Many Chinese people believe that the yin-yang represents men and women and their inner energy. They think that the yin-yang represents how energies in the body must be balanced relative to one another in order for there to be good health.

It is believed that both internal and external factors affect the balance of the body, therefore both affecting when people get sick. According to the Chinese doctor I met today, external factors like wind, air conditioning, dampness, and the sun can make people sick.  On the contrary, internal factors like too much laughter and thinking too much can also make one sick. Fortunately, Chinese doctors have loads of ideas about where sicknesses originate from and how to stop them.

I’ve never heard much about Chinese medicine before, and to be honest, I just don’t get it. I grew up with Western medicine and with Western ideology, therefore Chinese philosophy regarding medicine is difficult for me to grasp. I tried to understand it when the doctor spoke today, but I still wasn’t convinced. The doctor could tell that my classmates and I all didn’t completely believe his methods, therefore he showed us how some of his practices worked. First, he performed scraping on my friend Katia’s neck. Apparently scraping is used to release tension and heat from one’s neck. This act, though not very painful, results in red, violent looking marks that apparently represent the heat that has left the body.

Next the Chinese doctor asked for a volunteer to show us how cupping works. My friend Shelby volunteered, and laid on a table where the doctor put 6 suction cups on his back.  After 10 minutes the cups were removed and big splotches that will last about a week appeared.  Apparently this too releases bad heat and is good for the body, but to me it just seemed painful and hard on the eyes.

The Chinese doctor also performed acupuncture, but as a lifelong opposer of needles, I politely declined. Instead I volunteered to see how chiropractors can help your body. That is the one method I believe was effective as I physically felt and heard my neck crack.

Overall the field trip was a success. I still don’t necessarily understand Chinese medicine, nor would I really like to partake in it in the future, but I think it’s a really unique aspect of the Chinese culture. I really enjoyed learning about these traditional Chinese medicine practices but I think I’m going to stick to Western methods from now on.

Since I’ve been here I’ve had the opportunity to really acquaint myself with a number of professors and the incomparable Skillman Library. These resources have enabled me to pursue my love in written form. Over the last four years I have been able to learn about a large number of things far outside the bounds of my majors: photography, French, computer engineering, carpentry, philosophy, space travel, and even the complete history of James Bond. This semester in particular allowed me to write two truly enjoyable papers about topics I never thought I’d have in my classes.

The first was a sociological interpretation of the past, present, and future of the American space program. It was a fantastic journey and I was not only able to pursue my dual passions for sociology and space travel but I also found out what a wonderful writer Buzz Aldrin is. A few weeks passed and I found myself again writing a paper that I never thought I’d write: a history and sociopolitical analysis of James Bond. Were you aware of Bond’s affinity for navy summer suits and that the next Bond might be Black? Writing the paper was an enlightening experience and a unique way to examine the history of the last 60 years.

I am thankful for experiences like these that have been afforded to me by the enthusiasm and openness that can be found here. I am also thankful for the professors that have encouraged me to dive in headfirst and are happy to talk about their favorite bad kung-fu movies. Thank you all so much.

I have always had an open mind toward people and places. Experiencing a new culture is one of the most rewarding feelings for me. For this trip, however, I have no idea what to expect. As I sit here waiting for the 32 hour journey to Nepal to begin, many different ideas float through my head as to what I will see and the people I will meet. The only thing I know for sure is this is the experience of a lifetime and I am going to take advantage of every moment of it.

Sarah’s getting really excited, which in turn is making me more excited. After multiple sleepless nights, it’s finally time and I hope to make the most out of this trip. I’ve been thinking somewhat about what exactly we’ll be doing in Nepal but it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. I’m looking forward to spending time at home, and introducing Sarah to my family, and my culture. She has been learning some aspects of the culture and greetings and I can’t wait to see her in action!

Next stop, Kathmandu…well, after a 12 hr flight to Doha, 15 hr layover there, and 5 hr flight from there…but almost there!

