Northeastern First-Year Writing (Sec 72)

Matt Tung in any class. #exposed

These are my dank memes... enjoy!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B47tQM_BIwT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.tiktok.com/@unknown34.5/video/6779590609670819078?u_code=470ldk0lb9bfe&preview_pb=0&language=en&timestamp=1580451968&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=94367076517044224&tt_from=sms&utm_source=sms&source=h5_m https://www.tiktok.com/@hartyt_/video/6761546450720591110?u_code=470ldk0lb9bfe&preview_pb=0&language=en&timestamp=1580452311&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=94367076517044224&tt_from=sms&utm_source=sms&source=h5_m https://www.tiktok.com/@annabidding/video/6781900372282838277?u_code=470ldk0lb9bfe&preview_pb=0&language=en&timestamp=1580452821&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=94367076517044224&tt_from=sms&utm_source=sms&source=h5_m

I think it is so interesting that you felt too comfortable being in Hong Kong. My life has made me crave that kind of consistency, so I just find it really interesting how you were motivated to make such a huge change for the same reason I would sacrifice such an opportunity.

Who am I and Where am I going are questions I constantly think about, perhaps to a fault. I become particularly consumed by these questions during times of transition, such as this one: becoming an on campus Northeastern Student. This kind of thinking comes naturally to me. I seem to always be thinking about how what I am learning informs my life goals. However, a lot of the time I wonder if this thinking is even productive. Some of the best things in my life have been a result of chance events that I could never have planned for, and many times, would never have even asked for. Still, sometimes I wonder if thinking hard enough about my future will enable me to definitively pin point exactly what I want to do, how to should go after it, how I will feel during the joinery and once I “attain” my end goal career/life,  and where this path will mean I end up.  Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a very clear path, and I often feel like what I want and the path I ha...

Who am I? Finding my identity has always been a struggle for me. I always felt like I needed to fall into a category or be able to check a box and say "thats who I am". It took a while for me to learn and accept that all of the very different parts that come together to influence who I am are equally important and because of that, it is impossible to check a box. I am an 18 year old from Stoneham, MA, a small town just 20 minutes from campus. I come from a very strict Portuguese family with traditions I only recently realized were very odd to many of my friends. I am a student, a hockey player, a writer, a cook, a sock fanatic, a music enthusiast, a friend, a daughter, and so much more. All of these aspects that have influenced me over the course of my life have shaped me into the person I am now. There was a lot of pressure on me growing up to be someone I was not. Having the opportunity to study abroad last semester in Greece gave me the space from the people pressuring m...

I can definitely relate to the past few months as being thrown out of my comfort zone.  I am similar in that I've had the same friends since elementary school, and I was nervous to go to Greece when I didn't know anyone.  I can also relate on the indecisiveness and the fear of failure, both of which I hope I can get better with as well.

On the surface, “who am I” and “what am I doing here” are very self-explanatory and easily answered questions. However, once you delve deeper they are probably some of the hardest questions to answer. I feel like our life experiences largely influence how we answer those questions and because we are always gaining new experiences, good and bad, our view on who we are and why we are here are seemingly subject to change. If you asked me a year ago who I was, my reply would have been very centered around being a musician and friend. Now, those two things are still who I am but student is just my main focus and it is the most relevant so that is how I would describe myself and my reason for being here.  My name is Katherine Shauh or KK to most and I was born in San Diego, California. I was born into a very tight-knit family of five. I have two older sisters, Lauren and JJ. The majority of my life was very constant and unchanging. I attended a K-12 school and thus many of my friends...

Who are you and what are you doing here? Who am I? My name is Mikayla and I am from a small town of Northborough, MA. I live with my mom and dad, as well as, my older sister, Alyssa. She is currently a Junior in college at Bryant University. My high school was a regional school made up of two towns, Northborough and Southborough. There was always a weird rivalry between the "better town", as elementary and middle school were separate, it was only in high school where we came together as one. One of my favorite things to do in high school was to play basketball. I found a comfort in being able to work hard on a new skill and actually be able to see the hard work pay off. So far in my life, even with schoolwork, it has been hard for me to see the handwork I put into something actually pay off. In school, it is almost expected to get good grades, so if I received an A in a class, even though I worked hard for it, I would not feel that accomplished. It is a weird concept. I wa...

