Crazy Spring Fling!

Spring Fling is an annual festival for the students at the end of each Spring semester, usually beginning on the Friday of the second to last week of the semester and continuing until Saturday night. Fling, which began in 1973, is dubbed the largest college party on the East Coast, and is hosted by the university's Social Planning and Events Committee.[8] The event takes place on College Green, Wynn Commons, and The Quadrangle (or Quad) for a student body drenched in alcohol, for the most part. Over the past few years there has been legitimate discussion towards potentially moving the event out of the Quad, but improved behavior has resulted in the carnival aspect of the festival remaining in the Quad. College Green becomes a staging area for carnival games and carnival food. Two stages in the Quad host Penn's performing arts groups. Saturday night, Penn holds a festival on College Green, and Friday night SPEC (The Social Planning and Events Committee [7]) brings in a headlining musical act for a concert. Past guests for this concert have included Wyclef Jean, Busta Rhymes, Sonic Youth, and Of A Revolution.[9] The 2007 concert featured Ben Folds and Third Eye Blind. The 2008 concert was moved to Franklin Field since it featured a triple-bill of Ludacris, Gym Class Heroes, and OK Go.[10] Learning from the 2008 concert, 2009's concert featuring Guster and Akon ran much more smoothly.[11] The 2010 line up was Kid Cudi, Shwayze and Snoop Dogg. The 2011 Fling performers were Ratatat, Flo-Rida, and Lupe Fiasco. The 2012 Fling performers are Tiesto and Passion Pit. （From Wikipedia)

 

I went to this year's concert and It is quite exciting and crazy, DJ Tiesto is said to be the top 3 DJ in US.

Something I did in this week

I can't really think of any important theme to write about so I will just write something about this week since I seem to have a very busy week.
On Wednesday's Marketing Strategy class, we have a guest speaker: Ravi Chaturvedi, the former president of P&G North-East Asia. Ravi is very experienced in marketer and he has shared with us his personal experience in Japan to help P&G compete with KAO as a late entrant.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I have interviewed two company executives in US because of a project that I am working as an intern right now. The interviewees are professional managers and an in-depth interview with them are very thought provoking. One of them have shared all he valued integrity in his company and he defines integrity as "doing the right thing when nobody watches".
On Wednesday night, I watched the Hunger Games. It's a great movie but I felt like the storyline is a little bit cliche even though the settings are quite creative. I enjoyed the movie and really looking forward to watching the next series.
On Thursday's strategic brand management class, we have a guest speaker from reputation.com, he has introduced us the business that reputation.com is doing right now and how to build a strong personal brand through online media.
On Thursday's Language and gender class, we have discussed about the language socialization and its effects on gender. One of the readings have mentioned how teenage gays are socialized through language, which brought me a lot to think about gender construction since the last class's media analysis (Please refer to the last post)
On Thursday night, GAPSA has a great event "Wine Walk" for all the graduate students in the school, it's an awesome event and people get to taste wines and get connected at different schools.
On Friday, I watched the 3D version of Titanic. I can't use words to describe how much I love this movie. I was only a primary school student when the last time I watched it, I barely understood all the lines and scenes. But this time I watched it again with a deeper understanding and I was really moved by it. I think it's not only a movie about love & romance, it's also about the value of life.
On Saturday, I went to Farimount Park to picnic with several friends. We bought food at Chinatown and drove to the park. We ate and read and rested on the grassland, under the great sunshine. It was a wonderful day, I got relaxed and energized.

Well, that's what I did for this week, it's pretty crazy huh? ^^

Media Analysis for Language and Gender class

In this week's Language and Gender class, we were doing media analysis by groups. Our task is to identify language and gender issue in different channels of media. Each of the group has made a poster around the topic. The class was so much fun and I felt it's worth sharing what we did with all of you.

Our group did an analysis on the popular TV series How I Met Your Mother. The show was very hilarious and there are many elements that are very interesting. For example, there are a lot of humor in this show about "sex" and "non-conventional gender behavior". For example, Ted Mosby, who is a male character in the show, is however very "feminine" in his behavior and thoughts about relationship and life. In contrast, Robin Scherbatsky, who is the female character in the show, and was brought up by her dad as a boy because her dad prefers son to daughter. That's why she has a very "masculine" personality, for example she likes shooting gun, hockey, and cigar. The contradictory between Ted and Robin makes the show very funny, and it is contradictory to what we conventionally think about genders. However, is this anti-convention really create new gender categories or essentializing the binary gender system? That's a question that we need to think about the media today.

