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Richard's Blog
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 "Are we there yet?" "You know I like that thing like 5=10x, what isit..... Do you mean Algebra?"
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 1:21 PM
Those were just a few examples of some of the few iconic sayings on my recent epic road trip up to Oregon. We embarked on our six hour journey up north to Medford. Subway stops, bathroom breaks, and the occasion bout of snow storm are always frequent parts of the Oregon road trip. Going over the Siskiyou pass had to be one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to go through. Snow coming down in every direction, not being able to see 10 feet in front of you, and the constant decline for five miles mades the obstacle all the much more treacherous. Luckily, we survived to live another day. Once we got into town, Nhunguyen, Austin, Travis, Matt, Monica, Meghan, and I stuffed our faces with the best pizza in town. A pesto-supreme pizza and the meat filled “Avalanche” pizza were heavy favorites. Then to end the night with a decadent and sugar-filled chocolate mint ice cream cake left our bellies full. Soon after we arrived at my casa and finished the night watching the heartwarming film “Up”.
After five hours of sleeping, at 5:45 on the AM, we continued our adventure to Eugene, Oregon (aka Tracktown USA) for NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships. After traveling over 8 hours to only see just 50 minutes of racing….was all worth it. One of our own broncos, Stephanie Wilson, stuck her nose with the leaders and ran with the likes of multiple All-Americans and national champions. Stephanie is a testament of hard work, dedication, talent, heart, and desire. In just over 21 minutes, Stephanie made Santa Clara history by becoming the first Bronco to ever qualify for the NCAA National Championships. It was an amazing moment for everyone who came to race or watch her. Her amazing spirit and drive has inspired everyone to shoot for the stars, work hard, and believe that dreams really do come true.
Well, eventually the driving crew embarked on the 8 hour drive down south to campus. With all the memories of good laughs, good food, and amazing accomplishments, the trip up North was well worth the drive.
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Oregon here I come
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 1:20 PM
Just one quick little remark today. I'M HEADING HOME! Bunch of the cross country team will be embarking up I5 this weekend for the support of our men and women who are racing at the NCAA West Regionals this weekebd. We'll be off, crammed into small cars, driving for 8 hours to see our Broncos race their heart out for one more time this season. Plus, I'll be bringing 15 other people to my house on Friday, so hopefully my parents will be ready for us. Anyway, I'll definitely give you all a recap on our adventures in Duck country, the long car rides, and whatever adventures come our way on our weekend endeavor. Thanksgiving break is only less than 2 weeks away... get excited and go BRONCOS!
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Facebook, Employers, and You
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 11:45 PM
Besides the parties, group get-togethers, home soccer games, and benson conversation, students at SCU get their fair share of academia on the Mission campus. Instead of the long monotonous hours of high school where we slaved away to stay awake, the classes at SCU intrigue and foster critical thinking and analysis in past and current issues.
Case in point, my Philosophy 6 class (Introduction into Business Ethics) asks the moral question if social networking websites should be available for future employers to see and examine. Should of future employers who hire us one day be allowed or pre-examine us and judge us based on our profile picture? Is this morally right? Regardless who though what, the Internet has become an overwhelming entity that consumes our lives in every aspect. From the clubs we join to the parties we dance at to the classes we take, anything and everything can be documented and find their home on the Internet. The consensus was that anything we upload, display, tag, or create is no longer our own private property. Regardless of who deletes what and who untags what, pictures, comments, and conversations leave their mark on the web forever. With this inerasable mark, does this allow employers the access to view photos and conversation of future applicants and already have a pre-determined decision before the interview? Would this cost us a future job because of risqué pictures of our “Night” selves displayed on our facebooks? Such intense and applicable discussions are common within the classrooms and lectures hall on SCU with no limitation to the most obscene or ambiguous topics. Instead of neglecting social problems that many students typically do, SCU fosters an environment where students are allowed to say what they wish and learn from other’s perspectives as well.
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Aladdin, Pussycat Dolls, and Tetris?
