Group 1 - 5 & 6/7/2016

Group 1

Zoe Au Yeung

Rachel Lam

Chelsea Ng

Helen Yu

5 & 6/7/2016

                “Welcome to Stanford!”

                After a 13-hour flight, we finally arrived at San Francisco International airport, feeling tired but excited at the same time.   Upon our arrival, we were given a warm welcome by the counselors at Stanford, followed by a brief campus tour which impressed us a lot.  We were quite awed by and amazed at the wondrous scenery in the campus.  Also, the orientation held after dinner certainly helped us to know each other more. Now, we cannot wait to spend our 2 weeks here in Stanford!

                  After a night of rest, we woke up in the morning to see the beautiful Californian sun shining brightly upon us.  This was certainly a good way to start off our programme in the morning session.  Our day started with an Anthropology class.  Our instructor, Professor Aisha Ghani, taught us the basics of Anthropology.  We also discussed certain issues such as the story of the Nacirema, Brexit and the differences between Hong Kong and Mainland China.  We were taught to use the anthropologic approach to analyze these issues.  This reminded us of the topics we learnt in our Liberal Studies lessons in Hong Kong.  This interesting session taught us to think critically and out of the box.

                After lunch, we had a writing workshop.  Our instructor, Professor Gina Arnold, taught us the basics of rhetorical thinking.  By studying different newspaper articles and advertisements, we learnt more about the 3 different ways of persuasion – Ethos, Pathos and Logos.  We certainly gained a lot from this course, integrating the skills that we learnt into designing an advertisement. 

                After a full day of interesting but hectic lessons, we headed off in excitement to the Stanford Bookstore.   It was fantastic to see a wide range of books and souvenirs that the bookstore was selling. Shopping for gifts was a lot of fun and we will certainly go there again.

                Our day ended with recreational activities, playing monopoly and scrabble.  Some more sporty friends headed for the basketball court.  We had a fruitful day and we are certainly looking forward to the rest of the memorable days here in Stanford!