I figured now would be a good time to give some updates about where I’ve been, and probably the future direction of this tumblr.
So, it’s been quite a while since I last posted anything on here. In terms of some general life updates: I graduated from college in May, worked on some food microbiology research over the summer, attended my first professional conferences in food science and microbiology/biotechnology, and now I relocated from Illinois to Indiana – where I will be starting my first full time job next week! I’ll be working on infant formulas and training to (hopefully) become a product development food scientist.
I’m definitely nervous about it, and there are moments where I’m wondering whether I made the right decision to move out here or not (I definitely miss home, that’s for sure!). But to be honest, I need to get industry experience first before I make anymore career decisions at this point; and I’m also pretty excited to try something new for once!
It’s crazy to know that I’ve had this tumblr since 2013, but I’ll still keep it up since I put in so much time into it haha. I don’t know when I’ll actively post on here again, so as of this post: it will continue to be under hiatus. I will be using other social media, so if any of you still want to keep in touch, feel free to add me on instagram or if you want to keep up with my food science stuff, follow my wordpress blog!
^ The intention was to have separate GIF sets dedicated to each Beatle’s role in the film haha. The one with Paul has been posted, but haven’t had a chance to complete the ones for John or Ringo yet.
What RSOs are you a member of? And are you a rising sophomore? If so, that's so cool that you were able to study abroad towards he end of your freshmen year! Is there a limit to how many times you can study abroad? Thanks a lot! :D
RSOs that I’m currently/used to be in:
Taiwanese American Students Club (TASC) [I’m probably the most active in this one]
I used to be in Music For The Masses (general music club) and Guitar Club, but my schedule became too busy and I started looking into undergrad research opportunities, so I eventually stopped going to them. Regardless, both are good RSOs; I recommend both of them!
I’m also going to try to be more active in AFT this year – which is Association for Food Technologists (Related more to my major)
I’m going to be a senior this year, so finding time to study abroad was definitely a time crunch for me haha. There isn’t a limit to the number of times that you can study abroad, but as far as I’m aware of, you can’t submit multiple applications for different programs occurring at the same time.
Hey! I'm an incoming freshman at UIUC and I was wondering if you could tell me about your experience at the university :) I'm really excited for the fall and I just thought I'd ask for a few tips or pieces of advice :)
Hi there anon!
Sorry for replying to this so late: I just got back home from Taiwan last night, so I’m still adjusting to the time change and that stuff.
My experience at UIUC was pretty rocky at first. During my freshman year, I started off as an undeclared major, and I honestly had no idea what I wanted to study – this was most likely because I didn’t do enough research prior to getting accepted into the school. I was actually supposed to be going to a different university, but ended up changing my mind since UIUC was much better in terms of academics. The only thing I knew about UIUC was that engineering (for computer science) and business was good and it would be ideal to get into a major from those schools. So I tried, and to quickly summarize: I realized that I wouldn’t be a good fit for either of those departments haha.
I took an introduction to food science course, and after talking to my professor, I ended up deciding to transfer into the food science department, and have no regrets doing so – I mean yeah, some of my classes weren’t easy to get through (We all have a few tough classes from time to time), but it’s been a lot of fun otherwise! There are a lot of extracurricular clubs (RSOs) that you can join on campus, and I’ve met most of my friends through the Taiwanese American Students Club (TASC). And speaking of Taiwan, I just got back from studying abroad from there, and it’s honestly one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made since being at UIUC; so I can make a separate post about that if you want!
Overall, UIUC has a lot of great opportunities, and I’m glad that you’re excited for the upcoming semester!. It took me a while to get used to things and figure everything out, but once you have everything established, then college is a lot of fun! Here are a few tips that helped me up to this point (I’m going to be a senior this year):
It’s okay to stumble. Not every class was easy for me to get through, and never be afraid to ask for help when you need it! Whether it’s from professors, classmates, or so forth. The university wants you to succeed, so take advantage of every resource that’s available in your classes and that stuff!
UIUC is a big school, so sometimes depending on the person, it can be hard meeting new people. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to others, and join some RSOs! I find those are often a great way to meet other students from different majors.
Work hard, play hard. A lot of people like having fun on campus, but just make sure you’re keeping up with your school work as well haha.
Remember to exercise at least every once in a while. UIUC has some pretty good gym space for workouts and that stuff (e.g. Activities and Recreation Center [ARC]), and it’s included with your student fees, so I would take advantage of that. Plus, it’s a good way to relieve stress in my opinion.
I also recommend checking out Krannert Center – They have music concerts (classical, student groups, etc.), and I think this year Ellnora (Guitar festival) is coming back. Plus the really cool thing is that for students, we get a discount, so tickets are only $10 for us (It can be much more expensive otherwise).
If I have any other tips, I’ll add onto it here, but if you have any other questions, feel free to ask! Again, I’m really sorry for answering this late, and I hope this helps!
So... I’ve kind of neglected my study abroad blog on wordpress (ooops), but thankfully, I’ve been keeping track of everything that’s been going on this past month, so I’ll be sure to update it during the next few days.
