I put “Heal the World” on my playlist because both of my parents like Michael Jackson and this song is their favorite. When they introduced this song to me I only found the melody was very sweet and I put the song on when I slept. Later my parents explained me the meanings of the lyrics and told me I should always think of others and not just myself. This song always reminds me the importance of caring about others and the expectation from my parents.

I included “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson. It’s a song from one of the English movies I watched when I was really interested in learning English. I like the lyrics of the song because it somehow motivated me to try new thing and step out my “comfort zone” which is to be an exchange student two years ago. It was pretty exciting but challenging to be an exchange student and study in the New York City. The song is very inspiring and it gave me a lot of confidence to try out new things during my exchange year.

“Happy” by Pharrell Williams is on my playlist because it’s from my favorite movie Despicable Me2. I like the characters Gru and the youngest little girl Agnes. Despite Gru is very mean as he appears but he is very nice and thoughtful inside. I like Agnes because she is very innocent and always cheerful. I also love the description of the feeling of happy in the song: Because I’m happy,Clap along, if you feel like a room without a roof.

I included “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars because I think the song is so lovely that the song shows a boy likes his girlfriend just the way she is. Even though this song is from a boy’s perspective to think that the girl is perfect as the way she is, it’s also important for girls to believe that they are perfect as the way they are.

I included “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars because I feel like this song sums up what friendship is. This is also the song my friend Tenzin and I sang a lot when we are on our way home. I think I am reliable to my friends because I am always there to support my friends and I value a lot the friendships I have with my friends.

I put “200%” by Akdong Musician from Korea because they are my favorite K-Pop stars and this is my top favorite song in their album. It’s written by one of the talented singers in the group. The melody is fresh and playful. I included this song also because I like Korean culture and listening to Korean music can help me learn some basic Korean words. I included the song

“Falling Slowly” from the movie “Once”. The song fits perfectly for the movie. I am a fan of romance movie and I think this is a good one. This story is about the love story of two Irish musician and I live with an Irish host family so I feel connected in some way. The song sounds very good when the actor play this song with guitar. Also I fall in love with the actor and actress’ voices.

This song “Bitter Gourd” is in Cantonese and it’s from my favorite singer Eason Chan from Hongkong. I like him a lot because he has so many good songs that echoed many people’s feelings in their lives. Bitter Gourd is a vegetable that many teenagers including me don’t like because of its bitterness but it is very healthy for our body. It’s usually the adults who can stand the bitterness. The song gives an idea that we can understand ourselves better and overcome more difficulties as we grow up and I think it’s important to know that.

I included “海阔天空” in my playlist because it was the graduation song my class sang on my high school graduation.  It reminds me of my special high school experience in China and in America. It has cheerful meaning and motivative meanings in the lyrics so many graduates choose to sing this song on their graduations.

Last but not least, I included the Chinese National Anthem. I am from China and I sang this song from elementary school to high school every Monday ( except my junior year), so I think I should include this song on my playlist. This is not the song I would listen whenever I listen to the music, but I think it is the song I grew up on and it represents my culture.

Click here to listen to my playlist.

Boys Like Girls- Great Escape (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5W9NstuguI)

Jason Mraz- Live High (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trJeelxl4mo)

Beatles- Let it be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajCYQL8ouqw)

Psy- Gangnam Style (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0)

FunTwo-Cannon Rock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjJXT0C0X4)

John Mayer- Neon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc9VXLtgw5g)

Psy- Hangover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkMNOlYcpHg)

Hillsong- From the Inside Out(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92QFcpy0XC4)

Hillsong- With Everything (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92QFcpy0XC4)

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ)

I included the url for the songs because i couldn’t access spotify for some reason.

I included song Great Escape by Boys like Grils, Beatles’s let it be and Jason Mraz’s Live high. These three songs have lyrics that tells about my personality.

One of the lyrics in Great Escape is ” Throw it away forget yesterday we’ll make the great escape.” This is one of my best lyrics because I always want to do

something new and unusual. I think we live in same pattern of lives, and i always hated that. But this song has same idea as me. Why not just have fun and

forget about things that we have to worry about for few moments.

