Besides studying, extracurricular activities make the most of my college life! In this blog, I’ll highlight some of the activities I’ve done so far in my 2+ years of college life.

I came from Taiwan when I was in 10th grade so naturally, I joined the Taiwanese Student Association (TSA) in my freshman year. TSA is designed mainly for mandarin speaker and it is a non-political, pure social club. It offers a variety of events throughout the semester, including night market, karaoke night, karaoke contest, sports day, ice cream night, beach day, dance mixer, etc... The events are usually on Fridays, a time to just chill out with friends and relax! Since I really enjoyed the events, I became an officer. Being an officer let me understand how college clubs run in a big university. It also enhanced my event planning and social skills. So if you guys think you want to meet more people and just have a night to get away from academics, I’d definitely recommend joining a social club. Life is harsh, have some fun!

Besides social club, I also joined the Pre-Medical Honor Society (PMHS). PMHS is a club for premed students with a GPA higher than or equal to 3.7. It offers resources and activities like mentoring program with medical students, volunteering on weekends, application process forums, and lectures. From there, I learned more about being a premed. Some stuff you just have to learn through talking with people. I also met many friends in the club and we have been taking classes together. I believe meeting people, or working with people of your academic interest is a very important thing in college. Having friends who want to pursuit a same career path not only makes you see a wider perspective, it also provides resources in terms of hw, class selections, activities offered on campus, application timelines, etc.

I volunteered as an English tutor in YWCA’s English In Action (EIA) program when I was in first and second year. It was a pretty fun experience! I got to meet people from different countries with different cultural and academic backgrounds. It only requires one hour a week. I’ve had 2 partners so far. One is a bioengineer from China and the other is a MCB researcher from Korea. Both of them introduced me to their work and their studies on campus. It’s really neat because I learned something I couldn’t learn from peers of my age and my major. Yup, so if you guys have time, go check out EIA in YWCA. It’s just down on Bancroft!

Another cool activity I had was the Intramural (IM) Coed Basketball! I teamed up with some friends last year and we formed a basketball team. If you haven’t heard of IM Basketball, it’s basically teams of recreational level competing with other teams on campus. Our team met once to twice a week for practice then we competed on some night. It was just plain fun! Plus, if you have trouble getting your buddies to go work out with you, joining an IM sport takes care of your weekly exercise! There are also a variety of sports offered in RSF: volleyball, ultimate freebie… Go check out the RSF website!

Yah, all in all, the point is……….. everyone should join at least one activity! It will only enrich your college life! I promise! If you have any questions, come by during my office hours on M 1-2, F 10-11. Bye bye for now!