Joanne Lam

How has travel grown your understanding of a place or person?

How has travel grown your understanding of a place or person?

Question proposed by Kate Trip-Logic.com

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an art, but a habit.”
– Aristotle

As we travel, we repeatedly put ourselves in the shoes of cultures and norms outside of our comfort zone. Thus, we begin to understand values and lifestyles different than our own. This understanding and breaking out of our own perceptions must become a habit as we strive to make the world a better place.

Too often we judge others from their personality and question how its possible they act the way they do, but when we really dig in deep and understand the background behind their actions, we will learn to sympathize, empathize and love in a way you never imagined possible.

Every trip I take, every person I meet and every culture I experience, is a chance for me to become a better person, a better communicator and most importantly, learn to show love where I didn’t think I could. It’s may not be easy, it’s may not be cheap, but traveling is the biggest never ending adventure you will ever do in your life.

San Francisco: a city of surprises

Golden Gate Bridge with my new Aussie friend from Couch Surfing

Taking a stroll around the city, hills on hills on hills

What a city of surprises. I remember coming here a few years ago for a city and really enjoyed it but I guess I didn’t really see the city like I did this time. I decided to come to San Francisco because all my friends in LA are busy during the week and I did not want to rely on others to be driving me around. I am so incredibly happy I took this trip but I also made a lot of realizations.

I love seeing the world and this trip is an example of why. For some reason, I had in my mind a very different idea of SF compared to actuality. Three days later, I’m still incredibly shocked as I walk around the amount of homeless people on every street, even in the most tourist city center. I’m not the type of person to be afraid walking down a street by myself but I definitely have my doubts in this city wherever I am. What is incredible is the polarization of everything I see. In one block, there can be a fancy and big shopping mall as well as a small run down mexican restaurant that looks like it may close down any day. People begging for money, asking for quarters, starving artists and people simply lingering around outside is endless.

In a way, I’m glad the homeless population is not congregated in one area of the city but at the same time, it makes me wonder what type of help is offered to those people here in the city. I really want to know all of these stories but for the first time in a while, I found myself becoming someone that just wants to avoid any type of situation where I’m faced with a homeless person…. which in this case, is every time I walk outdoors.

I have a lot to ponder after being in SF for a few days. I’m incredibly lucky to have met an Australian friend through Couch Surfing that spent the last two days with me sight seeing, walking around and having a good time. Also blessed to be able to stay in a hostel right downtown, to avoid being in more sketchy neighborhoods.

Thats it for now, more thoughts to come later.

West coast best coast?

Emerson College Quidditch needs YOUR help!

I can’t remember how much I’ve really talked about Quidditch on here, but I assume quite a lot. Anyhow, I joined Emerson College Quidditch second semester freshmen year and it has been my life ever since. We have traveled to Rhode Island, New York, New Hampshire, etc for tournaments and played some of the best teams in the league. It has changed my life and shaped my last four years at Emerson, my social circle, my personality, and my priorities. They are my family in Boston.

We are currently #6 (last I checked) in the rankings and only looking to climb even higher! Back in November, we got 2nd in the North East Regionals in Fort Adams, Rhode Island and secured a spot for the VI annual World Cup this year in Kissimmee, Florida.

Unfortunately, it is not like previous years where we can rent a car and just drive to New York. This year is a lot more financially taxing due to bus rides, plan e rides and accommodation in a hotel near the venue.

Thanks to a teammates father, we got a really good deal but we are still working very very hard to fundraise for this once in a life time opportunity. It is literally the highlight of my final year in college and I would hate to not be able to go.

We set up an indiegogo campaign 4 days ago with the goal of reaching 4000 dollars, and thanks to all of our donors we have reached that goal already. It’s unbelievable!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/get-emerson-quidditch-to-world-cup-vi

We cannot be more thankful but now, recalculating all of our other expenses including jerseys, International Quidditch Association fees, etc, we are setting a second goal to cover those costs!

Because we have 10 days left to raise money, we have set our second goal to reach 7000 dollars!

Please help us by backing our cause and also by forwarding this post to your friends and family members. You could receive really awesome customized prizes by donating!

Every little bit counts and I promise you, my team will not let you know. We will go to World Cup VI ready to compete, play with class, swag and be that team everyone wants to be friend.

Thank you SO much!

Re-prioritizing

For the last few months, I have been interning at two companies- both I enjoyed very much and learned more than I can ask for. Unfortunately, I dropped out of one of them today… from the gym internship.

My original plan was to stay with them and join the trainer in training program as soon as I get my certification, but as I started to think more practically on what’s good for my future, I decided to go down any route. It was a tough decision. For those who know me knew how excited I was to have stepped foot into the industry.

My decision to drop out of the fitness internship was bittersweet. Unfortunately the last few weeks, I began to feel a little pointless spending those 7 hours there every week when I could be focusing more on networking, school and spending time with friends in my last few months at Emerson.

I really appreciated everything I learnt at the gym, from helping out administrative wise to shadowing personal trainers and learning how to properly train either myself or someone else. I hope one day I will be able to be certified and be able to have that as a side job, but as for now, I can spend those extra hours to rest, do school work, focus more on doing well in my other internship, as well as prepare myself for post-graduation.

I’m really excited for whats to come, despite not knowing what my concrete plans are yet, I am thankful to know that I will be staying in Boston and have my brother for support as I figure everything out.

Someone told me one day that no matter what plans you make, how far ahead you plan, somehow the universe will surprise you and those plans might fall throw. Thus, you will have to find a way to accomplish your goals with flexibility and new plans.

Plans change.