<p>Sophomore, Psychology, and Business undeclared Major.</p>
<h3><em><strong>“My name is Xinyue Pan but you can call me Yolanda. This is my first time in the states as a sophomore because during the pandemic my freshman year I couldn’t come here. I used a study abroad program in Shanghai so I studied there for a year.</strong></em></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The biggest challenge in life is to fit in the college culture. The culture I was within Shanghai normally didn’t have a campus and all the classes were online, which can get boring and exhausting because of the time zones. There were a lot of challenges as a freshman. Coming in as a sophomore I’ve made a lot of new friends, joined a lot of new clubs, and done different things which are challenging in their own way. But by living on campus it&#8217;s been getting much better. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I haven’t felt a huge cultural difference. I would say that people say hello to strangers, which is quite different.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We laughed as we realized that this was essentiality how I began the very interview.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;Yes, exactly! We don’t normally greet strangers, you only speak to people you know, or maybe it&#8217;s an elderly professor, it&#8217;s a new concept for me to say hello to strangers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first day I came to Tulane, the OISS helped arrange people that helped guide me to the dorms. People were really friendly and I can see how people were excited to see one another. I also did a campus tour with my friends, so it was super exciting to be there my first day. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The night before I left for Tulane honestly wasn’t that exciting. I got super tired when I arrived because of the jet lag but nothing crazy. Once I came here, I was then really excited. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I am super engulfed in Chinese culture, I’m into Chinese painting and I’m confident in my culture. I think there is always more thinking and intelligence and thoughts that go on in our heads that none of us would know unless we had a deeper conversation. If I had to say one thing about myself for everyone to know, I can’t even say one thing, I like meeting people in-depth rather than saying there is one sparkling part of me.&#8221;</span></p>
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Xinyue Pan (Yolanda)
