Author: s.liang16

Last Wedsnday I attended a workshop called “Small Talk: It’s a BIG  Deal!” I had a bad mindset going into this again as I personally thought at the time it was bothersome and I really wouldn’t have learned anything. Small talk to me at the time was so irrelevant and I thought it was a skill that everyone knew how to do already. Upon arriving, I saw many different types of people I had never seen before. Thinking to myself then I would not have been able to make small talk to the majority of the people in the room as first it would be awkward for me and second I don’t have many topics to talk about. These were only the first few problems that popped into my head at that moment. There were plenty of other issues that I came across after. Our instructor Ellen, was very kind and explained to use all the tips and strategies we should be using everytime we engage in small talk. For example what type of body gestures you should be showing, what topics to talk and not talk about, and how to keep the conversation flowing smoothly instead of ending it at an awkward point. Small talk is indeed a very important skill that can lead to many life-changing events in your life. Some talk with a stranger can turn out to be someone big in a company or someone knew that you’ve never heard of! Because of that, you could be lucky in finding yourself in working for them in the future. This was a great workshop that I never thought would have been helpful at all and I am glad I went to experience this. 

I never would have thought that I myself would come to the Museum of FIT out of all things. One of the main reasons why I decided to attend was because of how convenient it would be to walk from Baruch to the Museum of FIT. From the outside, the building looked big/enormous. Just another reason why people tell you not to judge a book by it’s cover because once we saw in inside it was clearly not as big as we hoped. The ongoing exhibit was called “Force of Nature”. Looking around, almost all the dresses and suits were had designs on them involving nature as the exhibit’s name. Ranging from floral things to animal fur, everything looked so out of place in today’s fashion. My favorite outfit in the exhibit most definitely is a dress based on a tiger of some sort. It had so much color and definition to it that it stood out the most to me. Comparing what our generation’s of fashion is to the past, there is a major difference of what we would wear. Personally, I would love to wear some of their suits presented in the exhibits and I truly believe that some of the stuff people call “trendy” nowadays, really looks hideous. The exhibit was smaller than any other museums I have ever visited(probably can go through the whole exhibit in less than 10 minutes). I don’t think what I learned from this museum will really help me with anything of my fashion sense in the present because I’m pretty sure if I started dressing like that in the past, I will get flamed and roasted. None the less, I am glad I have visited this museum with my friends!

For the academic activity, we were supposed to participate in a community service project, attend a heritage month event, attend a health and wellness or athletic event, or join a student club or organization. I chose to do the latter and I was glad I made this choice. While walking to my next class I noticed some flyers hanging on the walls. Quickly I noticed they were for club meetings and were trying to catch out attentions. The one that really caught my eye was the United Chinese Language Society of Baruch College. I myself, am Chinese and felt like this would be a perfect way to make some new friends who had similar beliefs and felt like we could bond much better. Upon first entering the club meeting in a classroom, it was packed with people. I honestly don’t like a huge group of people together all at once because not only is it crowded, it is hard to make new friends in there. I quickly took a seat and thought to myself this was possibly one of the worse decisions I could have ever made this year. But I was clearly in the wrong. The advisors of the group proved me otherwise as they were friendly and played a few games with the whole group as an icebreaker and we were all able to get along and have fun with each other. Some even came up to me to have a friendly chat with! We played many games such as Google feud, Zoooomed in, and more. There must have been over 100 people in the club but it was definitely worth the time. Not only that there was free food served for us! I believe that having joined this club I will be able to strengthen my social skills and be able to apply this in the outside world and be able to talk to others more freely!