Who am I? For me my identity has always been something I've struggled with. My name is Abigail (Abby) Jiminian, I live in Dedham Mass and I am 18 years old. I grew up in a small suburb with only 700 students in my high school. My graduating class consisted of only 185 students. In the suburb I grew up in everyone knew everybody and there was not a lot of originality in peoples identities. For me that was always a struggle. I find myself to be unique and to not follow the normal trends so I struggled a lot as a younger child finding myself and my interest. I always had difficulty understanding the way I was defined in society because it never really made sense to me. My parents and older siblings provided a great foundation for me and for how I carried myself throughout life. Instead of them forcing their own identities on me they aided my ability to foster my own personal interests. I've grown into a love for athletics, medicine and music all factors that contribute to my ove...

Who am I? Well, my name is Meeghan (yes Meeeeeeeeghan, not Meghan) and I am from Marblehead, MA. I was born in Salem, MA which is the town right next to Marblehead and famously known for its witch history. I am from a family of four and have a younger sister named Molly. I have lived in Marblehead my entire life but I traveled to Maine to ski for most of my childhood during winter weekends. Growing up playing sports, I lived an extremely active lifestyle. I was always going to soccer practice or lacrosse practice or packing up my ski equipment for a race. I am a very competitive person but I also loved the team atmosphere and social aspect of the sports I played. Most of my best friends I met through playing youth sports in my town or joining a local club team. Sports always kept me on a very strict schedule and helped me plan out when I needed to finish my homework or study for an exam. Adjusting to a lifestyle where I don't have the same strict schedule has been an interesting a...

Who am I? My name is Ashley Heacock. I am from a small town called Maplewood NJ. I have lived in the same house my whole entire life with my Mom, Dad, and older brother. When ever I am asked who I am or what my identity is I always seem to struggle to find a response. I have the privilege of not being forced to deal with my identity on a daily basis, yet it has left me without an interesting answer to this question.  What makes up who a person is? Is it the way they look? In that case I am a young, white, female. Is it their hobbies? I have played soccer my whole entire life and more recently became a certified EMT. I enjoy being active and socializing with friends. Is it what you do? I am a student, I work at a restaurant, I am part of two clubs; NU ACES and Chaarge. Is it what you have done? As I said above I dedicated most of my life before now to soccer. I also dabbled in cheerleading, acting, and went through a skateboarding phase. In high school, I was co-leader of the pre...

This question automatically made me think of "This is Me," a song by Keala Settle from the movie "The Greatest Showman." The lyrics stick out to me because she sings, "I am brave, I am bruised I am who I'm meant to be, this is me." This definitely describes the person I am today after going through life and having many interesting experiences. A lot of who I am comes from my trait of adaptability that I have acquired. I was born in Illinois, but since then I have moved over 5 times. From Illinois was Michigan, then Northern California, Southern California, Georgia, back to Southern California, and now Boston. This was all due to my dad's profession. Growing up, I never had a steady group of friends because every time I got comfortable, I learned we were moving again. Nevertheless, I was in Southern California the longest, so that is where I declare "home." I was often involved in sports such as soccer and I even participated in a few scho...

My name is Jimmy and I was born in Shanghai, one of the best cities in China. For the last 18 years, I spent all of my time there. For the living, education and having fun. Actually, I tended to go to US high school for studying since I went abroad before when I was still in middle school. Those best memories are all the force that keeps me going on. However, I did not go in the end because of the worries of my parents. Still, all the life and experiences I had so far in my hometown was also good enough and unforgettable. The reason why I am here is also easy to figure out. That is just to make my dream come true again- study abroad and try to learn different kinds of cultures. In this way, the choice made by my parents can still make sense, since I got more time to prepare for my college life especially in my hometown. Learning cultures is just part of the reasons why I am here, studying different majors in a college in a totally foreign country and try to make friends all around th...

     Hi, my name is Julia Zaucha. Fun fact: according to "How Many of Me - Census Search", there is only one person (me) with my full name in the USA, so who am I? - One of a kind, thank you very much.       Although I have current residence in Boston, I like to identify who I am with where I am originally from. I was born in Chicago, Illinois and originally lived above a bar until my family moved to a northwestern suburb about 35 minutes outside of the city. I come from a decent sized town and received a very good public school education.      Early on in my education, I was not a huge fan of school and would often pretend to be sick to go home. I would only justify this behavior as I used to be a very shy kid but once I was exposed to sports I really cracked out of my shell. I was your average kid who played all the sports possible such as basketball, softball, swimming, soccer, tennis, and dance. I made a bunch of friends but I cho...

