S1E32: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International student Sophia Chang of Taiwan.

In this our thirty second (32nd) episode, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews International student Sophia Chang of Taiwan about her experience here at Seattle Colleges and about life in the United States. 

1:19 - Introducing Sophia

4:44 - Working on campus as a front desk staffer in International Programs

9:58 - English Proficiency exam

10:56 - Family and living situation

13:13 - Were you nervous when you came to the U.S.?

13:57 - Food, friends, fun

20:09 - Majors and switching majors

21:39 - Agent or no agent?

22:35 - OPT plans and beyond

24:46 - Trivia Time!

27:06 - Final wisdom and Starbucks


*Tainan has 1.88 million people

Copyright © Seattle Colleges International Programs 2023. All rights reserved. For more information about being an international student at Seattle Colleges, please visit intl.seattlecolleges.edu

The theme music 'Bounce' is an audio file pursuant to the Pixabay License as defined in the Pixabay Terms of Service available at https://http://pixabay.com/service/terms/

Also, connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) at
SeattleCollegesIntl

Transcript

Evan Franulovich: 0:05

Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu. Hello, everyone, it's Evan Franulovich here. I am in Seattle, Washington yet again, and I am here with Ms. Chang. Welcome!

Sophia: 1:19

Hello, everyone. My name is Shu Mei Chang.

Evan Franulovich: 1:24

And your English name is Sophie.

Sophia: 1:25

Sophia.

Evan Franulovich: 1:26

So Sophia, tell us all you have a very important role here at Seattle Colleges. So I'm really excited that you're here. We want to tell everybody what you do and... but first of all, where are you from? What are you studying? You're a student worker?

Sophia: 1:40

Yeah. So I'm currently from Taiwan. And I'm study in business major. And I'm actually a international program front desk staff.

Evan Franulovich: 1:51

The front desk people are super duper important once you are a student here.

Sophia: 1:56

That's correct.

Evan Franulovich: 1:57

That's correct. And you're busy today.

Sophia: 1:59

Yeah, I was busy three days in a row.

Evan Franulovich: 2:03

Why is that?

Sophia: 2:04

Because there are a lot of new student comes in for spring quarter they just asked for, you know, register classes or how to set up their account.

Evan Franulovich: 2:14

Yeah, that's true. We'll talk more about that in a little bit. But first, I want to kind of get your backstory. You are from Taiwan. How did you decide to come to the United States to study and why did you choose Seattle?

Sophia: 2:26

So um, I wanted always want to come to U.S. it's because when I was little, when I'm learning English, I always watched Netflix. And there are a lot of, you know, like, high school series like 'American High School', and they always have like prom. And I was like Oh, Taiwan. They don't have prom, and I really want to come to... Yeah, I really want to come to U.S. and join the prom.

Evan Franulovich: 2:53

There's no prom in Taiwan?

Sophia: 2:55

No, yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 2:56

We should start a prom movement.

Sophia: 2:58

And so because of that, so I really want to come to the U.S. And I think at the age of around like 12 ish. I went to Texas and California for like summer vacation, and I went to summer school. And I really liked the way you know how they taught us. I used to live in the host family, and they will bring us to hiking or have some picnic on the weekend.

Evan Franulovich: 3:27

Where was this? You said?

Sophia: 3:29

It was in California.

Evan Franulovich: 3:31

Which city though?

Sophia: 3:33

What's that called? Like... Monterey Bay?

Evan Franulovich: 3:35

Oh, yeah. Oh, you were in Monterey.

Sophia: 3:37

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 3:38

Such a nice area.

Sophia: 3:39

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 3:40

That's one of my favorite parts of California. I went to school there. Do you know where the Defense Language Institute is?

Sophia: 3:46

Oh, I think I...

Evan Franulovich: 3:47

It's up on the hill above the city. It's really nice up there.

