The highlight of my first week at Michigan was meeting up with an online friend. I had reached out through Instagram after seeing that she had also been accepted into the university. Through texting we found out that we had a lot in common: we both loved to crochet, spoke a second language, and learned French during high school. 

When we finally met up in-person, I realized although we were similar, we were also different. She was half-Polish and was very in touch with her culture. She introduced me to Polish politics, events on campus, food, and her way of life and thinking. I was pleasantly surprised at how good Polish food was. 

By meeting her, I was exposed to a different country’s customs and traditions. It helped me explore and understand a new culture that I had never interacted with before. It allowed me to be more open-minded, because the Polish did things very differently from the Chinese. 

The Math Lab is usually filled with students, meaning that the tutors are always busy despite their efforts of efficiency. I saw a couple of students who needed help and have been waiting for this one tutor for over 15 minutes. They needed help on calculus 2, which I am familiar with, so I directed them over to me. 

In helping them, I was able to utilize my social and communication skills I learned from my cashier job. I was also able to learn a weakness. I was surprised how difficult it was for me to express my thoughts in math verbally. After that encounter, I began to put myself in similar positions where I had to teach other students to practice my expressive skills more. Putting myself in those situations has definitely positively impacted how well I can express my thoughts and helped me discover that I like to teach.