Who am I? That’s a good question. Well for starters, my name is Alexandra Kaye Fenlon, but everyone calls me Allie. I live in a small town in New Jersey with my mom, dad, brother, and two cats. Throughout my childhood, I was extremely into acting and singing, that’s right, I was a theater kid. I was also on at least one soccer team at all times from Pre-K to my junior year in high school. I played many sports and participated in many activities for long periods of time like my 14-year dance career or my eight-year basketball career to name a few which both stopped once I started high school. I attended a regional high school, where my class size jumped from 97 to 510 students. At Watchung Hills, I was a part of the soccer team for three years, I was in many different clubs, part of the chorus, I was on the fencing team for four years, and was the captain of the fencing team for two years. I was always extremely high energy and needed many activities to keep me busy. What am I doing ...

Who am I and what am I doing here? Well that is a good question.  For starters, I am Victoria Nemeth. I am from Albany, New York. I am in the Health Sciences program here, and very unsure about what I want to do as a career.  I am super indecisive, which doesn’t much help. Also, I am not much of a planner. I don’t really know what’s going to happen at the end of this week, and it’s really hard to think about what life will be like four or five years from now.  So much happens in a day, week, month, and I feel like things can change any minute. If I think about it, only a little over a month ago I came back from my first semester abroad in Greece. I always think it’s kind of crazy how much things change in the course of a year.  A year ago I was accepted into the NUin program, and was almost sure that Northeastern wouldn’t be the school I would end up at. I couldn’t imagine myself leaving the country for my first semester of college, knowing absolutely no one....

My name is Samantha Rhynard. I am a college freshman at Northeastern university. I played water polo in high school , and I also ran the band's color guard (the flags that follow the band around in parades), in addition to being the band director's TA and french horn section leader all four years. I have always had an interest in books and reading, and I have been trying to get back into the habit of reading when I have free time, because in high school I had a lot of book lag, where I would forget to bring the book I was reading with me, or just not bother so it took me a really long time to read one book (I do think that I have made an improvement in that category, because this past semester I read 10 books). I grew up in California for the most part, with a 4 year sojourn to Franklin, MA. Because of the moves to and from Mass, I am accustomed to flying from Boston Logan airport to SFO, SJC, and OAK. I have travelled abroad to Italy and Greece (Italy was better), and I have b...

I am Nicholas Moscardelli, and I have lived in central/coastal New Jersey for most of my life. I think a large part of what made me who I am and why I’m at Northeastern is martial arts, specifically Shotokan Karate. Before college, I had been taking classes at the dojo in my town for about 8 years or so, and it had a large influence in shaping me into the type of person I am now. I would not exactly consider myself a super athletic person, at least not before high school, but one of the hardest physical challenges I’ve encountered was my black belt test in junior year of high school. It was about 3 hours of drills, sparring, exercises, performing movesets, and board breaks that were exhausting, yet once it was done, it felt like years of practice had paid off. Although karate has been a good source of martial arts knowledge and exercise for a large part of my life, it has also had an influence on my other interests and possibly why I chose Northeastern. A large component of martia...

Who am I and what am I doing here seems like it should be an easy question.  On the surface, I’m Kat and I’m here at Northeastern to get my degree. I think surface answers are boring.   I’m Kat.  I am a student and a daughter and a sister and a friend.  Until recently, my life looked really different. Obviously college is a completely different experience than living at home is, but it has changed significantly more than I expected it to.  At home, I went to church every week to mentor the sixth graders, and I rode horses competitively and practiced almost every day. The time that I did spend at home was usually not with my family; I felt as if I needed a break whenever I was at home for a prolonged period of time and interacting with my family felt draining.  Now that I’m not living at home in good old Minnesota anymore, I’m away from my home church and horses. These changes I expected. One of the biggest changes that I wasn’t anticipating w...