Indeed, the Lafayette-Lehigh football game gets everyone off the couch (OK, I slept through it once when Lehigh was hosting it), cheering, dressing up to the nines with maroon and leopard lampshades on their heads. It’s a beautiful sight. It also brings out the, well, leopard in people- myself included. I was once fortunate enough to have a press pass that enabled me to walk the edges of the field as the game went on and it was a fantastic experience. While the pictures I took weren’t the greatest as I was plunged headfirst into the art of sports photography, the experience was something truly special. I ran with the team up and down the field, taunted the Lehigh fans from a cheerleader’s point of view, and allowed the whole atmosphere to wash over me.

With the risk of sounding like a clichéd youth soccer coach, it really doesn’t matter who wins the Lafayette-Lehigh football game. What matters is that it is the manifestation of a tradition that originated before Lehigh existed and that the excited lifeblood of tradition flows through us mightily on that day. Collective effervescence is a beautiful thing.

A couple of months into the semester we thought Meow was getting fat because she was being fed too much, but in fact she was pregnant! Sunday night we all heard loud meows and noises and it sounded as if there was an incident going on outside between 2 cats, but instead it was Meow giving birth! This morning we found out she had 2 kittens and instantly went to find them. My friend Chris and I roamed around the nearby area and heard a little meow coming from the bushes. I spotted a tiny kitten that could easily have been mistaken for a leaf or a hamster as it blended in with the tree and was extremely small. We immediately contacted Daniel who took the Xiao Mao, or small cat, into safety. We then proceeded to find her mother, Meow, who was a little whiles away in a bush with her second baby. We reunited the happy family and thought all was well.

Well apparently we thought wrong. Later that night we found out that Meow had a third baby, a stillborn, that needed to be taken out of her immediately or she would die. A group of about 5 of us took charge and some began to research what to do, as China isn’t exactly home to many animal hospitals or vets. We delegated responsibilities, and got a hold of gloves, water, blankets, a flashlight, and eventually vaseline and oil. My job was to hold the 2 kittens as Emily and Daniel tried to pull the dead baby out while keeping Meow calm and safe. After a long, emotional hour and a half filled with lots of oil, vaseline, and hope, the stillborn was out, and Meow was reunited with her 2 babies and the placenta to eat.

I have never been so moved or inspired by such amazing teamwork and humanity. Throughout the night some students passed by and asked about what was happening, but a team of about 5-10 of us persevered and saved Meow and her family. I was overcome with relief and joy when the stillborn was finally out and Meow’s life, along with her two babies’ lives, were no longer in jeopardy. This experience is something I will never forget and I am so thankful for everyone’s teamwork and perseverance because without it I don’t know what would have happened to Meow and her family. Now I just wish I could figure out a way to bring Meow and her kittens home with me!

On Saturday we started our day at 7 am, and decided that our first stop would be the famous Reed Flute Cave. Our hostel advised us to take bus #3 to get there and told us which stop to get off at, and we were set… or so we thought. Well, we got off at the stop we were supposed to, and we were NOT at the Reed Flute Cave. Confused and lost we stumbled upon a cab driver who said he would take us to the cave, and to our pleasant surprise, he’d let all 5 of us squish in there together! As we crammed in we were given his phone and talked to an inconspicuous lady who conveniently spoke perfect English and told us the cab driver would drive us around all day to wherever we wanted to go and he would wait for us at the tourist sites, all for 50 kuai. After negotiating (because no prices in China are set in stone), we got the price down to 40 kuai, and we were off to explore the Reed Flute Cave.

The Reed Flute Cave was AMAZING!  It was huge and magnificent, and the exciting lights made it all the more special. Not only was the cave beautiful and unique, but it played an interesting and unique role in China’s history. During the Sino-Japanese war the Reed Flute Cave was actually used as a bomb shelter! After visiting the cave we headed off to the 7-star Park. It was here that we were told we could see wild monkeys and hike to the top and see all of Guilin.  We saw beautiful scenery, an extraordinary view of Guilin, and instead of wild monkeys, we just saw a sad chained up monkey used for tourists to take pictures with and observe.  We had been so productive that we were done with both of these sites by noon! With most of our day left to explore the city, we decided to venture out to Yangshou for the rest of the day.

