Interview with Victoria Wan a.k.a Vicki

I grew up in a town that was not very racially diverse. With about 95% of my community being white, I was not around people of different races often. Coming to Penn State I was excited to be put into an atmosphere that I would be able to expand my knowledge and friend group from the people who were just like me at home, to meet people of other races. I met a girl named Victoria Wan and she was very excited to help me out on this paper. So thats where my interview with color began.

As I got to talking to Victoria, I quickly found out that she likes to be called Vicki.

Vicki went to Emmaus High school, which is in Pennsylvania. She lives with her mom and dad and a younger sister. I felt like this was a good place to start. Her family. We had something in common right away, the fact that we were both the oldest children. After we realized our similarities she told me more about her family life. She explained to me how her parents are very traditional. Her mother, Emily Iy, is from Vietnam and lived there until she was about 4. That is when her family moved over to America. At the time of their move to America it was during the war and conflict going on in Vietnam. Vicki explained it to me by saying “its actually interesting because my mom and her family had to flee Vietnam because of so much conflict and war going on”. I found this very interesting and felt like it was a cool story to have in their family history. This is where me and Vicki started to see our differences. Next she told me about her father, Joseph Wan. Vicki’s father is from Hong Kong. He was born in 1969 so when he was born Hong Kong was still under British rule. So, ever since he was little he had known American because in school they were required to learn Chinese and English. Now me and her both are similar in the make-ups of our family, but my parents were both born in the states, and my parents parents were too. To find the ancestors in my family that were the ones to come over from Ireland and Hungry (a few of the places my moms side of the family originated) we would have to go way back. I think it is very cool how her parents were born in another country and that she still has that culture with her today.

After we talked about the background of her family I wanted to talk to her about what her life now is like, and was like back at home before she came up to State College. I started off by asking her what it was like living as an asian in her high school and her community at home. She told me that there was not many asians from where she grew up and she was not friends with any from home. She also said that where she grew up since she was one of the only asians, she did not always see herself as an asian and neither did her friends. She was and still is able to joke about the asian stereotypes because she is okay with that and she said something that I felt was very true and a very powerful statement about stereotypes. What she said was, “I am able to joke about the stereotypes but they haven’t really affected me. I don’t let it define me, because I am my own person”. I found this to be a very strong statement and shows that she is accepting of who she is, loves who she is, and is able to joke and have fun with the parts of her that are different then her friends. I then asked her what were hobbies and things she liked to do and she said she enjoyed snowboarding and long boarding. She also really likes extreme sports. Also, she loves to shop and me and her both had that in common! Vicki told me how coming to Penn State it is weird and different how many asians there are. She never really lived around them when she was home so its different having such a bigger population here. One thing she said was that it seemed harder because people here see she’s asian and automatically put her in a stereotype, but what they don’t know is once they get to know her she does not really embody many of the stereotypes, she’s just a normal girl. So she feels that was a little bit of an adjustment coming to penn state and being with more people of her own race.

Next, I asked her about different customs and beliefs that her family and her culture had. Chinese new year was something she pointed out that was different and something I doth celebrate in my culture, as well as saying that many funerals and weddings were different from american weddings and funerals. Vicki explained to me how the region and places her parents are from practice the Bhuddist religion, and that they see it more as a way of life then a religon. feng shui is another belief that traditionalists in the asian culture believe, and this means luck. She explained how they have to take their shoes off in the house and that when they eat asian food for dinner they are all served a bowl of rice and the meats and vegetables are in the middle of the table and you serve yourself what you would like with chopsticks.

Vicki has traveled to Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand and she said that they were great experiences and ones she may not have had if her parents weren’t from those places. She also said that her and her family often like to go to china town and get food and its one of the fun experiences her and her family have.

I am different from Vicki, but not in a bad way. I most likely will not go to Hong Kong, or Thailand. I don’t believe in feng shui and I am not a Bhuddist. But me and Vicki are still very similar in that we are both new Penn State students who want to be accepted and included in our university. Just because Vicki’s culture is different doesn’t make our wants as teenage girls different. We are both very excited to meet new people, join clubs, and especially go to the football games.

Overall, Vicki was a very interesting and nice girl to talk to, she made this assignment easy for me because of how inviting and willing she was to talk. I am glad I got to hear about her culture, which was a culture I knew little to nothing about. I realize everyday being at Penn State I will meet people everyday who are different then me, but I am excited for that opportunity.

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Vicki didn’t want me to take her picture right then so she asked me to use one from her prom.

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