Sophia: 3:50

Yeah, the view and then the weather is nice. Yeah. And I just kind of like the way you know, how they bring us to travel everywhere, every weekend. And I kind of like the culture and plus, I really want to join the prom.

Evan Franulovich: 4:05

So did you get to go to the prom?

Sophia: 4:07

No.

Evan Franulovich: 4:08

Oh, no! Because we don't have a prom here at the college.

Sophia: 4:12

Yeah, because college doesn't have prom.

Evan Franulovich: 4:16

But you know what we could do?

Sophia: 4:17

Yeah, we could do.

Evan Franulovich: 4:18

You could talk to Francisco. And you could say, hey, look for spring quarter, you guys should do a prom for the community college for the international students.

Sophia: 4:28

Yeah. I would be...

Evan Franulovich: 4:28

And you could get your prom.

Sophia: 4:29

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.

Evan Franulovich: 4:32

We'll have a conversation with Francisco and make that happen for you.

Sophia: 4:35

Okay, that would be nice.

Evan Franulovich: 4:36

Yeah. That would be cool. So how long have you been going to school here?

Sophia: 4:40

It's been I think, more than a year. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 4:44

And how long ago were you hired to do front desk?

Sophia: 4:48

I think just few months like two or three months. Yeah, I started around January.

Evan Franulovich: 4:54

How hard is it?

Sophia: 4:55

It was pretty hard, because all the you know questions that I don't know, they always ask like, how do I, I have like insurance question. How do I transfer my credit from my previous school to Seattle Central? All this question...

Evan Franulovich: 5:12

So do you get a lot of transfer students coming in.

Sophia: 5:15

Yeah, there are some and also a lot of concurrent students, they mostly just study in UW and they want to, you know, take some classes in Seattle Central, because the tuition is more cheaper. And then they offer, you know, like a in-person classes more like only 20 People for the class. So it's better yeah, for them to you know, just study.

Evan Franulovich: 5:40

Let's talk about that, then. Because I've never talked about that with any my other guests, concurrent students. So if I am a student at, say, University of Washington, or at Seattle University, or one of the other four-year schools that are nearby, how do they do that? What's the process?

Sophia: 5:58

So normally, either you can just go to our school website, and you can click international admission. And when you scroll down, there's the admission requirement. And they have, you know, there are several application, you can choose either general transfer, and obviously, they are concurrent. So they choose'concurrent applicant'. Yeah. And there are some documents required for you to kind of just look at it and submit to our school. Basically, that's the how the process goes. But if you have more questions, what kind of like classes you're interested in, you can always talk with the marketing department about that. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 6:39

So they go through that process and then how does that work with their visa? Do they have to... I mean, are they just good with their I-20 at there...

Sophia: 6:48

Yeah. So, um, normally there I-20 would just keep the record with their original school. So they don't have the limit, they need to take, you know, like 12 credits every quarter that that would be the case if you keep your I-20 in the original University. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 7:04

Okay. Cool. And the other thing you mentioned was transferring students. So when students come here from another school, what is the process of them getting their credits here?

Sophia: 7:18

So um, for the transfer, they can either email us for there's like a transcript evaluation form, or either get it in our office. Yeah. And just kind of fill out all the documents they need and hand it to us. And we will forwarding to the admission department to do all the process.

Evan Franulovich: 7:37

All right, so it's the beginning of spring quarter, and we're getting all these new students, what is the question you hear most? Like that hear, like, almost every student that walks through is asking.

Sophia: 7:49

Oh, like, oh, how do I activate my account? Because you know, it's kind of hard for students brand new students started their education in the U.S. because there's like CTClink for you know, paying your tuition, apply for your classes, and there are like Starfish, you can make appointment with your advisor and obviously, there are other stuff like Canvas once you enroll your classes. Canvas will show all your class. Yeah. Yeah. What are you supposed to do. Hand in your assignment, maybe join the Zoom link while you have classes.

Evan Franulovich: 8:28

And that all happens through Canvas?

