100 Strangers

Stranger # 10,11,12: Alex, Jacquie, Grace

G’day Mate!

During spring break, I had the opportunity to go to Brisbane, Australia! This is where I met these fine three Australian born seniors! They were super fun to chat with and they said I had an accent! No way!

We chatted about random things..school…culture differences..slang. Here are some things I learned/we talked about Australia. 

1. “Heaps” = a lot.
I’m pretty sure we don’t use this in america…?

2. It’s pretty difficult to get their license. The whole process takes forever. I can’t remember exact details, but I think they basically can’t drive by themselves until they’re 21 years old. SAD!

3. Jacquie can pass for an American or people think she’s younger than she actually is.(I understand!) [I’m pretty sure this is what she said..] 

4. I asked them if they wanted to know anything about California since I’ve lived there all my life. Here’s the one question they asked me:
Is marijuana legal in California? 

As you can see, they are wearing their uniforms, which is common over there. They go to a year round school called Saint James and are soon to graduate! I met them during the end of March and they hadn’t applied to places yet. In the US, by now seniors have already found out which schools they got into. 

I met Alex first since the two girls were in a shop. He’s super tall. He plans on going to the “liamy”. I mean army. 

Jacquie (middle) doesn’t know what she wants to major in yet.

Grace (left) wants to do something with IT. 

We chatted for a good 15 minutes and it was great. Honestly, I just loved listening to them talk. I love Australian accents. With that being said, I wish them luck for applying to schools and figuring out what to do! Have a nice senior year and ENJOY COLLEGE/ or the liamy army! 

Stranger #10: Michelle

I met Michelle the day of my lab practical. Well we were actually in the same class. However, we never got the chance to speak to each other until that day. Lab was on Thursdays from 2:30-5:20pm. At 2:30pm, I was looking for my lab class to take my practical. After starting to panic, I saw her and asked her where our lab practical was. She told me that it was in the regular room at 4pm. I looked at her like what…4pm? So! Thanks to her I found out when my lab practical was. SO embarrassing. I ended up sitting with her on the bench between the 2nd-3rd floor stairs of the scilab :]

She is from Santa Clara. She went to a Catholic private school. I think she told me she had to wear uniforms too. She is a really cool person and we were able to talk about each other and biology. We both actually met before through a mutual friend, but we just kind of forgot. Haha. Sadly, it’s been a while so I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember a lot of our conversation, but it was a nice couple of hours of talking before our big test :] I hope she did well!!

Stranger #8&9: Rebecca & Stephanie

Left: Stephanie
Right: Rebecca

I met these two lovely ladies when I was asked to help take photos for the textiles and clothing fashion blog. While standing around trying to figure out what to do next, they politely asked me to take photos of them. And so it began.

Although we didn’t chat much about ourselves, I got to get a sense of the type of person they both are. Stephanie was really sweet and easy to talk to. A bit camera shy in the beginning, but after a while she was a natural! Rebecca was full of energy and confidence. She was even willing to sit on top of a balcony, but the thought of her falling kept processing through my head. So…I kept insisting a different idea. Her energy and adventurous attitude made my job even more enjoyable. 

These young ladies dressed themselves up and their outfits are absolutely stunning! Looking at their style, being able to interact with them, and photographing them was my pleasure! And doing this definitely amplified my love for fashion photography. 

Stranger #9: Harvinder

Cool name, huh?!

I met Harvinder at the first bio 2B group tutoring of this quarter. I got there early and I noticed her Key Club shirt [since I was formerly quite the active Key Club member ~ahem~]. We talked about Key Club, Dcon, and all those good things. And also figured out a mutual friend in the process since the District Treasurer was from the same area as her. 

She’s currently a freshmen in college and has an interest in forensics(woo!). For the past Mondays, she sat to my right and I got to know her better. She’s quite talkative, has a great attitude, and is very hardworking! Honestly, I don’t know many freshmen starting the bio series so early. But she seemed to be keeping up with the rest of us older students! I hope the bio final went way better for her than it did for me!

Stranger #8: Melissa

Meet Melissa!

She’s a first year at UC Berkeley! I also met her at UCSB for the AACF joint event! Berkeley’s AACF is small too. So I could relate to her when we discussed concerns about the size of our fellowships. However, Berkeley’s fellowship is even smaller than the one at UC Davis. So I was pretty amazed. I thought Davis’ was small enough. She’s super nice! While watching the videos that each school made, we would turn to each other and laugh or make random comments and giggle some more. 

I am really excited for her as a first year! As a college freshmen, I think it’s so cool how she’s going to fellowship and coming to these events to worship and fellowship. It’s exciting to see her branch out! And not be a “scared little freshmen”. I hope Berkeley isn’t too brutal on her! Good luck there! 