Let it be also has lyrics that tells my personality; Let it be let it be let it be let it be. This lyrics is also related to my personality. Whenever I get into some

hard situations, i always remind myself to just relax and let things do it by its own.

Lastly, Jason Mraz’s Live high also has lyrics that tells my personality. “Live high, live mighty Live righteously takin’ it easy.” This line is somewhat same as my personality.

I included song Gangnam Style by Psy because I used to live near Gangnam  in Korea. I came to U.S when i was 13. I used to live in Albany but i moved to long island when i was 16.

I personally did not like America that much. It was hard to learn English and getting used to new culture was also very difficult for me. Whenever i hear this song, I think of Korea.

I included song Cannon Rock by Funtwo and Neon by John Mayer. Cannon Rock is a electric guitar solo  and Neon is an acoustic guitar song. I like to play guitar. I play both electric and acoustic guitar.

I started to play when i was arond 11 and I still like to play. I wanted to make a band in highschool, but instead i just moved around many bands and played guitar as their guest player.

I included song Hangover by Psy. I visited Korea this summer, and the age limit to drink in Korea is 19. My friends and i drank a lot. it was one of the best time in my life. Since i can’t drink here,

I had to enjoy the time in Korea. Of course, the day after i drank, I had some bad hangovers. But still it was a lot of fun.

I included two hillsong’s songs. From the Inside Out and With everything. These two songs are my one of the favorite CCM. I’m a christian and because i play guitar, I was in a praise team.

and these two songs were one of my absolute favorite songs to play.

I included Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen because i just like this song.

The 10 songs above represents a part of who I am. The first song represents desire and hard work, the lyrics talk about not giving up no matter the setback you face and that there is always another chance in life. At one point I had gave up on working hard I didn’t have a goal and thought this state of mind would stay but even with the setback I found a goal to work toward. The second song represents my characteristic. No matter who it is I put up a mask that would help me fit in. The third song represents my like toward listening to romantic songs. The fourth song represents my enthusiasm toward listen to songs from foreign country. The fifth song represents my love toward Japanese anime and culture. I would like to travel to Japan one day. The sixth song represents that no matter how bad I feel when doing something wrong, there is still something good inside me and that I should face my guilt and be optimistic. The seventh song represents my desire to learn. The eighth song represents my like toward piano music. The ninth song represents my like toward music from my culture. The final song represents my belief that most things in life can be solved with money.

Slide.ly link:

http://slide.ly/view/a6105472e329b6e49d254be738553b4

My name is Lixia Ma and I am turning 19 very soon! I don’t know why, but I always felt that my friend can take a better picture than I did. (The first picture) Maybe is because they have a more advanced equipment?  I came to the United States at 11 and still did not get a chance to go back to China. I came from a city called Wuxi, a part of the Jiangsu province, and is near Shanghai. I heard that my hometown have changed a lot, as shown in the second picture, I can’t even believe that is actually my home! I am very proud that my hometown is this pretty!

The third picture is a landscape of Paris. This is my dream! When it came to the moment of answering what is your dream, some people may answer I want to be a dentist, a teacher, a lawyer and etc. My answer is I want to go to Paris! I want to taste the food that a lot of people described as very delicious and to feel the atmosphere that only Paris have! There is a lot of things I have to do in order to achieve this  “dream” and I will do everything to achieve it!

The fourth picture is what my mom called as “wasting of money”. That is my real hobby! I loved to collect coins, from quarters to half dollars then to dollar coins. I will use bills to exchange to coins, thus, my wallet became thinner and thinner. My mom will ask me where did your money go and I will answer her by “it turned to the coins.” Also, I liked to buy different colors of pens. I bought a lot of it but barely use. This is again why my mom like to say stop buying those useless stuff. Well, I still continue to buy all the color pens because I can’t control myself, the colors is just so pretty!