Sophia: 8:30

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 8:30

So if I, yeah, okay. Whether it's an in class class, or whether it's an online class or a hybrid? It's all ... So the syllabus, what is what all's on Canvas?

Sophia: 8:43

So um, so all the classes will show on Canvas. And when you click in syllabus, mostly just the professor will pose some restrictions, some rules for the class, like, oh, what time is the class? Where's the room? And what how many exam you're gonna have it, and what's the percentage of you know, like, assignments, yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 9:06

What about your grades? Are those also posted on?

Sophia: 9:08

Yeah, it will just kind of give you... Oh, it will not in the syllabus, it will be in the grade section, yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 9:14

Oh, ok so just a different section all on Canvas. So activating is kind of the tough one for people. So what advice do you have then... Or can you kind of walk us through the process of... So what do you got to do to activate?

Sophia: 9:27

So normally, I'll just walk them to the computer. And I'll be like, Oh, let me help you to activate. Yeah, cuz you know, sometimes they struggle with some technical issues or their phone is not working, internet slow. So always just help them in the computer. Yeah, and just click the CTClink and click the activate your account. And yeah, tell them just fill out your first name, last name, your email address, your student ID and then you can set up your password.

Evan Franulovich: 9:58

It's that easy? Sometimes it's a little freaky, and people have different levels of English proficiency. So I guess that makes sense. When you arrived... your English is quite good. When you arrived, you didn't have to take any SCIE classes, right?

Sophia: 10:15

Yeah, I actually just took the TOEFL test before. Yeah. And then I started the English 101 ... get into the school.

Evan Franulovich: 10:23

Did you take that test in Taiwan?

Sophia: 10:25

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 10:26

Oh, okay. That's nice. And then were you... What's the word? Were you pre? like pre-registered when you since you did well on your test? Were you able to actually sign up for classes before you even arrived in country?

Sophia: 10:41

Yeah, actually, I can do that. Um, but I think I was just kind of struggle with the payment, I guess.

Evan Franulovich: 10:49

Oh, ok.

Sophia: 10:49

Yeah. Because I don't, you know, I don't have a US bank account. And I was always asking like, Oh, by wire transfer?

Evan Franulovich: 10:56

Oh right, it's the Flywire. Yeah. All right. So were you... so or is it just you or do you have brothers or sisters?

Sophia: 11:03

I have an older brother.

Evan Franulovich: 11:05

You have an older brother. Has he been to the US?

Sophia: 11:07

Oh, he went here. Yeah. Also for you know, just summer vacation. He actually visits Seattle. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 11:13

He did. What did he think?

Sophia: 11:14

He was like... Oh. Because I think the summer school that he went, it has a lot of, um, there's like a national park maybe nearby? Yeah. And he saw a lot of deer.

Evan Franulovich: 11:26

Cool. Yeah. I mean, we have a few national parks actually. We have Mount Rainier kind of southeast of us. The Olympics off to the west and North Cascades National Park. And have you visited any of those? Did you go with him?

Sophia: 11:41

I really want to, but I need to get my driver's license.

Evan Franulovich: 11:45

Gotta get a driver's license, or make a friend who already has a car.

Sophia: 11:48

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 11:49

That's always helpful. Where do you... now what's your housing situation like? What did you decide when you arrived?

Sophia: 11:55

Oh, so um, so when I arrived, the first time I was choosing to stay in the dormitory.

Evan Franulovich: 12:04

Oh, you did?

Sophia: 12:04

Yeah. Oh, it was actually really nice. Because first time

Evan Franulovich: 12:05

Tell us about that. when you come to U.S., you know, you don't really know anyone. So it's really great that you can just live in dormitory. Yeah. And you will have roommates. And sometimes they have like an RA. So they will have event for that. Yeah. So we can just join the event and kind of know other people and kind of just if we have questions, you know, for school, we can always ask other people for that. And the dorms are quiet? I mean, the dorms are right across the street from our main building so there's a busy street there. But are the rooms pretty quiet?

