- Hello, my name is Anushka Srivastava,
and I'm a rising junior
in the World Bachelor in Business Program,
which is a partnership between USC, HK USC,
and Bocconi University.
(gentle music)
Since I filmed my Day In the Life video with Crimson,
I finished my freshman year at USC,
where I found some of my best friends,
and I also planned and organized the largest hackathon
USC's ever had called HackSC.
Then I went to Peru and consulted for a social enterprise,
after which I came back and completed my summer
with a summer internship in a company in the Bay Area.
Then I went to Hong Kong for my second year of college
and I spent the first three months traveling
and exploring the city.
After which, I had to return back to United States
because of the protest situation there.
So a lot of college students actually got to experience
online education this year
because of the COVID-19 situation.
However, I got to experience online system of education
because of the protests in Hong Kong.
So last November, the protest situation in Hong Kong
really escalated and we were evacuated,
so I had to complete my first semester online.
And then when it came to February of this year,
when I had to go back to Hong Kong,
the COVID-19 situation in that region of the world
had actually really just started to rise.
And we decided that it might not be a good idea
to go back to Hong Kong in the beginning of the semester.
So we would just start with an online system
but when things would get better, we were going to go back.
However, things only got worse.
So I actually ended up spending the entire semester
from home in the Bay Area, taking classes at weird hours.
So my classes would all be Hong Kong time.
The earliest class I would have would be from 6:00 PM,
and most of my classes would actually end up going
until two or three in the morning.
I even had to take some of my finals at absurd hours,
like four or 5:00 AM.
So I had a very interesting experience
with online education.
So this upcoming year, I was actually supposed
to be going to Milan, Italy for my third year of college.
However due to various reasons,
I have decided to take a gap year.
And I hope to spend the upcoming year
developing some personal and professional skills.
So I'm really looking forward to this.
And in this upcoming year, my only goal is to try out
as many different things as possible
and to really enrich myself in everything.
So if I were to give my old self some piece of advice,
I would truly say that, value what you have
and when you have it.
Time truly flies when you're having fun.
And there are a lot of moments when you have fun,
and there are a lot of moments when have to study hard.
But just really value what you have.
So if you're going to college this upcoming fall,
I would really recommend you keep an open mind
and look for opportunities, despite various challenges.
And, I always truly believe that there's always something
to do and something that you can make
good use of your time with.
So in terms of whether
the World Bachelor in Business Program has lived
up to its expectations, definitely.
But was it exactly how I expected things to be?
Not really, I mean, I wasn't expecting much.
And you know, when I actually ended up going to Hong Kong
my second year, it was nothing from what I had imagined.
And the protest situation and the riots that took place,
I think it was a really interesting time to be there.
And I definitely think I learned a lot
and grew a lot from the entire experience.
And you know, my favorite part about this program
has definitely been living with my cohort
and living in the same apartment with a lot of my friends.
So just being able to explore a new city
and living in a country so far away from home
has definitely taught me a lot.
Extracurriculars have largely varied due to the nature
of the program and all the travel associated with it.
So I've changed a lot of clubs.
However, the one club that I'm still involved with
is 180 Degrees Consulting.
And this semester, because I was taking
online classes from home,
I decided to pursue new skills and try out new activities.
So I enrolled myself in an improv class,
and I started learning Bollywood dancing,
how to play a bamboo flute,
and just a lot of fun activities.
And I have also just begun volunteering for an organization
that helps teach kids in rural parts of India
how to speak in English and other subjects as well.
(upbeat electronic music)