The fifth picture the plastic and paper stars I made. When I have nothing to do, I will start to make stars and put it into the bottle to decorate my desk. During the weekends, when my two cousins come to visit, they would take some stars home. Thus, the bottle is always not filled.

The sixth picture is the places I went. The first one is the Six Flags. It is very exciting but also quit scary! The second one is called Splish Splash. It is a water park located in Long Island. Because I can’t swim, thus, cannot fully enjoy the fun. Maybe the swing in the park is the best entertainment that fit me the most.

And the following pictures kept the moments when I was with my friends. We’ve been all studying in the same High School and I wish our relationship will never end! Now, I am in Baruch College! I hope I will have a lot of fun at Baruch!

Hello, everyone. I am Zizheng, Triple-Z. I am turning nineteen this month. Telling you a little bit more about myself of these 18 years, I was born in China and then immigrated to New York when I was 13 years old, having been 5 years now. Moving to New York, that was really one of my new starting points in my life. At that time, I had heard about that New York City is a place where dreams could come true easily and I was heading to this new place with a lot of passion. Everyone has a dream, including me. To be a pilot, it is one of my dreams since I was young. I had thought about the same exactly thing as the kid wrote in his project which is the picture I uploaded.

I was born in a town near an airport that exactly like the place I am living in New York now. You could hear those planes or just look up, you could see planes flight over you every second. Those planes are very familiar to me because I had been seeing them landing and taking off for almost 14 years. I always pictured that I could be the one who controls the plane one day when I was a little kid, flying through the cloud, soaring freely in the sky like an eagle. However, in the time I am growing up, I realized that the track I am going is not the one I expected. For example, I came to Baruch College. This is not the school leading me to be a pilot. Even though, I have never felt regretful to the decision I made because I understand this is called life. There is always a long distance between dream and reality; you have to take care of your reality first and then you can pursue your dream in life. For instance, how do you pursue your dream if you don’t even have foods for yourself when you are hungry?

I know my dream will come true in my lifetime, maybe ten years after or even twenty years later. However, it is never too late to make dream coming true as long as you still keep the dream in your heart.

Freshman Seminar Playlist

I chose “A Million Lives” by Jack Miller because this song reminded me of so many tragic stories I heard in the past and experienced. In this song, Jack Miller tells true stories of a girl with cancer, a bullied boy and a grieving girl. These stories touched my heart and made me felt grateful of what I have in my life.

“First Flight Home” was one of the songs I listened to on the plane this summer during my trip to China. Since I haven’t been back to China for 4 years, the line “I will be home in no time” made me cried a little. Just think about my grandparents waiting in the airport for me, I just want to fly next to them in no time.

Both songs “Who says” by Selena Gomez and “The Show” by Lenka made me felt that they spoke out what I always wanted to say. I shouldn’t care how other people think of me because who are they to judge me. “Who says” gave me confidence that I can achieve in anything I want just by working hard and ignore other’s opinion. In Katy Perry’s song “Firework”, she sings “you don’t have to feel like a waste of space,you’re original, cannot be replaced”. This line is my favorite line in the song because I believe everyone is born to become something in their life and they shouldn’t feel like a waste of space.

The song “I believe” by R.Kelly is from my high school website, when I first heard this song, I fell in love with the lyric. The song made me felt that our school has faith in us that we will make the best out of our life and even though the path in front of us might be difficult, we will overcomes it.

Both “Do you want to build a snowman” and “Happy” song are me and my little sister’s favorite sing-along song from our favorite movies.  Every time I start singing, she would follow in to sing with me and at the end we would laugh at each other’s terrible voice. Even though I always say that I hate my sister, deep inside I love her very much.

Friendships are very important to me so when I hear the song “Count on me” by Bruno Mars, it reminded me of so many obstacles I had in the past that I wouldn’t have completed without the my friends. I know I can always count on them when I’m lost and I will always be there for them too.

The last song is recently a very popular song by Taylor Swift, “Shake it off”. This song made me felt like I should never stress myself over anything and everything can just be shaken off.

