College Food

So, while I was waiting for a sandwich at The Big Onion at East Commons the other night, I started thinking about something. Maybe it's just me, but "The Big Onion" seems to be a really unattractive name for a sandwich shop. It doesn't really imply anything about the quality of the food. And then I also realized that "Good 2 Go" and "Fresh Express" are really bland and uninspired names. Not to mention that fact the logos and color schemes for all three shops seem kind of garish and ugly.

As a whole, it seems like universities don't put a whole lot of effort into designing appealing logos and names for their on-campus shops and dining areas. I noticed this both at Penn State and at other universities I visited before applying to Penn State. I'm guessing many universities just think that since students are going to be forced to eat their food anyway, why bother designing an appealing name and logo? The thing is though, if a store has an unappealing name, it's going to make the food seem less appealing by association. Maybe not consciously, but subliminally. And this subliminal association might cause students to unconsciously avoid eating at the commons if possible. I've personally noticed that I've ordered Pita Pit several times rather than just walk down to the commons. Not to mention that this whole laziness regarding design doesn't really leave a good impression on potential students about the quality of a university.

So really, it seems like universities shoud show some pride and actually try to sell their food, rather than just assume we'll eat whatever crap they give us.

More Chinese Rhetoric

So the other day, in my Chinese class, my teacher decided us to give us a worksheet where we analyze different cultural situations. Most of them dealt with different situations like an American teacher teaching in China, Americans having a dinner party with Chinese and Americans going on a tour in China. I can't copy them verbatim but they dealt with themes like how the memorization method of teaching Chinese are used to might conflict with how an American teacher wants to teach, how cultural differences can make socializing with Chinese people seem awkward (for instance, Chinese don't seem to view asking a person's income or age as rude at all), and how the collectivist and hierarchical nature of Chinese society could offend Westerners.

What all of this illustrates is that it's important to keep in mind cultural differences in mind when speaking to people of a different nationality than you. Not just in public speaking, but in normal socializing too. What you consider normal conversation may be viewed as extremely rude and vice versa.

It's of particular concern to me because I'm actually spending two months in Shanghai this summer learning Chinese, and will need to keep cultural differences in mind. I have Chinese friends, but I'm not sure that's going to fully prepare me for living in China. All I can hope for is that the culture shock that doesn't drive me completely insane.