Sophia: 12:41

Yeah, it's quiet. Yeah. And it's very convenient. Because it's just two minutes.

Evan Franulovich: 12:46

It's right there.

Sophia: 12:47

Yeah, right there.

Evan Franulovich: 12:48

Super convenient. So you have a kitchen in your room? Do you just cook for yourself?

Sophia: 12:54

Yeah, sometimes I will cook sometimes I will go out eat with friends. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 13:00

Are you a pretty good cook?

Sophia: 13:01

I guess so.

Evan Franulovich: 13:03

Can you make Taiwanese food?

Sophia: 13:04

Yeah. Like, braised pork belly. Right?

Evan Franulovich: 13:07

Oh, man. Well, we should definitely we should definitely do a potluck.

Sophia: 13:12

Yeah, for that. Right?

Evan Franulovich: 13:13

Yeah, that's great. So do you... Were you nervous when you came to the United States?

Sophia: 13:20

I was nervous. I was like, I don't know what to do. I heard their custom is pretty strict. I don't know if I tell them I want to study business major, are they gonna send me

Evan Franulovich: 13:30

No. That's cool. So you're a little back? nervous. But then you got here and did you arrive early? Or did you arrive and then like, within the next day or two, you had to go to orientation? Did you give yourself a little time to explore?

Sophia: 13:49

Oh, yeah, I think I went early, like four days before the quarter started.

Evan Franulovich: 13:55

That's great. What did you do during that time?

Sophia: 13:57

Oh, I kind of just... so I actually have a Taiwanese friend and he was, he used to study I think in South Seattle College. Yeah. So um, all of I think four of our friends, we just went to Space Needle. Yeah. And it was like a, you know, like a Lunar New Year time.

Evan Franulovich: 14:18

Right, right.

Sophia: 14:18

Yeah. So we just went for hotpot.

Evan Franulovich: 14:21

So you got here January, February, then?

Sophia: 14:23

Yeah, around that time, like, at the end of December? Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 14:27

Okay. Yeah, you like hot pot, huh?

Sophia: 14:30

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 14:30

Do you like spicy hot pot? I lived in Chengdu for four years. So you know, very hot. Very spicy.

Sophia: 14:36

Yeah, very hot, yeah. I cannot take that level. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 14:39

Because I don't know the difference, I haven't been to Taiwan, I've only been to mainland. So I don't know the difference like... Is your food not so spicy. It's more like southern China?

Sophia: 14:48

Yeah, it's not so spicy and we have our own... How do you call this...? So I think mostly in China, maybe their hot pot is like a really big pot and just you know, like, share, but in Taiwan we can have like a smaller one. And we really have different flavor, not just the spicy one. We also have, you know, like a kimchi. Yeah. Or like a milk hot pot.

Evan Franulovich: 15:12

Oh, that's interesting. I'll have to try that.

Sophia: 15:14

Yeah, that one is really nice. Oh, yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 15:17

I'd be willing to try. What about... Do you know the movie? It's an old movie. So it might be before your time, there is a movie called 'Eat Drink, Man, Woman'. It's a Taiwanese film by a Taiwanese director and it's really great. But this whole movie is about... Well, it's about a couple of things but food is a central part of that so it's fun to watch that movie...

Sophia: 15:37

... Yeah. Actually, a lot of foreigner come to Taiwan. Yeah, they will visit my city. It's called Tainan. And then, yeah, they just come all the way for the food. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 15:50

Of course. How big is Tainan*? A million?

Sophia: 15:54

It's very small. Yeah. It's very small.

Evan Franulovich: 15:56

It's very small? But it's one of the bigger cities on the island, isn't it?

Sophia: 16:00

Um, no, I think maybe Kaohsiung? Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 16:08

Wow. All right. So what's... what do you do for fun, then? You've been here a little while. You've obviously made friends. What do you guys do?