Yangshou is located 1.5 hours outside of Guilin. It is famous for being the site of the picture on the Chinese 20 dollar bill. We hoped to do a bamboo raft tour of the Li river, but unfortunately due to all the rain China had this past week, the bamboo raft tour was temporarily shut down. So, we settled on a 3-hour scenic bike tour of the countryside instead. 

The 3-hour bike tour was both breathtaking and eye opening. It opened my eyes to a side of China that I had never seen before, the rural, less Westernized side. I saw small villages, wild animals, and tons of different people.

Water buffalos walked around, people farmed, and others just minded their business and were friendly observers. I enjoyed both observing the people in the villages and the unreal scenery. The whole experience was truly fascinating, but exhausting. Throughout the last 30 minutes we biked through roads that shouldn’t even qualify as real roads, as they were completely filled with potholes and mud! Needless to say I was quite thankful that I made it through the end of the ride without falling off my bike.

After the bike ride we were all hot, tired, and urgently needed to shower. We left Guilin early on Sunday morning, and in true Chinese fashion, our plane was delayed. We took this opportunity to learn some German card games from my German friends, and in turn we taught them some American card games! It was a perfect end to a perfect last trip outside of Shanghai! I am now left with a bittersweet feeling, but it’s crunch time and I have 8 essays to do before I go back to New York in 26 days. So excited!

My favorite part about spring is being able to comfortably go biking here. I ride to school every morning, and there is actually bike traffic between classes. Sometimes it’s really hard to find a parking space amid the hundreds of bikes that surround our biggest academic building. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised about that since my biggest class has about 600 people in it.

Engineering classes finally started here a week after Spring Break back at Lafayette. On my first day, I was nervous to have a class that was twenty times the size of the biggest class I have had at Lafayette, but my professor is nice and he still creates an interactive experience for the students. On the third day of class, he brought candy and told us that he would throw some to people who found mistakes in his work on the board. Once someone from the middle of the lecture hall answered, he tried to throw them a Twix. It only made it half way to the student. Apparently the Snickers that the professor had used last semester flew better.

The next day we found ourselves making paper planes to learn about coordinate systems. Once we were done, we all threw them up in the air, and the room looked like the end of a graduation ceremony with a cloud of planes flying like hats over a crowd of students. Apparently the Germans don’t have that tradition, and it made me a little homesick for Lafayette. I wish the best to the seniors who will be graduating in a couple weeks, many of whom I will not see again. Coming into spring, I miss walking by the trees behind Colton Chapel and seeing the students flock to the Quad. However, I live only a five minute ride from Dresden’s equivalent of Central Park and fifteen minutes from the beautiful banks of the Elbe.

Over her spring break in Spain, my roommate from last semester and housemate for next year, Haley Garrison ’15, came to visit me. Even though it was already spring then in Madrid, it was still a little snowy here even as the crocuses were springing up around the city.

Haley in front of the reconstructed Frauenkirche, which was finished in 2005 for the 800th anniversary of the founding of Dresden.

It was pretty amazing how I could hop on a plane and a few hours later end up in a place with such a different culture and a different language. That doesn’t happen in the US, where everything is so far away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haley is studying in Madrid this semester. While many other students headed to the sunny south of Spain for break, Haley came north to brave the snows of Dresden.

 I really enjoyed bike riding around and getting to see the city. It was interesting to see how so many people get around by bike and how there are bike paths and bike racks everywhere. In Spain (and obviously the US too), hardly anyone rides bikes to get around. Spaniards usually walk or take the metro. There are a lot of motorcycles here though, lined up along the sidewalks, kind of like bicycles there.

Haley Garrison ’15 in the Großer Garten in front of the Palais in Dresden, Germany.

While the semester is ending at Lafayette and Haley is heading home from Spain, I’ll be in Dresden until July. We aren’t even to midterms yet.

