Exchange: October

Although this month was pretty much mid-term season, I did my best to spice it up with fun, learning, and productivity! This month, I was able to meet new friends, make new memories with closer ones, and learned much more about the world and myself. So here's an update!

1. Corporate Valuation Workshop

The month started off productively academic. I was able to join a corporate valuation workshop taught by Zachary Beukema from Teaching the Street. Funny story, but I bumped into him early as he struggled to open the wrong door to the building. Because of that, I was able to talk with him before the workshop started, where he gave me advice on professional development, specifically in banking and consultancy (though I'm more interested in the latter).

2. Went on a trip to Silicon Valley and Stanford

Right after the workshop, I went with two friends to Silicon Valley! It was an hour-and-a-half drive (which made it a highly expensive Uber), but the view there was nice (even though I was sleeping most of the time). We were able to visit companies, such as IBM, NASA, Apple, Google and Facebook!

Personally, I found the Googleplex amazing. It was so colorful with statues here and there, and they had their own beach volleyball court! It must be a pleasant working environment, and employees could even ride Google-owned bicycles. I wanted to pretend to be an employee just to ride it... I really wish I had done that.

The final stop to our trip was at Stanford University (sorry, Berkeley). But the campus was huge and one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. It felt as if I was stepping on Rome with all its statues and grand architecture! Unfortunately, we visited at night so we weren't able to see some things as clearly. But even at night, you can see that the campus is such a gem.

3. Hiking Trips at Yosemite National Park and Redwood Regional Park

Thanks to the power outage holiday, I was able to plan two hiking trips! The first one was at Redwood Regional Park, which was a much easier and relaxing hike. It's called Redwood for a reason, since pretty much everywhere we looked was filled with redwood. We also saw a couple of dogs pass by, who seemingly had much more stamina than I did.

The second trip was at Yosemite National Park, and I personally preferred this one despite the longer and more intense hike to our destination: Cathedral Lakes. During this hike, I was also assigned as a GBUS IG ambassador, so I was able to document my trip there! And despite being a long drive and hike there, the view was not at all disappointing. There was always something beautiful to look at, and that made the Cathedral Lake all the more breathtaking. It was incredibly tranquil, but a bit cold. While I was there, I dipped myself in the lake and, boy, was it freezing!! It felt as if my toes were falling off! For the rest of our stay there, we pretty much just sat on a rock and enjoyed the view.

To wrap up the whole trip, I ate dinner at a small diner in Buck Meadows, which was home to a population of only 50 people! I ordered their signature sandwich, which tasted really good by the way, especially the cheese. Going back was beautiful as well, since there were millions of stars that filled up the sky!

I have a full post of the Yosemite hike here as well if you're interested!

But side note, wildfires are no joke. For anyone living in California, don't forget to wear your N95 masks if air quality isn't good that day!

4. Watched the Joker

I watched the Joker right after the Redwood Regional Park, not only because I wanted to watch the movie per se, but because I was curious about the American cinema experience. Honestly, it's not even that different except for the fact that people can choose wherever they want to sit. But I guess the atmosphere is different compared to Hong Kong, where people are more reactive to certain scenes, and some people even clap at the end of the movie?

The Joker, however, was a fantastic film, and it leaves you confused by the end of it. So many twists and turns, I don't even know if I understand the film anymore. Should I make a full review on this movie?

5. Thrift Shopping

This was probably my first-ever thrift shopping experience! We were able to find a thrift shop near campus, which was called Anastasia. They had a lot of great finds but were not necessarily at a thrifty price. I went to this shop to buy a brand new, brown suit, as well as a blouse for my Halloween costume.

6. Gym Time!

I still try to keep up with my gym schedule while I'm here, so here's a brief update on my progress from September to October!

• Squat rack: 20 lbs to 75 lbs

• Leg press: 120 lbs to 145 lbs

• Bicep curls: 10 lbs to 15 lbs

• Dumbbell shoulder press: 12 lbs to 17.5 lbs

• Dumbbell chest press: 12 lbs to 17.5 lbs

I can't wait to push myself even further and look back at how much progress I have made. I'm not necessarily aiming for any "body transformation" but my main goals are just to remain physically and mentally healthy, as well as challenge my body's limits.