But also in a nutshell: this summer was absolutely incredible. National Taiwan University is an awesome school, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many new people from all over the place – even my lab are taking in new undergraduate student interns (There are three new ones in the second picture) and they’re pretty nice!
I’m going to miss everyone, and I’ll definitely be back in Taiwan soon, that’s for sure!
This study abroad experience has been amazing so far!
Hopefully I can get more pictures with my lab group before I go back home – especially with the people that I shadowed in June.
But seriously – National Taiwan University is such an incredible school! Everyone is so nice, and the food is incredible over there! I’m very tempted to apply to graduate school over there, (their biotechnology department is mostly conducted in English haha), but I still need to do some research first.
Professor: Come visit us again next year! Z will still be here so you can listen to his oral examination!
Note: Generally for the 2 year master’s program, I think you’re required to take an oral examination about your research. It’s not exactly like a PhD where you’re writing a 20+ page dissertation, but you still have to be tested somehow.
Me: *laughs nervously* Um, sure.
Z: ……….
My brain: Dr. Cheng... WHAT THE...???
Bonus 2 [Last day of the research internship]:
Grad student: Does Z know today’s your last day?
[I think he had his summer class, so he didn’t show up to lab that day; which is perfectly understandable].
One of the PhD students in my lab: We’re going to my hometown on July 15th-17th! Come with us! :D
Me: *internally crying because literally everyone in lab has been so nice to me, and nobody has ever invited me to events like this*
Also Me: *Internally screaming and crying because the second part of my study abroad program literally takes up all of July and I’ll basically be nowhere near where the lab group is going.*
Professor: *in his office* Let's get lunch next week! How does 11:30 sound?
Me: Sure, that’s fine!
*Sunday/Today*
Grad student who I've been talking to/shadowing for the past few weeks: You know we're eating lunch with the professor tomorrow, right?
Me: Yep!
My brain: Wait you're coming too?
Also my brain: Wait how did you know?
Also my brain: Why do I have this feeling that I’m going to be questioned a lot or something tomorrow?
Me: I'm probably being too paranoid or something.
My brain: *proceeds to freak out for the next few hours*
I usually don’t make posts like this, and I know I don’t have a huge following, but so many people from my university have been posting about this for a few weeks now, so I figured I should help spread the word as well.
To quickly summarize:
YingYing Zhang is a visiting scholar to The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from China, studying in the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences [ACES].
Based on current video evidence that has been collected, a white male approached her in what seems to be a black Saturn Astra four-door hatchback, pretending to be a police officer. She got into the car, and has disappeared ever since.
She was last seen in Urbana, Illinois on June 9th, 2017.
The FBI has classified this as a kidnapping and is currently working with the UIUC police department and school officials. They are offering a reward up to $10,000 if anyone is able to give information that can help find her.
If you know of any information, please let the FBI or the UIUC police department know ASAP. Or if you can help spread the word, that works as well. I personally do not know her, but a lot of people in the UIUC community and her family are very concerned for her safety, and she may not even be in Illinois at this point. My thoughts go out to her loved ones, and I hope she will be found soon!
Study Abroad at National Taiwan University: Update 1
I’m currently about two weeks into my study abroad program at National Taiwan University, and all I can say is that out of the three times that I have been here, this trip has been the most memorable so far, and my actual study abroad class hasn’t even started yet! Those are some people who are in my study abroad program – one from Cornell, University of Maryland, and another student who is also from the same school as me. Each of them are in different labs this month, so we’re all fairly busy; although we do try to meet up whenever we’re all available.
For the first four weeks, I’m working in a food microbiology/biotechnology lab. The professor’s research focuses on different aspects of food fermentation, and bioactive properties of fungi – more specifically Lingzhi, which is a mushroom that mostly grows in Taiwan. I wanted to work with this lab in particular because I took some coursework that’s all about general food microbiology and safety last semester, so I thought this lab would relate to that. I originally told him that I have no idea what I’m interested in, since I’m honestly open to learning about anything!, so he’s allowing me to shadow different students and their experiments. The majority of people in this particular lab are a mixture of PhD and graduate students, and most either have finals or are defending their thesis soon, so most of them have been pretty busy; which is totally understandable).
There are some days where I didn’t really need to do anything, but so far, I’ve been able to look at red wine fermentation (One student is using a specific yeast), miso fermentation, and how lingzhi can be applied against cancer cells and melanin reduction through different experiments. I’m also learning some basic lab techniques, such as preparing plate media, learning how to use a bioreactor machine, and running actual assays with human cells. Everyone is super nice and hilarious; and most can speak a mixture of both English and Chinese, which is awesome (Because I can only comprehend and speak Mandarin up to a certain point)! I seriously wish I could stay with this lab for a longer period of time after June.
Even though it’s been two weeks, I’m seriously considering looking into food microbiology for graduate school now. Like yeah, it’s bacteria/fungi, but it can be applied to so many things, and it’s so much better than food chemistry (No offense to my FSHN 414 professor – her research is pretty cool, but I think microbiology is more fascinating)!
I won’t be updating my tumblr with everything, but you’re welcome to check out my study abroad blog or my instagram!
