senior program summer site : conversations : first session



	albert from taiwan (7/26) Albert was born in Chicago but hails from Taiwan and lives in Shanghai now. He's going into the 12th grade and is in his first year at Explo. Given the option of an internship for the summer or coming to Explo, he chose the latter. So far, he's met a lot of great people here and hopes to continue to improve his writing skills. Where are you from? I'm from Taiwan, but I was born in Chicago and I live in Shanghai now. Cool. How did you find out about Explo? I actually did a bit of research on the internet. My mom wanted me to do something interesting during the summer. If I didn't do anything during the summer, I'd actually be interning at her company. But I decided to do that during the winter, because it's a shorter time and during the summer I wanted to go somewhere farther away. Some of my friends recommended I search and I found Exploration. I looked at the Program, there were a lot of courses, and I liked the look of some of them, so I decided to come here. And what do you think so far? Pretty good! I like the campus a lot. It's huge. They've got a huge gym here -- I love the gym, seriously. I don't usually work out at a gym, but the day before yesterday I went for the first time and when I walked in, I just loved it. I went yesterday and I'm planning to go today. I play on the basketball team in Shanghai and I have to get fit before the season starts, so that's a good place for me to go. What else do you like about Explo? I love the people here, they're really nice. They're all nice to me. The first day I came, I felt awkward because I didn't know anyone. And then after like two days I met Elias, Peter, and Roshan. They were really nice to me. I'm usually an extrovert, but I decided to become more quiet when I came here . . . but I don't think the atmosphere allows me to do that. Everyone talks a lot! Who are some of these guys who made you feel welcome? Elias is from Greece -- he's my roommate. Dan and Noah are also in my suite -- they're from the States. Peter was here for first session too, so he actually knows others and introduced me to people. Then Roshan is from Turkey -- he's really funny. There are a lot of people here. What's your favorite thing about your living group? They're really funny. They really talk a lot. I was afraid that my living group would be boring. Many of the people came from Venezuela and speak Spanish -- I thought I would be the only one speaking English -- eventually, though, it turned out I got to know some of those Spanish-speaking guys. Now I'm close friends with some of them, like Carlos. He lives right next door. They're really cool friends. You mentioned that you're normally extroverted but you decided to try being introverted here -- why? Well, I don't know, I just thought I'd try it because usually I talk too much! In English class at school, my teacher has to shut me up and not let me talk, because I talk too much. So I was trying to change a bit, but I don't think I can. Everyone talks to me and I don't want to be, like, rude or anything. Of course. So tell me about your first class. The first class I'm in is social psychology, which I love. It's really fun. At home at school, I'm taking psychology, too. Some of the stuff is interesting because I've never known it. In Shanghai my psych teacher is kind of boring, but here it's actually fun. We have a lot of activities. We just had a quiz, a competition today. What kinds of activities or competitions have you had? I forget what they're called exactly, but one of the "getting to know you" activities was where we stuck a name behind our backs and tried to figure out who we were and give hints to others. It was a great way to get to know each other better. And today we had a competition -- there are points on the front of a card and you say, "I want to try 'Explorer' for 100 points," and you flip it and there's a question. And if you answer it you get the points. That was really fun because this way we actually work and have fun. The cards had psychology questions on them? Yeah, like about negative attitudes, bi-dimensional psychology, and how different people react in different situations. I love that course because in Shanghai in my psychology class it's just boring. What's your second course? My second course is video production. I chose it because back in Shanghai two years ago I was in drama class and I was in some of the plays, like "Gulliver's Travels", and it was really fun. And I was director once, but I never knew how the video production worked, so I joined this class. We're having a lot of fun. Today we're finishing filming after mini-courses then we have to edit all the stuff. What are you filming? We made up a little story within 90 seconds -- no dialogue. I was one of the main characters: I'm kind of lonely and looking for friends and eventually I find someone. We came up with this story in our group and then we did a storyboard -- like, we drew it out and saw how each shot would look. It turned out to be great. We used some of the Yale statues to identify the campus . . . and we have a great campus, so you get good shots, great views. Awesome. What about your mini-course? Oh, I love my mini-courses! I'm currently taking "Does God Exist?" with Tyson. It's really fun. We have a lot of debates in class. I'm a Christian, and we haven't talked about it but I believe everyone has different religious backgrounds. People talk a lot, so we have debates -- they're a lot of fun, a lot of interaction. We get along with each other. After class we come over together and say, "Hey, do you think this is right?" "No, what do you think about it?" We actually discuss the stuff that we talk about in class. It's helpful and we get to know each other better. And then I'm going to take baseball for my second mini-course. I'm a huge baseball fan, just from watching it. You know all the Taiwanese, like, on the New York Yankees? Chien-Ming Wang -- I'm a huge fan. But I've never played baseball before, so I thought it'd be a chance to try it out, see if I have the talent. Excellent. Is there anything else you're really looking forward to here? I think my oral English is okay, but my writing and my handwriting are actually really bad, so I'm actually looking forward to improving my writing. My roommates, Noah and Dan, help me out with creative writing stuff. And I want to make a lot of friends here. I've been to some other summer programs and there aren't as many people as here, so it's cool that they all come from everywhere . . . tons of different countries and nationalities. I'd love to make some friends here and keep in contact in the future. If you were an animal, what kind would you be? Let me see . . . I would like to be a panda. First, because I just saw the movie Kung-Fu Panda, which was really funny, and second, because pandas are really rare so people look after them. I'd have a good life: just chill, sit in the shade. When I want to eat, I eat. I roll around, people think I'm cute. That would be fun. Nice. And do you have any advice for someone coming to Explo for the first time? Talk. Talk a lot to people; don't be shy. Like, for the first day I was shy. Don't be shy. The people here are really nice. Don't think you're alone. If you talk to someone, they'll talk to you, and you guys will make friends really quickly. more conversations > first session \| second session