Episode 11

Leo Yang, Jonathan Liang, Summer Ai, Ashley Zhou, Kathy Xu

In the morning, we shared our takeaway from the Husky Presidential Ambassador program as a group. In general, we all have fun for the week. Activities about leadership type, cultural difference, and team building engage us; from which we have learned more about leadership. Moreover, interacting with current UW students provides us the opportunities to learn about UW before enrollment.

We have made posters to reflect on all the activities we have taken part in each day. One of the participants, Ashley Zhou, felt very worthy to join this program. He said he has met people from various educational and cultural backgrounds and he felt fun to listen to their story. He especially likes the game of "Cultural Exchange" which requires three groups of people to act in a specific custom in a mixed community. After severe conflict, he noticed that participants have started to understand the importance of respecting others and the necessity to compromise their own culture to a multi-cultural community. In this Cultural Exchange game, Ashley and other student all claimed that they have learned how to become a better leader.

After the group reflection, we have our last lunch in Tsinghua’s dinner hall. Everyone seems to enjoy their time.

Go to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the Afternoon

Another participant Leo felt that the speech of Kathleen Walsh who is the Deputy Director of the foundation helps him to solve his confusion of career planning. He was very confused after having the alumni dinner, because most of my intended major in his eyes was “not practical”. In fact, this problem has bothered him from the very beginning. He keeps asking himself, what am I going to do with my degree in psychology, marketing or entrepreneurship? Am I even going to be able to get a job? But from the speech of he was able to make up my mind. Don’t think too much, even when Kathleen was a collage kid she didn’t know what job she would get will her degree, the important thing is, as long as you are passionate about it. Only when you enjoy your major you could fulfill your potential. It is ok to be confused, everyone get confused sometime, the most important thing is, follow your heart!!!!!

After our trip to the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation, it turned to our free time to have the final group dinner with our roommates. There were eight people in our group, and we decided to go to shopping malls that are located at Haidianhuangzhuang subway station.

We had a lot of funs in the shopping malls. We went to stores like The Green Party, Ajidou, Miniso and so on (because we are all girls). After the shopping, Amanpreet and Benjamin came to join us, and we had a dinner together in a Taiwan restaurant. The dishes that were served are really good and we chatted a lot after the dinner. Finally we went back to the Wudaokou station and had strawberry shake ice there.

It was a little sad when we realized this is the last night that we would spend with one another in Beijing. But we were not that sad because we know for sure that we are friends and we are going to see one another in Seattle.

As we concluded our week, we all shared our take away, and it was amazing to see how much everyone has learned from all different aspects. Also, we haven't forgotten to enjoy our last moments in the beautiful campus of Tsinghua. Then we took off to different places. In this great city, everywhere we chose to go, we are able to find places of interest. We felt so lucky we have met each other here, and such a great time we have shared together.

See you later all!

Go Huskies!!!