Sophia: 16:16

Um, we went to karaoke.

Evan Franulovich: 16:20

Yeah. Cool.

Sophia: 16:22

Yeah. And I think a lot we went to the zoo. It was really nice. There's the ... zoo. Yeah, but you need to walk for hours. Yeah. All the way. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 16:34

But karaoke... So I did karaoke what it was in mainland China, very different than here, right? What was your experience like?

Sophia: 16:44

I actually really like it. Like in Taiwan, we will have a bunch of friends and just went to karaoke for stray like 10 hours. Yeah. And then they because they know a lot of students like to go to karaoke so they will give like discount. Yeah, if you've stay for more than five hours, you'll get a

Evan Franulovich: 17:02

If they take you like, I don't know what it's discount. like, but we're I was in Chengdu, you would go in and then they would give you a room. And you guys would all go into your room and then, like guys would come and sell you food and drinks and that kind of stuff. But here, it's like you go to the bar, and everybody's just sitting out.

Sophia: 17:19

Oh, yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 17:19

And you take turns singing? So it's a little more private in China.

Sophia: 17:24

Yeah. Yeah, it's the same. And then we will have menu and you can order all the food. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 17:30

So it's more like that. Hmm. Cool. So you have made a lot of friends but do you have a lot of domestic student friends as well? Like, I know, you've met a lot of international students.

Sophia: 17:43

Yeah. No, I don't really have Yeah, like a lot of domestic students. Because I think it's also kind of hard to meet with them. Because normally if I take classes, most of the students are international students.

Evan Franulovich: 17:58

Really?

Sophia: 17:58

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 17:59

Interesting. Well, we gotta get you to meet some domestic students. Did you go to the Halloween party?

Sophia: 18:05

Oh, yeah, I did.

Evan Franulovich: 18:06

Because there were quite a few domestic students at that party. So maybe we should if we do a prom, we should have domestic and international together.

Sophia: 18:14

Yeah, that would be nice. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 18:17

For sure. So there are a lot of Taiwanese students on the campus, aren't there?

Sophia: 18:23

Yeah. Yeah, that's very true.

Evan Franulovich: 18:26

Do you find yourself speaking Chinese more than English when you're with them? Or do you?

Sophia: 18:32

Yeah, I mostly just speak Mandarin.

Evan Franulovich: 18:34

Naughty, naughty... Use that English. No,

Sophia: 18:37

Because, yeah. I mean, obviously, because English is that's good. second language. So if I want to, you know, make like sarcastic jokes, it's better for me to speak in Mandarin.

Evan Franulovich: 18:48

Of course it is. That's great. And you have friends from other parts of the world, but do you, do you... is there... do those guys all come together like in a club, or do you have some sort of extracurricular activity you do with everybody? What how does that work?

Sophia: 19:08

So, like the people mostly I know, either from there's O-den club at school. Yeah. It's like a Japanese club. Yeah, I used to met some friends in the O-den club. Yeah. And there are some friends I met mostly just in the dorm.

Evan Franulovich: 19:24

Okay. Yeah. How many roommates did you have? I meant to ask you that earlier.

Sophia: 19:28

Oh, I only have I yeah, I only had one roommate.

Evan Franulovich: 19:32

Oh, it was just you and one other person.

Sophia: 19:33

Yeah, at that time. Um, she was from Bangladesh.

Evan Franulovich: 19:34

And where were they from? Oh, Bangladesh. Cool. And what did she study?

Sophia: 19:42

Oh, she originally I think she wants to study in computer science at the very like first beginning. But later on, she's like, Oh, I don't like it. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 19:53

Is she still here?

Sophia: 19:55

I think so. I think... Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 19:56

What did what did she switch her major to?

Sophia: 19:58

Oh, I think she switched to business.

Evan Franulovich: 20:01

Oh, okay. So you guys are both business majors. Did your parents have a say in what you are going to study? Or did you just choose?

