Halfway Point!

It's officially the halfway point of IUP and I don't know whether I should be sad, happy, excited, etc. But I guess its a good time to start reflecting on my experience so far and thinking about the rest of the summer.
When first coming to IUP, the age difference was definitely the first thing that startled me, especially as a college freshman. The strong sense of community that college students receive was non existent at IUP and made me feel lost for a period of time. But now as I've become more accustomed to this community, I think that I have come to appreciate it more. Meeting so many graduate students who are almost 10 years older than me has definitely matured me. Even though I'm already accustomed to being around older people (since I'm the youngest in my family and have siblings that are already in their 30's), in the past it's always been older people who are relatives/mentors. But to approach older people as peers is a completely different concept. And what surprises me also is that many of my IUP classmates don't treat the younger students with the usual condescension that I have experience in the past. This may stem from how we are classmates but may also just be a sign of growing up and maturity (of the younger crowd). Because as we get older, age differences matter less. Though there is definitely some separation of the older crowd and the younger crowd the intermingling of groups has given me a great experience! And I've come to realize that older people can be just as immature as little kids, one time over dinner we spent over an hour talking about poop.

As for the rest of the summer, I'm really looking forward to attending more events of this "Hand in Hand" program that I decided to participate in. Basically this program organizes events for IUP students and Chinese students (who range from college sophomores to already graduated PhD students) with the purpose of cultural exchange. Just yesterday we spent the whole day playing Mah Jong and making dumplings. The organizer says he's thinking about organizing an overnight trip to somewhere outside the city maybe to a 农家乐(kind of a vacation area in the countryside)! I'm super excited!
share on: facebook