Who am I? That depends on where I am and who I am with. Back home, my friends call me the weirdest names like Sabibi and Sabbath (pronounced Sa-bath). They know me as an expert procrastinator who somehow managed to bullshit her way through high school and actually end up pretty decent. Here at Northeastern, my friends call me Sabby or Sabrina and they think of me as a goofy person who has successfully figured out how to cram 12 hours of television, 12 hours of homework and 12 hours of sleep into one day (and yes, I am aware that added together, that is more than the regular 24 hour day but that is the point). The truth is that I am a mix of all these perspectives of me and more. The “and more” part is where things get more complicated. Some aspects of the “and more” part, I do know, but other parts, a complete mystery to me that I am still trying to figure it out. Approximately one year ago, I didn’t know who I was when I applied to Northeastern which is why I applied under a health sc...

My name is Matthew Tung and I was born in Hong Kong.  I've pretty much lived there for all 20 years of my life.  My family has never felt the need to move since we love living there so much. Many of the best friends in Hong Kong that I currently have I've known since I was just in kindergarten.  The reason why I love it so much is because there's not a city like it anywhere else in the world.  The food is great, the city is efficient, the scenery is beautiful, and the people are amazing.  However, I was becoming too comfortable staying in Hong Kong with the same friends I've had since I was just a small kid.  Hence, when after my freshman year in high school in Hong Kong, I chose to step out of my comfort zone and completely change the scenery from the busy city to a boarding school called Blair located in the middle of nowhere in New Jersey.  This change at first was extremely difficult.  I've never had to make new friends for a long time and I ...

I am Dina Seremet. I was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the city of witches. Salem is well known for being the Halloween town of New England, but I didn’t live in Salem. I grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts, a small town on the ocean. However, in seventh grade, I moved over to the town over, our rival town Marblehead. Now, these two towns have a lot of hatred towards one another. We have an annual Thanksgiving football game and powderpuff game where the rivalry is put to the test. Both of my parents are Bosnian and came to America in the late 90s. Bosnian culture is a huge part of who I am. It was actually my first language. In fact, I went to preschool not knowing any English. It was a little bit of a struggle. I go back to Bosnia every summer to spend time with my family because almost all of my family still live in Bosnia. It is always an eye-opening trip. Unfortunately, the country is still not fully repaired from the war and there is quite a bit of corruption.  Since the a...

In the article, "Who are you and what are you doing here?", the author, Mark Edmundson, brings up some very interesting points. One point that particularly stood out to me was the idea of having to fight for education. " You can get a terrific education in America now—there are astonishing opportunities at almost every college—but the education will not be presented to you wrapped and bowed. To get it, you’ll need to struggle and strive, to be strong, and occasionally even to piss off some admirable people". When going into college, I don't think anyone would think about telling you this. I think people just tell you all of the great aspects about college and nobody really focuses on the drawbacks, or how hard they truly had to work at their education. I really liked this piece, because I liked how  honest Edmundson was in describing how things really were, not just what people wanted to hear.  Edmundson describes education  not being wrapped and bowed, which ju...

While reading the small section of Malcolm X's autobiography I was fascinated by all the information I was able to pick up. I've always known of Malcom X through the small and brief lessons of civil rights provided by my education system but it was not enough. For example I did not know he dropped out of high school in 8th grade, got into legal trouble and taught himself how to read. The only real knowledge expressed to me as a student was that he was apart of the nation of islam and one of the more radical civil rights advocates. I wish as a student I was given the full story and more. I gained a better appreciation for Malcolm X while reading this part of his autobiography. The fact that he was able to teach himself how to read and write by using a dictionary is amazing. His desire to learn was more powerful than any racist regime America could have. It must have been tremendously hard for X to even obtain proper knowledge as a young black man in America. At the time Jim Crow...

During NUin I did not have the opportunity to take part in service-learning, so I am excited to experience what it is all about. Throughout high school, I was consistently volunteering. I was always hosting fundraiser sports clinics, raising money for my school, volunteering at our local nursing home, tutoring underclassman, or working with a local farm. Volunteering, although necessary for resumes, has become an important part of my life. I will admit that I only began volunteering because my mom forced me to when I was younger. I started volunteering at the Special Olympics in middle school and often helped with the track events. But as I got older, I found myself starting to look forward to different volunteering opportunities instead of my mom forcing me to sign me up for them. In my opinion, there is no better feeling than being able to make a strong impact on those who are less fortunate than you. Volunteering can enrich your life by giving you new life experiences, putting you o...