My name is Guoshu, and Li is my last name. Before I go to Baruch college, I went to Bayside high school. During my high school years, I made many best friends and participatd many meaningful activities. One of the most memorable experience was when I joined the ‘Action Now’. Back then, I collaborated with five other students from various high schools and successfully completed our own community service project which targeted the environmental concerns- specifically recycling and littering.  We researched by utilizing newspapers article, internet, literature, and even conducted our own field research by visiting local parks to see if there is a litter problem. I and my team engaged in group work on a weekly basis and with our research, we prepared a full proposal with background information, resource considerations, our own personal concerns and a detailed pal nod action on what we would like to do in order to address issue. I also collaborated with other students and launched out service-learning exhibition at the end of the semester. This exhibition was an opportunity to present the students’ individual service projects, encourage social responsibility and get support from the community. We used our workshop to make out presentation more interactive and our audience was able to take something home; therefore making the presentation more memorable. As has been said above, It is clear to see I am such a student who like to do something meaningful.

My name is Cheng Zhen Qu, I was borne in Cheng Du, but raised in Zhe jiang, Wen Zhou. I came to United State in 2005 when I was 8. In my memory, I’ve never met my mother until I came to United State because she left China when I was still a little boy. It took some time for me to get used to NYC, but I really enjoy it here, even though the everything was different from when I was back in China, its much more modernized and crowded compared to where I live before. I remember first seeing snow when I just got here, its really pretty and awesome, gave me a lot of fun before I start going to school too.

My favorite thing to do is play video games, especially computer games, such as League Of Legend and other types of MOBA games is my favorite so far. Its enjoyable because it require a lot of skills and thinking, and being able to turn a losing game into winning game is really fascinating, you might be losing at first, but one mistake the enemy made can turn the game around. And many other games are mostly Chinese so I probably shouldn’t mention because most people won’t understand it anyway.

I mostly stay home all day, whether it’s holiday or after school, and just stay in front of my computer until its time to sleep. Playing games, watching animate, movies, or TV shows, again it’s mostly Chinese except for animate which is mainly japanese, but I also like non-Chinese TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory, Game of Throne, etc, but in Chinese subtitle of course. I also don’t like to talk to strangers, so I normally don’t like to make friends, if you think I’m being mean to you or I dislike you, its probably just that I’m too lazy to be friendly, unless we got common interest, maybe.

http://slide.ly/gallery/view/6dbf663145cdbcc8d606439dfcc622e9?utm_content=viewpage_sidebar

Let me introduce myself by saying that I don’t bite. No, really.

I am from Fuzhou, China. I came to the United States during my early teenage year due to family issues. While the lifestyle here in NYC is somewhat different from that of China, I’ve enjoyed it here thus far. I’ve made some great friends during middle school and high school. They’re essentially my second family right now, if not first.  You could probably figure out that there is about 9 of us in one of the photo in the slideshow/gallery. We would have a blast every time we are together by trying new things. BBQ is something that we eat together very often, and it is currently one of my favorite thing to eat during our gathering. We share our secrets, have heart-to-heart talks, watch fireworks and just hang out together from time to time.  But out of everything we do, it was the most fun when we play video games together.

I consider myself a core gamer, which is between casual and hardcore. I play a variety of games and consoles such as PS Vita, PSP, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and mostly PC games. But it might be disappointing to tell some of you that I don’t play Halo, black ops, CSGo or any FPS games in general. My favorite games are all online games with the exception of Fire Emblem and Pokémon. Seriously though, who doesn’t like Pokémon? If you play Pokémon by any chance, challenge me to a battle, anywhere, anytime. The online games that I play are Tera Online, Maplestory ( Yes.. I know..) and of course, League of Legends. League of Legends stand out the most to me not only is it one of the most popular MOBA right now, but also that fact that it strengthens the bond with many of my friends. We laugh together while we play, we troll each other and have a blast every single minute into the game. It means so much more to me than just a “game”. Game means a lot to me as it is a instrument for me to relieve stress, have fun and spend time with friends when they’re away. It just creates that different zone of space and allows me to forget about the time and stress. Not here to advertise myself, but if you play League of Legends, we should definitely play together sometime.

