Today's Amazing Presentations!

Attendees of the "Where I am From & Where I am Now" presentations were wildly impressed!
Students of the Summer Immersion Program seamlessly integrated difficult academic concepts (e.g., place attachment, identity differentiation) into well-crafted and beautiful story-like presentations.

Alan

Kailin

Qidi

Saurabh

Yujie

Tianhao

Loic

Will

Xinge

Taemin

Kate and I thank you all for being such incredible and inquisitive students!!

To our amazing students:

Be sure to visit us during the school year! 

(Our offices have candy and hot water : )

In Sense of Place in Developmental Context (Robert Hay, 1998), the author says that teenagers who have experienced being away from home (e.g. at boarding school) tend to have more awareness of their sense of place through homesickness, while those who do not have such experience may take their place for granted in the teenage years. This point coincide with my personal experience: I have noticed that students who have ever studied abroad usually speak of their country with a more passionate voice that those who haven't (which shows their greater sense of place), and such changes is not necessarily accompanied by changes in the perception of what their country is really like; those students have a seemingly paradoxical opinion of being patriotic and admitting the negative aspects of their country. So I think that the greater sense of place has more to do with emotion than with physical conditions, in other words, more to do with place identity than with place attachment, due to the difference in definition of the two terms (Hernandez et al, 2007).
Besides, I have some questions regarding the point and my personal experience: studying abroad means being away from both one's city and one's country, and does such experience strengthen more sense of place with the city or with the country? And what factors can affect the answer?

Differences between food Cultures help me develop the place attachment

They say…

Broadly, taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, or savory) preferences have a strong innate component. Nevertheless, these innate tendencies can be modified by pre- and postnatal experiences. (Gary K. Beauchamp and Julie A. Mennella, 2009)

I say…

I agree with this claim. The most incompatible thing I found these days is American food with Chinese food. In my opinion, there is no standard for tastes, which means it is hard to say which flavor is better than another. But it is our eating habits determine our flavor preference. Moreover, flavor preference can be changed through time. I have found the food I like in Rochester. So flavor preference is variable.

They say…

Twigger-Ross and Uzzell (1996) found support for two forms of continuity in environmental relationships. One of them is the “place referent continuity”, when place acts as referents to past selves and actions and thus provide a link between past and present identities.

I say…

I agree. Although food in America has plenty of differences from the food in China, I found an amazing similarity – people in these two countries both consider eating food together as a way to communicate and make new connections between each other. Thus, I found old personal identity in the new place, which could be a beginning of the place attachment.

They say:

The previous studies on place identity have few attempts to integrate this literature into a more general theory of identity and environment because of the lack of studies that simultaneously examine identification with places of different scale. Therefore, Lee and David’s research addresses this omission by analyzing how people develop a sense of home with respect to dwelling community and region.

I say:

I agree with the authors that there are few studies focus on small places as dwelling and community. The previous study I looked through is about cities islands and neighborhood (Hernandez, 2007). Furthermore, I believe the focus of dwelling makes sense because it is the place to call home and it is where the bond starts. It directly interprets the affiliation between people and the place identity. And maybe it will serve as an answer to “Where I am from”. Personally speaking, I am an immigrants from Fushun to Shenyang and lived in a boarding school for six years. I may consider the dormitory as the dwelling I live in and compare it with Sub I currently live in. The dormitory is the place serving as a root for me in Shenyang and is the main reason why I would consider Shenyang as my place identity.

In the summer writing course, I read Place attachment and place identity in natives and non-natives (Bernanrdo Hernandez, M. Carmen Hidalgo, M. Esther Salazar-Laplace, Stephany Hess, 2007). I thought the topic was really interesting and try to find some more references related to the topic. I found a work named A pace to call home: Identification with dwelling, community, and region.
 They say:
In the research, Cuba and Hummon (1993) claimed that social participation in the local community is essential for community identity and patterns of intercommunity spatial activity promote a regional identity. I agree with the authors ideas that what people do in the community contribute a lot and help people develop their place identity with community.

 I say:
 I have a different idea about the how people develop their place identity and personal identity. In my idea, I think there is one significant element for people to develop their personal identity. The important element is about peoples that people deal with in their daily life(Family, Friends and Teachers...etc.) I think people's relations are really significant to people's personal identity and all the peoples people interact with help cultivate their different personal aspects. From this viewpoint, I am going to discuss more about related ideas about people's relations with other people.

Integrating sources

They say, I say

While Hernandez (2007; Place attachment and place identity in natives and non-natives) claims that place attachment appears earlier than place identity, I disagree.

Island and city are places that have greater attachment and identity than neighbourhood (Hernandez, 2007: Place attachment and place identity in natives and non-natives) ,and city arouses stronger bond than neighbourhood.

