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God. Religion. Faith. In my experience, these words are often banned from intellectual conversation except in criticism. I have experienced a (negative) shift after mentioning my faith in various conversations with professors. In one instance during a one-on-one, a professor criticized aspects of my faith, Christianity, under the assumption that I did not have religious beliefs of my own.
Some of people’s best and worst memories can be attributed to alcohol. In the best instances, alcohol brings about a spirit of unity, and at times marriages can even ensue from a casual drink with a stranger. In the worst, alcohol can result in impaired decision-making with life-long consequences. In regards to health, moderate amounts of alcohol intake can increase heart health—however, alcohol intake is also linked to many cancers. Alcohol is a two-edged sword that must be handled carefully because it not only affects our own personal lives, but also the lives of those around us.
There is a stereotype that Asians are very driven and their parents even more so. From personal experiences, this has, to some extent, been the case. I never felt this pressure from my family, but the strong need to compete was something I always felt from my Asian community.
Vulnerability. It’s a term overused but under practiced. Ever since we can remember, we’ve been taught to be on our best behavior in public. We feel societal pressure to avoid certain questions in conversation. We cautiously navigate the line between being “real” and vulnerable–we want to be authentic but not too authentic to show weakness. Duke is a school where our shared experiences are limited to our time on campus. Unfortunately, this means that we have plenty of productive friendships in which we do things together, but deep friendships in which we are fully known are scarce.
“I have always wanted to get to know you, but I’ve always thought you were out of my friend league.” I heard this comment at a birthday party several months ago. In the moment, the confession was simply an extension of friendship, an invitation to a deeper relationship. For me, such statements are commonplace, and I have often used similar, explicit declarations to initiate friendships. Currently, my favorite is, “Let’s just be best friends!” I will admit that because of the statement’s frequent use, I now have to classify my friends on a scale from “friends to best friends to best-best-best friends,” but those are stories I will save for another time.
This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Sri Lanka for two months to do research with the Duke Global Health Institute. Because I was already so close to India, I decided to make a two-week stop in Bangalore to visit some friends on my way back to the United States. Needless to say, a piece of my heart still remains in both countries. If you get the opportunity, I highly recommend traveling to that region. Sri Lankans are some of the friendliest people I have ever met, and authentic Indian food is simply as close to food heaven as one is able to reach.
