Internship Experience
-----------------------
Laboratory for Summer Internship Collaboration:
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Canada
Professor Keng C. Chou's Laboratory
-----------------------
A photo with Professor Keng C. Chou and fellow student Wu Xuanyu.
Main Learning:
When I first arrived in Canada, I was very nervous. However, after meeting Professor Chou and sitting down with him for an afternoon of coffee and conversation, I felt much more relaxed. Professor Chou spoke to us in a friendly and gentle manner about his journey from being a student to pursuing a doctoral degree and eventually working. He reassured us that going abroad is not as daunting as we might imagine, and that foreigners are not insurmountable adversaries. He encouraged us to focus on broadening our horizons during this journey, while still taking our research seriously. Through a series of casual conversations, my initial nervousness dissipated. Over the two months, I learned computer programming languages under the guidance of senior students. I not only got acquainted with Python, Matlab, and Jupyter Notebook but also successfully completed a comprehensive assignment. Interacting with the senior students and the professor allowed me to absorb not only knowledge in their respective fields but also engage in discussions about various topics. The senior students were not only talented in history and geography, but both the professor and the senior students were also well-informed about important international affairs. Our post-meeting chats piqued my curiosity about their perspectives on various matters, and I greatly admired them for it.
Senior operating Raman spectrometer, appearance of Raman spectrometer; Raman spectrometer measuring plastic.
UBC Library
Cultural Insights:
On Canada Day, July 1st, shortly after my arrival in Canada, I had forgotten that it was their national day. It was only because my Taiwanese roommate, whom I met through Facebook, invited me that I had the opportunity to participate in this annual event. I am grateful for having roommates willing to take me to various places. Speaking of Vancouver, it is truly a place with a large Chinese population. While there are people from many different countries at the university, I trained with people from Mexico, Italy, Kenya, and other countries during a fire extinguisher drill (no photos were taken). I often encounter people from different backgrounds while walking around the UBC campus. However, my roommates informed me that UBC is sometimes jokingly referred to as the "University of Billion Chinese." Some departments even graduate students who do not speak English. The reason there are so many Chinese people in Vancouver is mainly due to its status as the preferred destination for Chinese immigrants over a decade ago. According to the professor, immigrating to Canada is straightforward, and the government hopes to attract more talent from abroad. Most immigrants to Vancouver usually have a certain level of financial capability. The prevalence of Chinese people in Vancouver has made my trip to Canada feel less like going abroad. Aside from Richmond, which is already predominantly Chinese, encountering Chinese people in restaurants or stores in the Vancouver area is quite common. Many people, upon seeing me, also ask directly if I speak Chinese.
During this journey, everyone I interacted with—my professor, senior students, roommates, and my roommates' friends—communicated in Chinese. The only opportunities to speak English were with restaurant servers or store staff. However, I did meet an Indian and a Rwandan while playing volleyball once! (I regret not taking photos.) It was my first time meeting someone from Rwanda, and we had a brief conversation in English. Upon reflection, the person I probably communicated with the most in English was an Islamic person who approached me outside the station to proselytize...
Nevertheless, being proselytized to in English was also a new experience! I could understand the wonders of the universe he spoke about. He told me he believed that the world is perfectly random, citing examples such as the distance between the Earth and the Sun or the beauty of biological designs and various buildings or sculptures whose construction methods remain unknown. He believed them to be masterpieces of God. I responded by saying that I knew the distance between the Earth and the Sun; it would be too cold if it were farther away and there would be no water if it were closer. He seemed happy that I listened carefully to him, although occasionally his accent made it difficult for me to understand. However, I could generally grasp what he was trying to convey. In conclusion, as long as you are willing to speak English, even if you do not know the English translation for the word you want to express, as long as you make an effort to use other adjectives to express yourself, others will try their best to assist you. It is already a wonderful thing to communicate more with others!
