Philly is Chilly!!

HEY GUYS!!!

I arrived in Philly Saturday and the company lost my luggage. It was pretty dramatic, but I have come to accept the fact that I only have 4 bottoms and 4 tops. –There aren’t really any affordable clothing stores nearby and I have honestly been too busy to even attempt to get lost in this big city, so I got over the need to be “cute”. Haha However, everyone here is super supportive and have loaned me clothing whenever I actually needed it, like a nice shirt for orientation or a jacket to wear to dinner because it has been about 60 degrees here.

There are 30 of us undergraduates here total. The vast majority of the group is biomedical students and there are 5 humanities students (I fall into this group). The 4 girls in humanities all live together: an Art History major from Florida State, a History major from Berkeley, a Criminal Justice major from Spelman and myself – a Sociology major from USM. We are definitely compatible with each other and get along with each other amazingly so far.

I have drafted a preliminary research topic/idea. I want to look the psychosocial influencers and stressors that Gansu children face in the process of obtaining their education. Gansu is one of the poorest areas of China and it is assumed that the only way to be “successful” is to go to a University; however, there are many factors that stop these children from “just doing it”. I’m going to be analyzing data that has already been collected by my mentor Emily Hannum. She has done research in this area for nearly 10 years and has a lot of data for me to look through and help narrow my research and research question. I have some very interesting ideas in mind but this email is already too long!

The sociology department here DEFINITELY spoils me (kind of like at Southern J). The graduate students here are VERY friendly and so is Dr. Hannum. However, (and you will be pleased to hear this Dr. Miller) they are hands off when it comes to research. I have noticed that they are VERY supportive, friendly and approachable, but have given me complete control over my research topic and ideas, which is a little terrifying. Lol I have office space, but I don’t have mandatory office hours. I meet with Dr. Hannum frequently, but she never gives me deadlines, only things that may be helpful to look over. Lol

I think this is going to be a great summer and I hope to learn A LOT!!

Jasmine Whiteside
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