According to Giuliani (1991; Towards an analysis of mental representations of attachment to the home), the quantity of the objects and the space people occupy have positive effects on home attachment.I agree with it and home attachment is also related to the representation of people themselves.

While Giuliani (1991; Towards an analysis of mental representations of attachment to the home) argues that it is possible for people to have no attachment at all because they may prefer not to become attached, I disagree with it and I argue that people cannot choose to become attached or not.

In Giuliani’s research, she discovered that the number of variety is related to people’s attachment to home (1991; Towards an analysis of mental representations of attachment to the home), and the more importance they concern, the more attachment they have for their own residential situation.

My opinion about the article of Chow and Healey(2008)

According to the Chow and Healey’s article(2008,p.368), “attachment is confirmed by others and the degree of interaction experienced with them”, and they also refers that everyone knows that making friends are important because of security they provides. Combining these two facts, we can conclude that making new relationships, or friends, in new place is also one of important factors to develop place attachment, the affective link that people have in specific place where they like and feel safe and comfortable(Hernandez, 2007).
The reason why I concluded that way is because I have been and am experiencing it right now. When I was in high school, I didn't like my school but I had an attachment to my school because I enjoyed the everyday life with my friends in the school. In the same way, I am slowly developing the attachment to the University of Rochester with my new relationships, or friends, in here although I dislike the crazy weather in the Rochester. Thus, I think making new friends are one of most important factors to develop place attachment in new place.

They say:
Misse Wester-Herber (2004) claims that the place that can let people develop place identity will show the specific aspects of identity. One of them is distinctiveness, a differentiation from other groups.
I say:
I disagree with this idea because during my presentation, I focus on the comparison between the two libraries in where I am from and where I am. As we all known, library is one of the most common public places. In other words, library don't have the aspect of uniqueness. But still I did develop my place identity through all those years I spent there preparing tests or enjoying spare time.

Different Rivers: Place Attachment vs. Place Identity

They say:

1. Hernandez et al(2007) find that when considering place attachments and identity, natives tend to score higher than immigrants on both, and that immigrants tend to score higher on attachment than identity.  
2. Stedman (2002) finds that place attachment and place satisfaction are both based on cognitive attributions made about the setting whereas the difference is that place attachment is based on to a lesser degree. And that we are willing to fight for places that are more central to our identities and that we perceive as being in less-than optimal condition.

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I say:

1. Agree. I believe that attachment is more easily to develop than identity when move to a new place. I think it’s because the attachment that people develop with certain places or objects are not strong enough to develop an identity based on those. Since those certain places or objects are just a small part of their old life whereas they are all they are similar to about their new life.
2. Agree. I think that in a relatively new place, people are more likely to attach themselves to belong to certain specific places, which are closer to their personal identities that they develop within their homes.

From a personal perspective, I tend to relate the Genesee River to Hunhe River back home. This is because I live in a neighborhood with only two-minute walk to the river while here in Rochester I also live by the river, although with a longer walk. These similarities remind me of life back home. However, more importantly, I find myself more comfortable and attached to the new city when I can see the river or by the river, for example canoeing on the Genesee River or simply walking by. This feeling expresses the same result as Stedman (2002) finds that we are more likely to describe ourselves to a specific place through interaction, in my case the river. Nevertheless, this sense of comfort by the river does not make me feel that I belong to Rochester City which can be defined as personal identity, but rather, it constantly reminds me that I am a international student who is here to pursue a tertiary education. I find this consistent to what Hernandez et al (2007) find that for immigrants, attachments are stronger than identities to places.

SENSE OF PLACE IN DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXT

Robert Hay

They say…..

The development of a sense of place is particularly influenced by residential status.

I say…..

One can develop a place attachment by factors such as rootedness and length of residence.

 Hay(1998) points out that the place attachment comes from the place you are a citizen of, the place you belong to legally.

I feel that one develops a place attachment from the culture in which one is living. One can develop place identity from the duration of one's stay there and how fast one can make that place his own.

The author: Robert Hay(1998). Sense of place in developmental context. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18, 5-29

First time to take a roller coaster

My first reaction when I heard that we were going to Darien Lake was starting trembling. "An amusement park?" "Does it mean roller coasters?" "Never try those dangerous scary things." That is what I thought in my mind.

Honestly speaking, I have never taken a roller coaster before. I still remember when I was a little kid, I went to an amusement park with my mum and took a pirate ship ride. As soon as I landed on the ground I threw up badly, which left me with a deep mental obstacle. After that experience I never tried to ride a roller coaster and I thought I would not able to ride one anymore.

