Wow...

So I have to say that I'm pretty impressed by how quickly the summer went by. My time in Manila (followed by a week in Singapore and Thailand) ended in a flash-- but more on this later. Right now, I feel like reflecting on the past week of my life.

It was over a year ago that I entered the crazy world of business school and began to feel completely incompetent, compared with many of my more talented peers. In an effort to fit in, I started attending a bunch of drinking events that were totally out of my element and realized quickly that it wasn't my thing.

However, this past week, I was an advisor to the new first year students and had to attend many activities at which I spent only a few minutes the previous year. This series of events brought me back to confronting my social awkwardness and I somehow feel like I've grown by repeatedly being forced out of my comfort zone...

Here is some photographic evidence that I was actually doing my job, by socializing with the new kiddies (this is a one-armed shot of one of my advisees with me):


I still can't fully articulate how I've changed through the week, but it was really something for me to have the opportunity to practice my public speaking and leadership skills in front of a big group of students.

One student from China actually told me about how she's used to a more "elegant" manner of socializing (by the way, she wasn't using the word "elegant" to imply that her culture is better than the western norms-- it was just an uncommon choice of words...) and I could totally understand her feelings. She mentioned how in China, they don't usually do small talk the way Americans do; they try to actually get to know a person and talk one-on-one for an extended period of time-- and there isn't this emphasis on these superficial features, such as one's job, the weather, etc..

And this got me thinking about my Asian values again.

I always see some Asian Americans who can "work the room" really well and I've never been one of those people-- so I've never really been able to blame my lack of social etiquette on Asian culture. I always just thought that I'm a big dork! But I'm beginning to wonder if I'm just an odd hybrid of Asian and American values that left me as a socially awkward person, who judges others pretty harshly when they act out of the norm.

Hmmmm...

But in any case, I feel inspired right now to spend more time helping the quieter kids fit in and feel like they're really a part of my business school community. I think it's important for everyone to feel included during their first weeks at school.
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In related news, there was this fellow advisor with whom I was working that everybody thought was gorgeous. The thing that surprised me, though, was that none of the first years seemed to be able to provide her with any feedback about her work as an advisor, besides "you're hot".

And funnily enough, this girl also has stories of people who've drunkenly walked up to her and said "you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen!" only to run off a second later.

I have to say that I still envy people with such superior looks, but it's interesting to see the challenges that one faces when nobody is able to get past one's looks.

What an interesting week I've had...