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 1:24 PM
Well, well, well. Halloween time has taken over SCU. Forget about the Trick or Treating, Jack o Lanterns, crazed and sugar high children, witched, and vampires. SCU Halloweens involved an assortment of imaginative, proactive, and downright hilarious characters. From your typical selection of the Spice Girls to Power Rangers to Peter pan, all which are lovely childhood memories. But then throw in the game of Twister, Swine Flu, a piece of bacon, a Beekeeper, and a Radiator, oh the times have changed. Bye bye pussycats, hello the Pussycat dolls. Just imagine hundreds of college students dressed up and embarking on the streets of SCU, bouncing from house to house, party to party in these ridiculous costumes. Unfortunately, there was no candy to eat. Yours truly experienced a world of Arabian deserts, genies, and a magic carpet ride. Aladdin was a hit with dozens of people yelling, left and right, for the Arabian prince. But the best costume had to the group that dressed themselves as Tetris. Six brave students walked around in cardboard 3D replicas of the hit game and they would fail horribly at assembling themselves to maximize points. It was an ingenious idea and made me laugh to see them configure not so successfully. After seeing speedracer to an eccentric Disneyland child to Sherlock Holmes, SCU Halloween had to come to a close.
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"How classy are you?"
Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 1:55 PM
Midterms….hours of studying, studying, studying, and countless nights of no sleep. Welcome to college everybody. Well, it’s really not as bad as I explain it to be. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few hours of sleep per night to cram that extra term, principle, or math equation in. But luckily, when the A comes back on the test…its all worth it. So you’d think that midterms would take place on the 5th week, so the middle of the quarter. Well lucky me, midterms on the 5th, 6th, and 8th of the quarter make it an awesome late October and November. If you see me with an enormous coffee cup and caved in the library ‘til the wee hours in the morning, you know why.
But besides from the hustle and bustle of midterms, class, homework, essays, and assignments, college student tend to have a good time once in a while. This good time, with at least my friends, is getting dressed up and cramming 16 people into my apartment on a Saturday night. So you are probably wondering, what would college sophomores do on a Saturday night? Well if you’re one of the lucky few to be a member of the sophomore cross country team…only one word can bring excitement and glee to your heart. Where it seems you have be taken away from the dreary of school to a wonderland. Well it’s really not that exciting, but we call it “CLASSY NIGHT”.
Classy night is our excuse to dress up in slack, sweater vest, polo shirts, dresses and high heels (for the females at least) and converge and spend our time with one another. Typically, the male majority or the females cook an extravagant meal of exquisite cuisine like chicken marinara or lemon drizzled tilapia. Take it from me, asking the fish guy at Safeway for 25 pounds of fish isn’t an easy task. While he is packaging your entrée, he’s wondering why a skinny Asian guy need 25 pounds of fish…. it’s quite ridiculing. Well, taking one for the team, the gentlemen of the sophomore class prepare the meal while the ladies enjoy excellent appetizers and pleasant conversation. Before long the meals are served. After such an elegant dinner, as anyone would do, we take the necessary but awkward prom picture. You know, when the guys stands behind the girl in a row and everyone smiles their little hearts out. I know very cliché. But once the toast has taken place and the meal has been eaten, only one thing is left to be done…..POST CLASSYNESS.
So the Ipod gets bumping and you have 16 people belting out to the lovely melodies and harmonies of Aladdin, Lion King, Mulan, and every Disney song you can think of. After such a creative performance, once the Backstreet boys come on… the guys go crazy and serenade the entire group with their secretive knowledge of the lyrics to every boy band song they know. Before long… facebook video messaging takes place and random conversation with the music of our youth blaring in the background. Well it’s an end to an excellent night and many of the sophomore class can’t wait until next month, where we can do it all over again. But this time we might do pork and N’sync.
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Northwest weather makes everything better.... not
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 1:32 PM
Well…. Week 5 is amongst us and the craziness of reading, midterms, and trying to find any time to sleep are constant struggles of any SCU students. Then try to juggle being a division 1 athlete, working, having a social life, and finding some time to eat once in a while could make your head explode. Well this is the constant struggle I have to deal with on a daily basis. Instead of watching Monday night football or the next addition of House, I’m off running around to meetings, practice, or cramming in any time to finish my philosophy reading.
Anyway, when you envision California….you think: sunshine, palm trees, and the arrival of bathing suit season. Unfortunately replace the two piece with a stylish umbrella and raincoat and now you’re in California. It feels like a monsoon has taken over SCU’s campus for at least a day. So instead of seeing happy people prancing and skipping around outside your window, you see puddles upon puddles of rain. I’m from the northwest and I can tell you I get a fair share of rain a year. But to experience an ever constant downpour with no end in sight is no fun. Then walking back and forth from class to class in soaked jeans and a raincoat, which has multiple holes in it, is tons of fun (insert sarcastic response). Then what comes best is the hour run in the rain, prancing around from puddle to puddle, having you entire shoe almost come off because of the mud that is oh so waiting for you to trip in. Best hour of my life!