Another group did an analysis on the Disney Princess series, which has all these "princess" figures together. They have done a survey about how people think about these princess and what characteristics should a princess/female role model should have.

This group has focused on an ad campaign of Special K's "What do you gain when you lose?" There are a lot of creative gender issue going on and throughout the time there are certain dimension of gender that has changed and has not changed. It's very interesting to see this campaign as a breakthrough but somehow the underlying ideology about gender is still binary.

These are done by a group of Chinese students. They compared how big international brands translate their names into Chinese and how the choice of the characters  affect the gender ideology. There are several interesting examples like Maybelline, in Chinese it's 美宝莲, where 美 means beautiful, specifically to describe women, 宝 means precious and 莲 means lotus, which is an indication of purity in Chinese and it's usually related to girls.

The last group did an analysis around a movie Gran Torino, where a very typical male image is constructed. There are many interesting discourse in the movie that has conveyed gender ideology in it.

The media analysis was really thought-provoking because we really went deep into those topics in the modern media today and there can be so many controversial things about language and gender going on.

Spring Break in Puerto Rico (2)

Castillo San Felipe del Morro also known as Fort San Felipe del Morro or Morro Castle, is a 16th-century citadel located in San Juan.
It lies on the northwestern-most point of the islet of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Named in honor of King Philip II of Spain, the fortification, also referred to as el Morro or promontory, was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the city of Old San Juan from seaborne enemies. In 1983, during the Reagan Administration, the castillo was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in conjunction with the San Juan National Historic Site. Over two million visitors a year explore the windswept ramparts and passageways making the castillo one of Puerto Rico's main visitor attractions. Facing the structure, on the opposite side of the bay, a smaller fortification known as El Cañuelo complemented the castillo's defense of the entrance to the bay. (from Wikipedia)

Old San Juan is a very beautiful place where you can't miss if you visit Puerto Rico.
Located on a small and narrow island which lies in the north coast, about 35 miles (56 km) from the east end of Puerto Rico, and is united to the mainland of Puerto Rico by the three bridges. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and to the south by San Juan Bay or "Bahia de San Juan" which lies between the city and the mainland. On a bluff about 100 feet (30 m) high at the west end of the island and commanding the entrance to the harbor rise the battlements of Fort San Felipe del Morro, in which there is a lighthouse.(from Wikipedia)
There are many good restaurants in Old San Juan, with various seafood and Puerto Rican style food which are fresh and delicious. There are many bars in the district too. It's better to take a walk both during the day and during the night. It gives your two different taste of Old San Juan.

Puerto Rico is also known as the factory for Bacardi. You can visit the Bacardi factory where you can get two free drinks and a tour around the factory. It's a lot of fun. You can also buy various products related to rum, like a rum cake, which by the way, is sooo yummy.

Spring Break in Puerto Rico (1)

I went to Puerto Rico this spring break and it was an awesome experience. I will share some picture with all of you in the following 2 posts and hope you will like them!

 This is Mofongo, a type of food that's common in Puerto Rico. It tastes like meshed potatoes. I personally don't really like it but many people are very fond of it. If you guys have any chance to go to Puerto Rico, you should try, after all it's very "Puerto Rican".

 The color of the sky is so beautiful, especially with the clouds.

 Near the beach

On the street of San Juan

The beaches in Puerto Rico is so beautiful, but pay attention to the sun or you will end up being burned, yes, not tanned, burned!

Flamenco Beach, Culebra
We have to take a ferry to go there. It is considered the second most beautiful beach in the world by Discover Channel and by far the most popular beach in Culebra. Its white sandy beach stretches along the entire bay.

