rape camps.
• The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could, in which a woman recalls memories of traumatic sexual experiences in her childhood and a self-described "positive healing" sexual experience in her adolescent years with an older woman. In the original version, she is 13, but later versions would change her age to 16. It also originally included the line, "If it was rape, it was a good rape." This particular skit has sparked numerous controversies and criticisms due to its content (see below).
• Reclaiming Cunt, a piece narrated by a woman who illustrates that the word "cunt" itself is a lovely word despite its disconcerting connotations.
• The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy, in which a sex worker for women discusses the intriguing details of her career and her love of giving women pleasure. In several performances it often comes at the end of the play, literally climaxing with a vocal demonstration of a "triple orgasm."
• Because He Liked to Look At It, in which a woman describes how she had thought her vagina was ugly and had been embarrassed to even think about it, but changed her mind because of a sexual experience with a man named Bob who liked to spend hours looking at it.
• I Was There In The Room, a monologue in which Eve Ensler describes the birth of her granddaughter.

Courses for this semester

ALUMNI INTERVIEW PROGRAM:
Before I get to the meat of the blog, just wanted to let everyone know that February is the last month of the Alumni Interview Program.  If you're a prospective masters student and are interested in an alumni interview, fill out the request form and submit your application and we'll try to match you with an alum for an interview.  All your materials must be in by the end of the month to be considered. 

Events for Admitted Students:

Online Events for Admitted Students:

Our current students host a series of themed webchats, speed chats, and a virtual preview event to offer you an inside look into life at Penn GSE. You're welcome to join as many as you like!

More detailed information please go to: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/node/1790



Now comes to the blog of this week. There isn't many exciting news about life so I will just talk about the courses that I have taken this semester.
Language and Gender: This is a very interesting course focused on the linguistic issue of genders. It introduces many important theoretical issues and methodological concerns in the language and gender area. The topic throughout the classes are how gender ideologies shape and are shaped by language use. It's very exciting to look at the gender issue from an academic way and this course allows me to relate my personal real life experience to the academic researches.
Sociolinguistics: It's a required course for Educational Linguistics students. It's mainly designed to provide students with an awareness to sociolinguistics as it pertains to educational issues, and to language teaching and learning more generally. It's a very thought-provoking class, which made me think about many educational issues in sociology contexts.
Apart from the above classes, I also took two marketing courses at Wharton:
Marketing Strategy: It's a case-based course about marketing activities to some of the key strategic decision. As an ICC student, i find a lot of intercultural issues in this class as well. The cases are very helpful to get a sense of marketing and strategic planning.
Strategic Brand Management: It's also a case-based course about marketing, especially the branding issues. It introduces the basic strategies in building a strong brand, and some underlying theories. The course has involved many famous brands that everyone knows, which makes the class very interactive and interesting.

First Super Bowl ever!

Since football is not so popular in China, I haven't got chance to watch any football games before I came to U.S. I am not a sports fan but I feel that Super Bowl is conveyed with more than simply sports to Americans so I decide to watch it to be engaged more with the American culture.
Before the game, I studied a little bit about the rules of the football and the background information about the two teams that's going to compete. It's a little bit hard for me to watch a sports game if I'm not sure which team should I support. So I asked a few friends and searched online. It seems that football is sports game that's requiring a lot about the teamwork and cooperation, a lot more than basketball or soccer. The rules are complicated to me as a newcomer, but it's also fun to learn by watching.
Another thing that i have learned about the Super Bowl is that the Super Bowl is the most watched program in U.S. so the commercial ads during the Super Bowl is a great enjoyment other than the game itself. It's supposed to be the most expensive ads on TV. So I paid a lot of attention to the ads and I really enjoyed some of them, such as the Doritos and the Coke Cola ones and some trailers of the new movies. It's really interesting to look into the commercials because it's quite different from Chinese ones and there are a lot of intercultural issues in it.
The third thing that i really expected a lot before the game is the half-time show by Madonna. I'm not a big fan of her but the performance was awesome. It's hard to imagine a 50-year old woman to be so young and energetic. Also, I enjoyed the dance and performance by Nicki, Cee-lo as well.
It's the first time that I watch Super Bowl and I hope it's a good start to know more about American culture.

Job Hunting at PennGSE

There are many prospective students were asking me about the job prospects after graduation and also the internship during the study. Therefore, I feel it maybe necessary to write a blog about job hunting issues so that you may have a clearer picture about what kind of help you can get from PennGSE for your job hunting.
It's mostly not so hard to find an unpaid internship. Even though the jobs are unpaid, the working experiences are really valuable for both your study and your future job hunting. And for jobs after graduation, it's more difficult but the approaches and resources that might be useful to you are the same.
There are various ways that you can search for potential internships/jobs. GSE has a contact person for career services who's specifically responsible for students from GSE--Jim Alton. He's a really nice and helpful person, who's enthusiastic in helping you to find resources that might help. Always ask help from the career services because they have more resources and information than you do, and they can also provide help on your resume/CV or cover letter. Apart from Jim, you can also ask help from previous students who has graduated or who's in higher grade than you. They have gone through the experience that you are going through right now so they must have a lot to share, not only the experiences but also some possible resources that you can make use of. Some of them can even recommend you to their previous employers directly and it will save you a lot of time and efforts to search for jobs. Besides, advisers, who's assigned to you by GSE, can be really helpful. You can schedule a meeting with your adviser and talk about your concerns and difficulties. And again, as they are more experienced in this than you, they may be able to provide you with a lot of information and suggestions. For example, my adviser referred me to an internship at a small consulting firm, and through interviews, I finally got the job and so far I have learned a lot from the experiences and I really appreciate her help in it. Last, but not least, use all the possible networks that you have here, and ask them for help. You really need to be proactive in job hunting because jobs won't come you, you have to go to them! By possible networks, i mean professors, friends, classmates, relatives, etc.
Many people were asking me about how hard it is for an international students to find jobs in U.S. To be honest, it's not as easy as in China but as long as you make efforts, the results will be satisfactory. I also have some suggestions for international students who wants to work in the U.S. in the future. First of all, think clearly about what you want to do in the future. There are definitely many options available, but try to figure out which one you like and which one might like you as well. It means you have to find out a job that's suitable for your background and you feel passionate about it too. After determining what you want to do in the future, try to accumulate internship experiences in the related industries, especially internships in U.S. One way that your future employer is going to use to evaluate you is your past experience and your academic backgrounds. Working experience is important in job hunting. The third tip is to utilize the school career center. Penn has a very good website PennLink for career services, you can find job listings, trainings and workshops for interviews, personalized services in job hunting, etc. So don't forget to make the full use of the website. The reality is that when international students want to find jobs in U.S., visa is always an issue. Bear in mind that you have to be really outstanding to compete with other competitors and to get the jobs. There were many successful examples so don't worry about the feasibility.

