m.gong1 – Freshman Seminar Fall 17 FRB

Dining Etiquette Workshop

At first I really didn’t know what kind of career workshop to attend. Then I looked through the email about Starr Career Development and the only one that attracted me was the Dining Etiquette Workshop. Obviously this relates to food and I love food. I was also curious about the etiquette we have to know for eating. When I first got there it was really awkward to see everyone else dressed up formally and I didn’t because it didn’t mention about outfit when I looked at the workshop information online. I think most people at the workshop were higher grades and it was a little awkward to be one of the few freshmen, however everyone was very friendly. They even provided a small buffet for us for lunch.

I actually learned a lot from this workshop and I believe it would be really helpful to me later on. There are two types of style in Dining Etiquette, the American style and Continental style. The American style is where we keep switching the fork. It requires us to cut the food, rest the knife on the top of the plate and switch hand to eat. Whereas the Continental style requires less switching. We would keep both the knife and fork in our hands while we eat. When we are done eating, the finished signal is to place the fork face up and the knife parallel with the blade facing in. I also learned that when it comes to soup, we scoop the soup with the spoon outward, not inward. It is very weird to me but this is one typical thing that I remembered the most from the workshop. With all the utensils on the table, we use them in the order from outside to inside. There were a lot more that I learned, these were just a few of them. I believe it would be much easier for me to go to lunch or dinner interviews in the future in my career.

The Metropolitan Museum

A few weeks ago, I received an assignment from my Art History class which was to visit The Metropolitan Museum and write a response paper on my museum experience. I was assigned to pick a painting from the European Painting section and write a whole analysis of the painting. When walking up to the museum, there are two fountains outside of the museum. The exterior view of the museum is like castle. At the front door, there is a large staircase that are filled with people sitting and taking pictures with each other. This museum is the largest art museum in the United States. The interior of the museum has a very bright lighting and the main lobby is called The Great Wall. I like how they don’t make you pay full amount for the tickets, it is pay what you wish. In the main lobby, it is divided into three sections. The right side leads the way to art from the Ancient Egypt and the left side leads the way to Greek and Roman Art. The center of the lobby has a large staircase that leads to Medieval Art. We went to the European Paintings section first to get the task done. After visiting the European Paintings, we went to Asian Arts. Unlike the European section, which mostly were paintings, the Asian Arts had many objects displayed and many sculptures related to religion. We didn’t have much time so we only visited these two sections of the museum.

I’ve always wanted to visit The Met, because it is a large art museum and I really liked the architecture of the museum. This visit to the museum to me is very different from my other experience in other museums, because this time, I actually understood many of the painting I see since we’ve been talking about the paintings in that time period during Art History class. Also, many of the Asian Arts in the museum surprised me because most of them are ones that I’ve never seen. In this visit to The Met, I learned how to accurately analysis a painting and see the painting from different perspective due to the time period. I also learned the values of art and how important they are. It was a great experience overall.

Alpha Kappa Psi

This Thursday, I went to the third General Interest Meeting held by the brother members of Alpha Kappa Psi, called Spread the Love. During the meeting, the RUSH members gave a short introduction of Alpha Kappa Psi. Alpha Kappa Psi is a professional business fraternity. It is an association filled with students, professors, and professionals who share the common interest and goals. I learned that in this program, there are many business leaders and brother members that can assist you with your problems and concerns throughout your career. One quote from the brothers that I really liked was “Stand out but don’t stand alone”. I think this is exactly how a leader is like. A leader would not be a leader if he/she has no followers at all. This organization is the best place for me to build my network and learn to be a leader.

I thought this meeting of Spread the Love was really interesting and caring for others. The main reason for this event was for us to prepare peanut butter and jelly sandwich follow along with other snacks and donate them to homeless shelters in order to feed people in hunger. This small room for this event was packed with people, there wasn’t even enough seats for us to sit, many people had to stand. The brother members even prepared food and beverages for us, which they didn’t include in the description of the meeting and I ate lunch before I went :(. After we ate, we started making the sandwiches one by one. I thought this meeting was really meaningful. As individuals in college and even in society, we should always help others with our full effort. Making peanut butter and jelly sandwich may be the easiest and cheapest thing for us, however to the people who are starving, this is what saves their lives. I am very proud that I was able to use my little ability and time to make a difference for others.