Author Archives: yazmin.feng

To: Professor X
Subject: Question regarding missed midterm

Hello professor,
For the past couple of days I have been very sick which is why I missed the midterm on Wednesday. I was wondering if there’s any assignment I could do to make it up. I know this might be inconvenient for you but I would really appreciate it if I could make up for my absence. Thank you!

Yazmin Feng

POL 1101, MW 4:10-5:25

I hung up the phone. I couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of my mom’s mouth. The life I had grown accustomed to would now change. Walks along the beaches of Puerto Rico would now turn into sleepless nights in the busy streets of Times Square. Traffic free zones would now be filled with bus stops on every few blocks. Endless summers would now experience snow. It took me a while to get used to the Spanish culture that everyone around me shared. That’s why I was shocked to hear that I now had to move. I had to leave the place I called home, meet new people, learn a new language, and start all over.
I didn’t understand the decisions of my parents back then, but I trusted them to know what was best for me. They thought it was in my best interest to learn English in one of the most successful cities in the world, New York. However, in order to continue giving me a good life, they had to stay in Puerto Rico and manage their Chinese restaurant.
Every few years, I had to move back to Puerto Rico in order to ensure I wasn’t forgetting Spanish. I moved quite a lot while my parents decided whether to keep me in one place or the other. Finally their confusion settled and their decision was to sell the restaurant and move to New York with me. I was glad I didn’t have to travel anymore, but I realized that I didn’t have a solid relationship with anybody, not even with my parents. In all those years of moving from one place to another, I lost the bond I once had with my dad. The only times I ever spoke to him were when he asked how my grades were or if he lectured me for doing something wrong. He never seemed to show concern for my personal life. I knew that education was the key in life, but he’d never let me forget it.
All those years, I felt like I wasn’t living up to his expectations of me. That is where my determination to strive to the fullest came from. Becoming successful in what I chose to do would not only make him proud, but it would show that I was capable of doing it my way, not his.
Moving here has given me the opportunity to be a part of so many things I never imagined. I find myself lucky to have been able to be experience two very different places. When I first find out I had to move, I felt like the walls were crashing down on me. I thought about how much I hated change, but now when I look back, I’m thankful for this experience. I have found people who make me wonder how I possibly lived this long without them. Don’t get me wrong, I miss the life I had back then and I’ll never forget the memories that came along with it, but one thing I have learned from this whole thing is to never neglect what life has to offer you and to always be ready for what it has in store for you next.

Let’s start off by saying that not everything is what it seems like. I remember mentioning this sometime during orientation but most of you have probably forgotten by now that I was born in Puerto Rico and lived there for 12 years, which means that I’m fluent in Spanish. Whenever I tell someone this fact about myself, they are always surprised because my outer appearance is Asian-looking. Both my parents are Chinese and it just so happened that we owned a Chinese restaurant at the time and that’s where it all started for me, but let’s not get into that right now.

I would like to think that I’m a outgoing person with many ambitions in life. One of the things I dislike about myself is how I put off things until the last minute. I feel like this is such a bad habit to keep but I’m trying really hard to break it as each day passes by. I am a nice person, really easy to talk to, and sometimes a little bit too forgiving. All these qualities and many more make me who I am and I hope to make an impact on the lives of people someday, whether it be a small or big one.

Just like everyone else, I want to do well in all of my classes, and failing is my biggest concern as of now. I don’t like the feeling of knowing that I could have done a better job but didn’t. Another concern of mine is allowing the workload to pile up and letting the stress to get to me. I am the type to give up easily but that’s just another thing on my list of things to change about myself. Lastly, I would like to meet new people and create a strong friendships because what’s success if you don’t have anybody to share it with?

Only a few weeks have passed since classes started but I can already tell that Baruch will change me in many ways. Compared to high school, everything is just so different. Everyone’s in a rush to get to their destination, teachers don’t seem to notice you as much, and the amount of work that is given makes high school seem like a joke, unless you had all AP classes. I’ll definitely try to manage my time better and do things ahead of time instead of leaving everything until the day before it’s due … starting tomorrow.