I can still remember what happened yesterday when I was tied onto the roller coaster, which was the first instrument we took. I actually did not realize the wooden structure was a roller coaster when I queue for it. (I might have not tried for it as usual if I knew it was a roller coaster.) I started to get worried when the roller coaster climbing up the slope slowly with the "KA KA" noise, which make me feel awful. When it accelerated down the slope, I felt my heart was floating in the sky. After several turns the roller coaster was back to original position in a short time. Besides a slight dizziness I did not feel uncomfortable when I step on the ground. After the ride, I persuaded myself that roller coaster is exciting and safe; fear is the only thing prevent me from it; if I am able to finish this ride I will be able to take all the rides.

My friends and I took five rides of roller coaster in total, which sort of compensate my lack of excitement for the past few years. I even sit at front roll twice in the five rides. I guess I have already overcome the mental obstacle. Maybe sometimes the only thing prevents people from success is their belief that they will never success. Once they start to believe in themselves they are one step nearer to their goal.

Concert at Eastman School of Music

African Drumming and Indian Percussion

I would like to elaborate about the concert at the most elite music school of the country. Firstly, the Indian percussion at the Eastman school of Music was soothing. The African drumming was loud but interesting. 

The Indian percussion instruments included the drums known as tabla, dholak in their native language, hindi and the cymbals. The coordination was mind-blowing and the kids still in their high schools were talented.

The African drumming was interesting as how the artists performed. It was surprising to know that the drums can be played so loud. It was also exciting to know how the artists played with so much interest and effort.

I think that the concert was one of the best activities or one of the best places we have seen until now in Rochester. 

I also think that the Eastman School of Music is one of the best structures considering educational buildings.

A difficult beginning

Someone said, our eating habits are determined when we are only three years old, which means what our parents cooked for us, what kind of utensils they taught us to use, what tastes and cooking styles we like, are unchangeable to some degree in the rest of our lives. I don’t know whether this point has been scientific approved or not, but when I started my journey of eating in America, I realized I believe it trustfully.

First thing first, the cold water. My mother told me that don’t drink ice water and eat anything cold. I didn’t know the scientific reason except eating cold food would get a stomachache. And I think my mother couldn’t explain the reason clearly. She just taught me what my grandmother taught her. I know people in America all drink cold water, but I didn’t realize that water machines here don’t have heating function. When my kettle arrived last week and I boiled some water, the feel of hot water passing my mouth was amazing and delightful (no exaggeration here).

The food here is totally different from Chinese food. Chinese food is flavorsome because Chinese food is added plenty of seasonings when cooked. The most common ways to make American food are frying and grilling, instead, people in China always stew and boil food. When we ordered Chinese food last Wednesday, I found American Chinese food is sweeter and lighter than original Chinese food. I ate a lot that night. The food made me feel nostalgic for the first time. I missed my mom’s cooking and my grandmother’s noodle.

I tried lots of food last week. I used different utensils even my hands to eat food (that’s a little weird but interesting, giving me a sense of reversionary). But I still didn’t find the food I love genuinely. Maybe I’m a picky person, who knows.

I know I should leave my comfort zone, get my taste buds ready and explore more fancy tastes. However, it is really hard for me to leave something that has been determined when I was three years old.

What I talk about when I talk about food

The last time I did Facetime with my mother, I requested her to do one thing immediately right after I return back home in Christmas holiday ---- bring me to at least ten restaurants and feed me enough Chinese food until I have to go back to school.

Instead of promising me with a mom’s concern, she laughed at me. “What have you eaten for these days?” She asked curtly.

So I started with the lunch I ate in the amusement park. Well, it was lenient for me to call it a “lunch”, since I had no idea what I swallowed that noon. That was something eatable with strange shape, and I chose the dots one instead of plain one. That was one of the biggest mistake I have made this year. The dots, after I took my first bite, turned out to be thick salt grains. The bread tasted super salty and bitter, for sure. I ate that piece with 100% of daze, and did not have my dinner that night. I couldn’t stop thinking of my lunch.

Danforth is better off than food outside university, even though I have to change my mind about these old customs I had back in home. Danforth gets milk! Although I’ve never drunk iced cold milk before, I’m trying hard to get used to it. Danforth gets fried eggs! And they’re also lukewarm. Anything lukewarm instead of iced cold impressed me. And anything that could be piping hot may makes me cry. Danforth gets rice! See my heart shaped eyes.

We also had Indian food and Ethiopian food. The Indian one was great; we had fried rice, nann and… three kinds of different color soups? I searched for dishes for a while, and then I realized those “soups” were actually dishes. But they were all appetizing. I know Saurabh may read my blog.

The Ethiopian food was novel for me. We ate without any fork or spoon. Sauces had exotic teastes, and they cooked lamb so different from the cuisine in my hometown and I was like: oh, lamb can tastes like this?

I started to make a food list for what I should eat during winter holiday after I ended Facetime. All the foods, including red jujube pies my grandma make, Chaoshou, ramen and whatever fast foods rushed in my mind, and I had to swallow a lot to appease myself.