7. Bookworm Time!

I try to squeeze in time to read a book every day. This month, I finished reading the books, Bear Town, Everything is #@%!ed, The Sun is Everywhere, and now, I'm currently reading Bottle Grove. I'm debating on which is my favourite: Bear Town or Everything is #@%!ed, but it's too difficult to decide.

But I don't just stop with reading. One thing I like to do is tie in concepts I learn from personal development books, like Everything is #@%!ed, to fictional books. I try to analyze the characters in the stories and think about how they can improve themselves by thinking back on what I learned from other books. I think this helps me internalize what I have learned from these books, and apply this behaviour to myself as well.

8. Beginning my own project

One thing about UC Berkeley is that it has a lot of great academic resources. So it would be a waste if I did not make use of it during my exchange here! I have always been passionate about creating social impact, but only recently, I found out what kind of cause I would like to fight for: children's health and education. It only really hit me now for some reason that children are our future and the ones with the greatest potential to make a difference. And it's important for them to grow healthily and have the opportunity to reach that potential.

I reached out to a professor from the Public Health Department at UC Berkeley, and she invited me to take one of her public health Master's courses, which focuses on the importance of nutrition to childhood development. This helped me start to think about how we can try to improve access to nutrition for children, especially for those living in LDCs.

In the meantime, I'm also trying to reach out to different Economics professors to explore different fields of interest. For example, health economics and behavioural economics caught my interest, and could probably help me with my personal project!

9. Happy Halloween!

It has been around 13 years since I celebrated a proper Halloween, and what better of a place to celebrate it than in the States? Halloween is a HUGE celebration here, and that's what made my experience really authentic and fruitful!

I went to a costume party hosted by a friend of mine, and dressed up as Rosie the Riveter (a feminist ICON by the way). Honestly, I was googling last-minute costumes, and Rosie was the easiest person to dress up as. But at the same time, I always loved that picture of Rosie flexing her arm, which can be found in posters, postcards or any other form of imagery. She looked like a tough woman, which I always aspired to be. It truly felt empowering to be dressed up as her. It was a low-effort, high-reward kind of outfit.

I also did pumpkin carving with a couple of friends! I made a bear pumpkin to celebrate that #gobears spirit.

10. Volunteering during Berkeley Project Day

Berkeley Project Day is a large-scale community service event, where they send thousands of students to volunteer around Berkeley. I went with some friends from the dance team to volunteer at Halcyon Commons, where we helped clean up graffiti around the neighbourhood (but failed), and did some gardening. There was a lot of mulch that we had to dig up and spread around the garden, but that was ultimately how I became closer with my dance team members.

Finally, as usual, I'm going to wrap it up with some key lessons and insights. This month, there are two main things that I have learnt.

1. Work hard, play hard. Back in Hong Kong, we always hear this saying. And though we seem to have the work hard part down, we are always forgetting to actually play hard. Or vice versa. We seem to think these two are mutually exclusive. What's amazing is that Berkeley students seem to be pulling off this mantra incredibly well. I see the same people studying in the library and acting wild during parties. I see the same people reviewing for midterms intensely together and spending leisure time, such as community service. I see the same people doing silly stuff with their friends and having life passions and goals that they strive for. And to me, this is something I highly admire. I want to better practice this when I get back to Hong Kong, and just overall have a fulfilling school year.

2. Be proud of where you are. Another thing I like about Berkeley students is how much they love their university. There's so much school spirit and regardless of who you are and where you're from, the people are so united through their love for the school and what it stands for. And I find that to be a great way of building a school community. Of course, that's not to say that people don't disagree here. Everyone in Berkeley is so unique, and always has a different perspective on the same issue. But whenever it comes to showing school spirit, they always know how to set their differences aside, at least for a moment. It inspired me to reflect back on HKUST (my home university) and how can we build more school spirit over there. I think having that pride does a lot for students' productivity and passion. So that's going to be one of my missions when I get back to Hong Kong.

So that's pretty much it for October! I can't wait to see what's in store for me in November (hint hint: there's a lot of travelling involved). In the meantime, stay tuned for other upcoming blog posts that will be just as exciting!