Sophia: 20:09

Actually, um, when I was little I kind of interested in criminal psychology. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, I'm gonna study this. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 20:19

That sounds kind of cool.

Sophia: 20:20

Yeah. And I watch like, tons of crimes video.

Evan Franulovich: 20:24

CSI, or...

Sophia: 20:24

Yeah, like every day. Literally, I have to watch like one crime video every day. Yeah. And yeah, I told I actually told my parents, I'm kind of interested with criminal psychology. They were... my mom. she was kind of supportive. But um, later on, I think I found out because I'm studying criminal psychology in it should take seven years or so. Yeah. And you need to get some type of, you know, like license for that.

Evan Franulovich: 20:53

So then you just switched.

Sophia: 20:55

Yeah, so I was like, that's just do something easier. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 20:59

So are you planning to go and start a business in Taiwan? Or do... does your family have a business that you'll use your degree for? What's your plan with your business degree?

Sophia: 21:09

Um, so for business, I'm kind of interested in marketing, actually. Yeah. So from what I heard at your department, I'm actually like, really interested. I heard like, before COVID, you guys will, you know, go abroad and just kind of go to school or you know, other country, just kind of introduce our school. and...

Evan Franulovich: 21:33

Is that how you heard about... did you go to a fair or something when you were in Taiwan?

Sophia: 21:38

I think so. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 21:39

Cool. Yeah. I know that Johan, that's his territory. So he goes to Taiwan at least two or three times a year and meets with students, agents. And... when you when you applied, did you apply through an agent? Or did you do it directly?

Sophia: 21:55

Oh, actually do it directly.

Evan Franulovich: 21:57

You did do it directly.

Sophia: 21:58

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 21:59

Did you consider an agent? Or did you not even worry about that?

Sophia: 22:03

Um, I yeah, I consider agent but later on, I was like, okay, okay. Yeah, I'll try to do it. If I cannot do it, call my agent. Got plan B you know.

Evan Franulovich: 22:15

It's not super complicated, but yeah, I mean, some people like the services that they offer, they do value added stuff. But I mean, just the strict, getting applied is not super complicated. So you're going to do your associate's degree here, and then transfer? What's your plan for after you get done at Seattle Colleges?

Sophia: 22:35

So um, I think after associate degree, I want to do OPT first.

Evan Franulovich: 22:41

Oh, ok. Do you know where?

Sophia: 22:43

I'm not sure. I am starting to looking for a job recently. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 22:48

If you could, if you could score your dream OPT situation, where would you want to do it?

Sophia: 22:55

Oh, I really want to do you know, like a company like a marketing company. And maybe for you know, cosmetic products? Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 23:03

Oh... Are there are there some good cosmetic companies in Seattle? I don't know.

Sophia: 23:09

I don't know any yet. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 23:12

Well, I know that Nordstrom... Is Nordstrom from Seattle? They have... I mean, they have a whole part of their business that is cosmetics. So I don't know, maybe something like that?

Sophia: 23:23

Yeah, I'll check that out.

Evan Franulovich: 23:25

Check it out! Which school would you like to transfer to?

Sophia: 23:29

I'm either thinking, I'm not... I might not be in the Washington. Yeah, so I maybe I kind of want to go to you know, maybe like California, Chicago, maybe anywhere, I don't know.

Evan Franulovich: 23:42

Somewhere else.

Sophia: 23:42

Yeah, somewhere else. Yeah,

Evan Franulovich: 23:44

Yeah. You've seen... That's kind of the cool thing about starting in a community college like ours, you can try out this part of the country and then another part of the country. Have you been to Canada?

Sophia: 23:56

Oh, I really want to go to Canada.

Evan Franulovich: 23:58

Yeah, you should!

Sophia: 23:59

Because it's so close. Actually, just four hours. And

Evan Franulovich: 24:03

You can even take the train now. It's so yeah. convenient. Do you need a visa to go to...? I don't know if Taiwanese citizens... You just go?