~Her Prayer Request~
Courage to talk about my faith out of love for God; to grow in love for God by spending time with Him; Blessing God’s love letter= Bible! 

Check out her blog too!! 
[MY Mundane Mondays]

Stranger # 7: Kevin

Kevin and I ended up being in the same group to dance to KPOP for a game….It’s quite embarrassing…but fun! Later we got into groups and he ended up being in the same one! :]

Kevin’s a really creative and cool fellow with a great sense of style [as you can see to the left]. He’s a third year design major at UCLA! [That’s what I might do!] Instantly, we connected pretty well and he was really easy talk to since we both had an interest in art! Also, I feel so blessed to have been able to listen to what he had to say and pray with him.

~His Prayer Request~

Please pray for strength for me to continue coming to AACF and church, despite those who don’t accept me. Also for stability in my faith and for the constant reminder that you love me endlessly.

Stranger #6: Stephanie

We met at UC Santa Barbara for the AACF Joint Event. To be more exact, I first met her in the girls bathroom! I noticed her UCLA shirt and as we were washing our hands, I casually asked her if she knew a girl named Joanna (who went to my high school and I wanted to find her and say Hi). Then we went our separate ways into the conference room. Later, we had to split into groups and we ended up being in the same one! Funny, huh?! 
It was just so great hearing how the AACF in UCLA is doing because I never really knew what was going on at other campuses. UCLA has 100+ people while UCD has about 30-40ish. What I realized is that size doesn’t matter. Both campuses have their struggles and worrying about the size of the fellowship shouldn’t be our main concern. Our focus should be on our walk with God. Therefore, I’m so thankful for the opportunity to meet with my brothers & sisters from other campuses all over California!:]

She is a second year (like me!) at UCLA. She’s part of the skit ministry called SNL [Salt ‘N Light] which presents God’s message and love in a different and entertaining way! They got some pretty good skits too! Look out for this pretty little lady! This girl is super sweet and nice! I can truly see God’s love in her and I’m so glad I got to meet her! 

~Here’s her Prayer request~
Please pray that our skit ministry can have endurance and hope through the overwhelming trials we face and that I can conquer the fear of men so I’ll be able to talk to them and share our burdens.  

Stranger #5: Erika

This beautiful young lady[left] is one of the best hosts ever! She’s bubbly, loving, and outgoing! She has a quirky and fun personality! Plus she’s extremely easy to talk to! And we both have a love for dogs! She breaks into different accents sometimes but it just makes everything so much more entertaining! We all instantly got along:] Thank God for a sister like her!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to stay at her place along with her other housemates: Jennifer, Joy, and Irene! I didn’t get a picture of them so I figured I’d just put Erika on the spotlight! She drove us AACF girls around and brought us to this beach to meet up with other AACF people. Also when I got pooped on by a bird, Jennifer and she offered to walk back with me to their place to clean up! They are such kind-hearted people and I feel so blessed to have gotten to stay at their place! Thank you again and again! Although Santa Barbara was filled with drunk and scary people, it’s filled with some great people. Meeting these four lovely ladies were definitely one of the highlights of my trip!

Stranger #4: Douglas

I met him while I was in Santa Barbara for the AACF Joint Event. This was during out reach time and we were just passing out food and water. I walked over to some girls who were talking to him and just listened to what he had to say. I missed out on his history, but I still got to hear a lot. He talked about the Vietnam war, his son who was in the military, and so much more. He was a very lively fellow! Extremely friendly! What stood out to me was that his friend was cursing while he was leaving and Douglas was telling us how he didn’t like that. He didn’t like how his friend used God’s name in vain. I don’t know if he’s a religious man or anything, but it was nice to hear him say something like that. 

I guess I am always too scared to talk to homeless people.  I was extremely hesitant to talk to any of them. But God gave me the opportunity to go and just listen and I did so. It wasn’t bad at all. I have this negative perception of them, but they’re people just like us. They just want someone to talk to. They’re appreciative and humble. I shouldn’t be so judgmental. So I challenge you to chat with a homeless person and find out their story. See what they have to say. 

What also stood out to me was the fact that his friend came back and said, “Thanks for bringing the food and water. I’m really thankful that you guys did that. I was just having a bad day. So sorry about that. Thanks again.”

:]

Stranger #3: Esther

Funny story about how we met. I can’t entirely explain the whole process but basically…This beautiful, tall, and wonderful freshmen saved my life. 

So thanks Eunji for calling up the arrangement. And thanks Esther for saving my life! It would have been a terrible and uncomfortable day if I didn’t meet you:]