Now you know about what gaming means to me, I might as well as tell you my other interest. I love anime. I love drawing, game and anime related characters to be specific. When I come across a figure from an anime that I like, or an illustration that I love, I would get it in a heart beat. When I come across a character in a game that I like, I’ll draw him/her. I draw, on my phone, during my spare time in which I am not playing games. I wish I could afford a fancy tablet and nice program to draw with, but that’s that.

I’ve reached 500 words apparently, but that should give you a large idea of who I am. If you find me interesting, even just a little bit, chat me up. We might become great friends. 😉

1. Brave Heart – Digimon

Seize the dreams you had!

Protect your beloved friends! 

2. Guts Over Fear – Eminem

So here I am and I will not run

I have a wide range taste of musics. There are some people ask me why do you like to listen rap music, but Eminem is one of my favorite singer. I know that he had a rough childhood, and he overcomes all the struggles and becomes successful.  This song “Guts Over Fear” tells me that no matter how difficult is the problem, i should always face it and try my hardest to overcome it, because I already have so many things better than other people.

3. Kiss and Cry – Ken Arai

“Kiss and Cry” is my favorite song. It is from a Japanese drama “Chocolatier”.  I like the rhythm, because it is so calm and relax. I also learned how to play this piece in piano. This song can help me focus on reading, writing, and studying. It doesn’t have a lyric, so i won’t hum along and distract my attention. By the way, this music is my alarm sound, and it works every day.

4. For the First Time in Forever – Frozen

It’ ll be totally strange

But wow, am I so ready for this change

My favorite character in “Frozen” is Anna. She is upbeat and naive. I feel that I can relate to her, because I am usually optimistic, and I have an older sister. I get excited in the movie when they were opening the gate, or maybe it is because I like Anna singing. I think we should remember our first experiences of everything, no matter that is bitter or sweet.

5. Payphone – Maroon 5

But even the sun sets in paradise

Payphone had to be the longest song in my playlist. I started to pay more attention on Marron 5 because of this song. Every time i heard this song i would singing along. I don’t know why that I love this song so much. It is just catchy.

6. He is a Pirate – Pirates of the Caribbean

My favorite movie is “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The song “He is a Pirate” appears in the movie when Jack Sparrow towards success. I admire Jack Sparrow that he is carefree and brave. He is different than the other pirates. He knows how to establish plans and achieve his goals. I admire him that he live for himself. He can do anything without caring about others’ opinions.

7. Secret – The Pierces

Got a secret 

Can you keep it? 

Swear this one you’ll save 

8. Stories – Code Geass

The song is from “Code Geass”, one of my favorite anime. The first part of this song has no real lyrics, so no one actual understands the meaning. Some people say that the singer knows 6 languages, so it is a mix of them. I think that is why I like this song. Not only it is from my favorite anime, but also it is so mysterious.

9. Sweet Parade – Inu x Boku SS

Fluffy short cake, licking candy.

In the river of chocolate, I saw a cotton candy cloud. 

Just like the name “Sweet Parade”, this is a lovely song. The lyrics talk about all kinds of desserts, short cake, cotton candy, pudding, etc. It makes me hungry every time i heard it. It also reminds me of the cooking class that I took in high school. My favorite unit was bake, and I enjoyed mixing flours, sugars, milk and eggs together. I also love to try out different kinds of restaurants. I like to eat everything except olives.

10. Unravel – Tokyo Ghoul OP

Having stood in a shaken, distorted world,

I become transparent and unable to be seen 

“Tokyo Ghoul” is an anime, it talks about the war between ghouls and human. Human thinks that ghouls eat people, so they are dangerous and have to kill them. On the other hand, that is how ghouls survive, and most ghouls only eat dead people. They are not harmful.  In real life, we eat animals for surviving too.  I think we shouldn’t have double standards when comparing mankind and other beings.