Chinese New Year!!

Even though I have to say it's the loneliest Chinese New Year I have ever had in my life, I still want to write something on the Chinese New year, after all it's the most important and traditional holiday in China.

"Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name 春節 (Pinyin: Chūn Jié), since the spring season in Chinese calendar starts with lichun, the first solar term in a Chinese calendar year. It marks the end of the winter season, analogous to the Western carnival. The festival begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: Zhēng Yuè) in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chú Xī (除夕) or "Eve of the Passing Year." Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year".

 

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. " (From Wikipedia)

"

The Shēngxiào (Chinese: 生肖), better known in English as the Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year mathematical cycle. It has wide currency in several East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan.

Identifying this scheme using the term "zodiac" reflects several similarities to the Western zodiac: both have time cycles divided into 12 parts, each labels at least the majority of those parts with names of animals, and each is widely associated with a culture of attributing influence of a person's relationship to the cycle upon their personality and/or events in their life. Nevertheless, there are major differences: the "Chinese" 12-part cycle is divided into years rather than months; contrary to the association with animals implied in the Greek etymology of "zodiac", actually four of the Western "signs" or "houses" are represented by humans (one such sign being the twins "Gemini") and one is the inanimate balance scale "Libra"; the animals of the Chinese zodiac are not associated with constellations, let alone those spanned by the ecliptic plane."

This year is a dragon year, and it's exactly the same to the year I was born. So it's called my year because my Shengxiao is dragon too!

Every year I would go to my grandparents' place and celebrate the new year with the whole family. We would have a big dinner and watch the program from CCTV, the ceremony for Chinese New Year together. At around midnight, we will have fireworks and firecrackers.

 But this year, since the school has already started, so I cannot go back to China to celebrate the festival with my family. It's a little bit sad to me because it's the first year that I didn't spend Chinese New Year with my family. Also, Spring Festival is a tradition to me for the past 23 years, it's hard to forget the way I used to celebrate.So all I can do is to wish all my family and friends a Happy Dragon Year!

Winter Vacation rocks!

Since it's just the beginning of the semester and i have just came back to school, so I think it might be a good idea to talk about what I did during the winter break.
I didn't go back to China during the break, on one hand it's because I've only been here for around 4 months i don't feel necessary to go back that soon, on the other hand is because I wanna see how Americans celebrate Christmas and new year. So, I stayed in U.S. for my winter break and I had a great time.
I spend my first few days in New York to see how Christmas is going to rock this big city. I watched a broad way show Phantom of the Opera, one of my favorites, and it was awesome, I also went to several traveling spots like the empire state building and the statue of liberty to see the symbols of New York. On Christmas Eve, I walked along the avenue to Times Square and the view on the street is amazing.

The LED screens have lighten the night and crowds of people are on the street celebrating the holiday together.Several shops are open 24 hours during Christmas and their decorations are pretty and funny.

After the new year, I went to Western coast of U.S. with several friends and I really had a great great time there.
My first stop is Las Vegas, where I really enjoyed a lot.
Las Vegas is a very energetic and modern city, and it's similar to New York in some points, and it never sleeps as well. The lights are on for all night and you cannot feel how late it is when you are on the street of Las Vegas at midnight.

The theme of Las Vegas is to gamble, to watch various shows and to relax. The hotels there are relatively cheaper than other cities, I guess it's a way to attract customers to casinos, which you can see it in every single hotel in Las Vegas. And there're various shows available in Vegas. We went to one called "the Mentalist", it's a magician who can read people's mind, it was pretty cool.
After leaving Las Vegas, we drove to Los Angeles. Even though many of my friends who went with me like San Francisco better but I still enjoy LA more. First of all, the weather is AWESOME, it's like summertime in January and the palm trees on the roadside are very beautiful. And I really like the style of the city--Modern, fashion, casual; especially because it has the famous Hollywood. We went on a tour to Hollywood to see superstar's houses and we also went to Madame Tussauds Museum to have a lot of silly but funny pictures.

My last stop for this trip is San Francisco. It's a very cozy and lovely city that's really suitable for living, We took the famous cable car to the Fishermans Whare and have great seafood by the sea.

The winter break is not short but not long either. I felt time passing so quickly that when I came back to school, I suddenly realized that the break is over and the new semester is coming. Well, it feels good to be back to school as well, so I hope I can really learn a lot and have fun during the coming semester.