Sophia: 24:11

We... yeah, we can go, but I think we need to fill out like some form

Evan Franulovich: 24:16

Probably now.

Sophia: 24:16

Yeah. And they just need to check and we can just...

Evan Franulovich: 24:19

Gotcha. Well, you should go. Get a group. Get a group of your friends and do a little weekend tour...

Sophia: 24:24

Vancouver tour.

Evan Franulovich: 24:26

Memorial Day weekend is a long weekend in May. That's a good time to go. Because there's no classes.

Sophia: 24:33

I would consider that. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 24:35

Are you going to take a vacation quarter during the summer or are you just going to study right through?

Sophia: 24:39

I actually want to study right through Yeah. And then summer quarter just work in International Program office.

Evan Franulovich: 24:46

Gotcha. Oh, do you hear that? That means it's Trivia Time! We always ask our... we always ask our guests five questions about Seattle Colleges. If you get them all right, you're on on our Wall of Fame, and if you don't, well it's no big deal. Don't worry, we're not going to shame you or anything like that. So, are you ready? All right, here are your

questions. Number one: 25:08

How much per month does student housing cost for a two-bedroom? Or for a two person? Is it $1,000? It is about $1,000. Nice job. All right. Question number two: What is the name of the gym that is available to students here at Central?

Sophia: 25:35

The Mac?

Evan Franulovich: 25:36

Yes. The Mac center. Good. Very good. Where do students buy their textbooks?

Sophia: 25:45

At the bookstore?

Evan Franulovich: 25:46

The bookstore right across the street. Excellent. All right. Question number four: What is the mascot here at Seattle Central?

Sophia: 25:55

What is the...

Evan Franulovich: 25:56

The mascot. What is the animal associated with..?

Sophia: 26:01

Tiger.

Evan Franulovich: 26:01

It's the tiger. That's right, the hu? Right? Isn't that how you say it in Chinese - hu hu?

Sophia: 26:07

Lao hu.

Evan Franulovich: 26:08

Lao hu? All right, cool. Last question: Who is your favorite actor?

Sophia: 26:13

My favorite actor... Alexandra Daddario.

Evan Franulovich: 26:20

Oh, who's that? I don't know.

Sophia: 26:23

She has some movie. I forgot. Do you know 'Baywatch'?

Evan Franulovich: 26:30

Yeah.

Sophia: 26:30

Yeah. She was in that movie. I think it's the 2017 version.

Evan Franulovich: 26:35

Cool.

Sophia: 26:36

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 26:36

Alright, I'll check that out.

Sophia: 26:38

Yeah, and her eyes was so blue. That's why I was like, oh...

Evan Franulovich: 26:45

It's funny, when, um, when I was in Chengdu, my wife has blue eyes and so people would stop her in the street and want to take their picture with her. It's pretty funny. I mean, they didn't care about me so much but they wanted...

Sophia: 26:57

You're gonna be so proud.

Evan Franulovich: 26:58

Yeah, well, she was tall and blonde, you know? So you stick out in Chengdu?

Sophia: 27:03

Yeah, that's very true.

Evan Franulovich: 27:06

Well, I always like to give you the opportunity to impart words of wisdom, you know, maybe some advice to students back in Taiwan that are thinking about coming to Seattle or thinking about studying in the United States... What kind of advice would you give them before they make a decision?

Sophia: 27:25

Um, I would tell them always think very carefully if you want to study in the U.S., because you need to be really, I mean, independent and be really responsible for yourself. Very main point. And the second thing, I think it's always really nice to come to Seattle and study because you will have more opportunity to see the world and Seattle is a really nice place. They have a lot of company here: Amazon Starbucks, you know, everywhere. Actually, why come to Seattle, because I used to work in Starbucks.

Evan Franulovich: 28:00

You did?

Sophia: 28:00

Yeah. Yeah. And I tell... I actually told my boss like, when I had an interview, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna go to Seattle, because this place is the first you know, first place when Starbucks started. So I kind of just gonna start with this gonna be my first job. Yeah...