Living at Sansom Place

Since lot of accepted students are asking about live at Sansom Place (the school apartment for graduate students), and since I happen to live at Sansom Place East, so I would like to write something I know about Sansom and hope it can provide some information for you.
What I like about Sansom is that it's quite convenient in many ways. Sansom Place East is at 3600 Chestnut Street and Sansom Place West is at 3650 Chestnut Street, both of the buildings are about 3 minutes' walk from GSE building, so it's really convenient to go to school everyday if you live at Sansom. And it's near the blue line (34th market, about 2 blocks away), which can take you to center city and Chinatown and many other major places in the city. There are WAWA and couple of restaurants downstairs and it's very near the food trucks, so it's easy to get various kinds of meals near Sansom. The rooms and beds in Sansom are small compared to rental houses and apartments, but it's quite convenient since the facilities are very complete and accessible.
I really enjoyed living at Sansom so far but i'm also willing to try off-campus housing since it will be quite different and I will have more freedom about the rooms.
Here are some basic facts about Sansom from the website:
Sansom Place East and Sansom Place West house graduate students (65%), undergraduates interested in a more independent lifestyle (30%), and special programs and University guests (5%). There are numerous opportunities to meet other residents through informal get-togethers, study breaks, and other activities. The diversity of residents, including many international students, creates an active and stimulating environment. These residences are convenient, private, and serve as an enhancement to your academic pursuits. For additional information about Sansom Place East and West, please see the Sansom Place Website. To see photos of sample rooms in Sansom Place East and West, please visit our Sansom Photo Gallery. Please note, these rooms are samples, and not all rooms in Sansom Place are exactly the same.

Style of Housing

Apartment-style housing
All units have private bath
Seasonally air-conditioned
Smoke-free
Pets not allowed
Primarily graduate student housing
Also houses approximately 300 undergraduates

Number of Residents (excluding staff)

592 Sansom East, 553 Sansom West

Room Types

Room types in Sansom Place East and West include single rooms, one- and two-bedroom apartments. Room diagrams can be found here. Standard furnishings are provided as listed below.

One-bedroom apartments

One Bedroom apartments accommodate one single student. A few are available to families without children, and these apartments have two twin, extra long beds. They include a kitchenette with breakfast bar, living area, and bathroom. A sofa is provided in addition to furnishings listed below.

Two-bedroom apartments

Two-bedroom apartments accommodate two single students. These units have a small kitchenette, dining area, and bathroom. A dining table and chairs are provided in addition to furnishings listed below. Note that there is no living room.

Single Rooms

Single rooms share a bathroom with one or two other rooms. These rooms do not have kitchenettes; however, residents may bring or rent small refrigerators. All appliances must comply with the specifications outlined in the Residential Handbook.

Sansom Facilities

All units in Sansom Place East and West are furnished and seasonally air-conditioned. Each occupant is provided with a twin, extra-long (36" x 80") bed, desk and chair, one chest of drawers, and wall-mounted bookshelves. Some lighting is provided, but residents may want to bring extra lamps. Walls are painted off-white. Residents are strongly discouraged from bringing their own furniture since the University-provided furnishings can not be stored or removed.
Public space is available for use by residents. In Sansom Place East there is an ATM for banking in the main lobby, a common area on the ground floor, and a lounge on floor 11. The common area provides study space, a social room, and a recreation room. In Sansom Place West, there are lounges on floors 3, 6, 11, 14 and in the basement, and a television in the main lobby and 14th floor.
Vending and change machines are located in the main lobby area of each building and on the ground floor of Sansom Place East. A laundry room is on the lower level of each building.

Number of each room type (excluding staff)

Type	Sansom East	Sansom West
Single	194	168
Single Apartment (1BR/LR/Kit)	128	53
Double (2BR/Kit)	116	82
Double (1BR/LR/Kit)	0	62 (Undergraduates Only)
Triple (3BR)	0	33

Room Furnishings

Furnishing Type	Available
Bed (twin extra-long 36x80x6)	Yes
Desk & Chair	Yes
Dresser	Yes
Sofa	Some units
Table & Chairs	Some units
Carpeting	Yes
Hardwood Floors	-
Tile Floors	-
Blinds	No
Curtains	Yes
Window screens	-

House Facilities

Room	Quantity
Common Kitchen	0
Laundry Room	2
Lounge	10
Piano Room	1

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!!!!