But besides the once in a lifetime monsoon that took a hold of SCU’s campus, the gods have finally restored order and sunshine returns to the students of SCU. I, for one, am fortunate to see sun and I wonder how kids from Seattle can do it everyday.
Anyway, I’ve been crammed with reading and tests up to my neck. Hopefully I’ll be able to survive these next couple weeks and get to Thanksgiving break (which is in 5 weeks!). I’ll make sure to get back to you how classes and everything else is going and the crazy adventures SCU students embark on a daily basis. Got to run…literally but not in the rain hopefully.
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Version 2.0
Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 3:58 PM
Well, year two is upon us. Sorry for the delay for my first post(version 2.0). As they say, one more year makes you a year wiser. On my part, I’m not sure how true that statement is. Anyway, so I left off an amazing year of many ups and downs. Ranging anywhere from the crazy dorm life to the even crazier cross country team to the hustle and bustle of college life, the first year is a year I won’t forget. So a slight recap of what my summer adventures had for me.
Well I went home to the eagerly awaited Oregon air and water. I can’t explain it, but something about Oregon makes me want to go back to it whenever things don’t go my way. From the country roads, the endless and large night skies, to the enormous amount of green trees, gives me Goosebumps whenever I think of it. I am an Oregon boy at heart and I wouldn’t change it anyway. Anyway, my summer involved enormous amount of hours slaving away at my internship at a local television station back at home. For three days a week I would go off and shadow real reporters who were covering breaking news in the Southern Oregon area. Once I got situated in my internship, I was allowed to work with a three thousand dollar video camera (I took great care because the camera was worth more than I was probably) and took various shots and videos. Then I would head back to the station, write out my own script for my story of the day. So pretty much, I was a reporter… but not getting paid for the big bucks. But I was able to gain valuable experience in the journalism field and how to think critically about how a grandma was celebrating her 115th birthday. (PS: sometimes stories get pretty slow in the Southern Oregon area so I had to work with what I had).
But besides working my life away, I was able to have some good and comforting time at home with ma famille. It was nice to go home where there was no ruckus down the hall and the smell of anything but Benson food. It was nice to be home and I was grateful for the home I can come to from time to time. But I wanted to get back to SCU so eagerly after….the third week at home. Bunch of my friends would constantly reminds us the most amazing date for a SCU cross country runner, August 22nd, the day that began the best part of the year: preseason. Anyway the crazy adventures will have to wait another time or another post. Week 2 has ended and I’m already swamped in homework….yeah for reading!
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Final Hoorah
Tuesday, Jun. 9, 2009 12:00 AM
Well, the final hoorah, the final day, the final blog. Sadly, this year has come to an end and it is bittersweet to go home to my family, but leave the ones I have become such close friends with. I would have never thought nearly a year ago, I would dread going home. But as they say, college is the time of your life. Where you find who you are, what you will become, and who you’re real friends are. I’m not going to bore you with another adventure in the life of Richard Zhu and his amazing spectacles. But rather leave you with a final reflection. I came to SCU wanting to who I am and what I could become. With this last year, I could be pleased with what I have found. From the countless nights staying awake to study to the amazing afternoons at the beaches to dressing up for dinner, my year has been filled with many high points.
But along with that many low points. But as life does, college does the same, testing who you are and seeing what you’ve got. I could go on for hours about every single adventure that was amazing, funny, hilarious, or downright dangerous. But rather I leave you with advice. Keep in mind who you are when you come see the walls at SCU, breath in the roses, sit and find amazing stories in the library, or spends hours talking with your friends at benson way past it’s closing time. SCU provides so much opportunity academically, but so much more than books can provide. I’ve found some of my best friends, worst enemies, and best professors here on Mission campus. But as the adventures continues so does the learning and process. As I embark home on Thursday at 7:50 PM, I will probably cry and reminisce about the amazing year I’ve had. But I will only want to come back to SCU so much quicker.
I thank you all who have read my blog and I hope they have provided a real portrayal of an SCU college students. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, I fail tests, I screw up sometimes, but I’ve learned that the journey we embark is what we came to SCU for. Hopefully, in 3 years, I will be able to look back on these blogs and smiles and remember all the good times freshman year. But to all those future college students, take advantage of every opportunity, make amazing friends, and get out of your comfort zone once in a while. I thank you and good luck.
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