s.khegay – Freshman Seminar Fall 17 LC06

Small Talk: It’s a BIG DEAL!

On November 8, 2017, as part of the Career Blog, I went to the “Small Talk: It’s a Big Deal!” workshop. It started with a staff member Ellen Stein introducing herself to each of us, lately discussing her actions and its importance. At the same time shortly went over certain things that are going to be in this workshop. Technically majority of the participants of the event were a freshman, who for the same reason as am I. However, there were also a couple of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who joined us. Honestly, I expected it to be some a lecture type workshop but, it turns out to be more like an impromptu communication with people which was fun.
To begin with, most of us came with friends with whom we spoke for the most except, in few instances when all of us had a visual contact with everyone else. Like, when we had to examine facial expressions and posture to decide with whom we would like to talk. Apparently, most of us couldn’t keep serious about the assignment so began to giggle. In fact, through this experiment, we learned how it impacts our perspective of others and their openness to the conversation.
By the way, as we arrived, we had received a student guide which contains helpful tips how to keep the conversation going and being aware of cliches. Overall, it was a great experience so don’t miss a chance to join it next time. At last, here is the most important advice: always try to remember the Name of the person with whom you have had spoken.

MoMA

On Monday of the October 9, I finally decided to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Although that it was rainy, inside of the building it was much better. The free pass with CUNY ID, actually helped me to move through an admission much faster and not standing for at least twenty minutes of waiting in a long line. Rather than looking at more modern art which is honestly really absurd, I decided to start exploring the works from the 1880s and going to more recent ones. There are plenty of avant-garde exhibitions in this museum that I did not understand and even got confused off. However, some painting took my attention especially “The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh, “The Peak Project Hong Kong” by Zaha Hadid, and “Number 1” by Jackson Pollock. Well, most of them I mentioned really famous ones, attracted a majority of the visitors and tourists of different ages; furthermore, after seeing it by myself makes it more clear why it is. Doubtless, my favorite ones were sculpture exhibitions of my musical instruments and painting of Lullaby. I mean it is not an ordinary way of looking at the usual way you might imagine the music instruments, but looking at them from the perspective of rumors, makes these sound sculptures, unique and special. Moreover, Lullaby an abstract way of looking at the music sheets and sounds produced through the score. To conclude, overall, I enjoyed spending the day looking at exhibitions in MoMA, that I heard and studied of back in high school. Although, I should add that I lacked understanding of modern arts, but would encourage everyone to visit this museum at least ones.

UCLA (United Chinese Language Association)

For my Academic Blog, I chose to attend UCLA (United Chinese Language Association) GIM’s which was interesting and funny. By just reading the name of this group some of you might think that you have to either know Chinese language or be a descendant of this ethnicity to become a member. But as the saying suggests “Don’t judge a book by its cover” I would like to tell you few things about this club that everyone should know. Well, it’s not only about communicating with folks who speak the same language but more about learning their traditions and culture that the club strives to promote to students on campus. Besides, you don’t need to be from China or be Chinese to join which might be a typical stereotype but being curious about learning their heritage and participation is enough to be a member. Personally, during Convocation Day the only club I was interested in joining was archery but ended up joining UCLA that I do not regret. At the club, I became friends some members and VP’s with the same interests and hobbies. At last, I’m not going to describe the GIM’s itself because some other members might have had did it already so instead I will tell few things about the picture below. I took it last Thursday in a club room where for a couple of hours after the event some of the members were talking, playing on a musical instrument and even singing. And to be honest were stunning and at the same time entertaining. It’s not the best picture that portrays all of the people who were there during that day. In fact, I recorded a couple of videos but aren’t going to post it without the permission of its participants.