The first was the Equality Rally last Wednesday. QuEST and a series of co-sponsors sold 1000 shirts of different colors to students, faculty, staff, and administrators. I bought mine early–this is important to me, and I wanted to be able to pick my color and size–and it was so inspiring throughout the day to see more and more members of our Lafayette community walking around in these shirts promoting equality for members of the LGBTQ community.

2013 Equality Rally
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lafayette-QuEST/148636591861104?fref=ts

After classes, we gathered on the steps of Skillman Library, organized into the colors of the rainbow, for a picture. The sight of people streaming across the quad with their friends, colleagues, and sometimes even children, all dressed in these shirts, was honestly beautiful. I know we have plenty of allies and supporters and members of the LGBTQ community on campus, but it was so wonderful to see everyone gather together and make such a loud, and colorful, statement of support. Afterwards, although I had to leave for work, plenty of people gathered on the steps of Farinon to discuss their experiences and the future.

Two days later, Lafayette’s Amnesty International hosted their fourth annual Jamnesty: Community for a Cause event on the Quad.  As Amnesty raised funds and awareness for New Light, a nonprofit organization based in India that seeks to end human trafficking and prostitution through education, legal, etc. services to women, different clubs and organizations gathered around tables on the Quad.

Jamnesty: Community for a Cause
https://www.facebook.com/events/334762453293641/?ref=2

Student music and dance groups performed by Skillman, the school provided hot dogs, funnel cakes, and fries, and the Quad was packed with students. Jamnesty always seems one of the fastest ways to bring the entire campus together. With such absolutely beautiful weather, the Quad looked like a scene from out of a movie–active, engaged, enthusiastic college students gathering together in the May sunshine. Because my friends and I were sitting near the speakers, making it difficult to hear each other, we joked that we were living in a ’90s movie montage about happy college students, with music playing over our words.

And finally, this past Sunday, I attended the Hoff Awards ceremony. The awards are in honor of Aaron O. Hoff, the first African-American student to attend Lafayette, as well as the student who blew the horn to bring the college’s first students and faculty to class in 1832.

Aaron O. Hoff
http://ce.lafayette.edu/2011/06/20/aaron-o-hoff-award/

A few weeks ago I sat in a room for six hours with a handful of other students to review nominations for the awards, which include organization, service, and individual awards, and then on Sunday I had the opportunity to attend the event. Each award was presented by another individual. Some of these were so touching that presenters cried, or that the presenters made audience members murmur and sniff, but all of them were inspiring. I had not attended the Hoff Awards in the past, but I left on Sunday evening excited about our campus and eager to keep doing what I love here…even if that means I have to get through exams and final papers first.

First, however, some advice: go to a school where you can form bonds. While old bonds and connections are great, new bonds are better. Then you have more. You also never know who you might have a relationship with. Pretty straightforward, yes? You may also want to choose your paths in life (major, minor, career, workplace) based on how easy it is for you to start relationships within these areas.

Take my time at Lafayette for example. While I’ve been here I’ve formed bonds with faculty in French, Philosophy, Religion, the Post Office, Psychology, and most of all Anthropology-Sociology. After taking only one class with a professor and experiencing the ups and downs of tests, quizzes, and attendance, all of them remember me. They say hi, they tell me about their research, they recommend books and classes. My favorite example happened this week when I ran into a professor that had me for one class three years ago. She stopped, said hello, remembered my name, and then said: “By the way, I voted for you for the Pepper Prize.”

The George Wharton Pepper Prize is a prestigious award for seniors. While I’m not a senior and therefore not in the running, her confidence in me made me smile. She expressed the same confidence in me during Freshman Year Seminar and she has ever since. I keep a low profile on campus and I certainly don’t have a perfect GPA but despite all this, many of my professors have taken the time to form relationships and see me realize my potential- even when I thought we didn’t get along. This means the world to me and it could mean the world to you. Find a place where people want to see you grow. Find your fan club.