Evan Franulovich: 28:19

So you must have already visited the very first Starbucks?

Sophia: 28:23

Yeah. yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 28:24

But you know, they closed this Starbucks down on the corner.

Sophia: 28:27

Yeah, the other one.

Evan Franulovich: 28:27

It was so sad when they did that. Now you have to go down to QFC.

Sophia: 28:31

The other one. Yeah. Or the Starbucks Reserve, that one.

Evan Franulovich: 28:34

Where's that at?

Sophia: 28:35

You just go to I think it's Pike Street. Yeah. And you just got all the way like walk maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 28:43

That's still quite a ways. Yeah. The QFC has like kind of an in-store one, which is okay. I mean, if I just need a cup of coffee or something. Yeah, I'm a I love going to Starbucks because... I mean, I don't know if they have the best coffee in the world, but it's always consistent which I really like. Whether I'm in Europe or Asia, or here.

Sophia: 29:03

If you don't know you just go to Starbucks. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 29:05

And I like the atmosphere too. I can always get a good Wi Fi connection. It's always clean and kind of classy, I guess. You know? Yeah. A lot of people hanging around. And you can have, you know, like a customer ... drinks. That's always the best thing. Yeah. So since you were... you worked at a Starbucks in Taiwan? So is the menu in Taiwan different than the menu in the U.S.?

Sophia: 29:30

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 29:31

Is it?

Sophia: 29:31

They have kind of different menu and also for the seasonal like, in here. I think the winter, they have one type of drink it's called like a peppermint mocha. Yeah, that one is really nice. But in Taiwan, they only show up like three months in winter. Then it's gone. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 29:50

So when I was in mainland China, I got a I had a Starbucks app. And you know, they would scan it and I could pay with Renminbi whatever... If I were to go to Taiwan, could I use that Starbucks app in Taiwan? Or does it not cross?

Sophia: 30:05

I think it's not cross.

Evan Franulovich: 30:06

You guys probably have a different...

Sophia: 30:08

Yeah, you need to make like a membership card for that. Yeah. But you can always collect star, and change your, you know, switch your drink. Yeah, you can do that.

Evan Franulovich: 30:17

Nice. Well, I've heard that if you work for Starbucks, you can actually take working vacations. Like if you're a Taiwanese Starbucks employee, you could travel to another country that has a Starbucks and get shifts in a Starbucks in that country while you're there visiting. Is that true?

Sophia: 30:36

I actually asked them about this question. I was like, I'm, I'm coming to U.S. and I... can I do that. But my boss, she was like, she is not sure. Because you know, in U.S. if you want to, because I'm an international student, so if you want to work outside of the campus, yeah, you actually need, you know, like a work permission and that you normally is not allow for international student.

Evan Franulovich: 31:00

Well as a business major, you know, an OPT at Starbucks would be cool.

Sophia: 31:05

That would be cool.

Evan Franulovich: 31:06

I met a guy on the plane down to Costa Rica. And we just started talking, I said, what do you do? And he's like, Oh, I'm going to Costa Rica to shoot a documentary for Starbucks. He was an employee in their marketing department, I guess. And you know, he gets to travel to these coffee producing areas of the world. It's pretty cool, though. Yeah, you could do something like that.

Sophia: 31:27

Yeah, I definitely will try to. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 31:31

Give it a look see. Well, it's great to talk to you. Thanks for your time. You did great. You got all your questions, right. Wall of Fame for you. Thanks for your time. It was great to visit with you.

Sophia: 31:41

Thank you.

Evan Franulovich: 31:42

All right. Have a good day.

Sophia: 31:43

Thank you for inviting me.

Evan Franulovich: 31:44

Yeah, you're welcome. Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok or YouTube at SeattleCollegesIntl. That's SeattleCollegesIntl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on Conversations with! Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.