Medwin
Hey guys, my name is Medwin, and I’m a civil engineer major. I was born and raised in Oceanside, a town on the South Shore of Long Island. I’m a first generation Asian American, more specifically; my parents are from Hong Kong. Because of this, I grew up in a household that spoke both English and Cantonese. It’s actually pretty interesting, despite growing up in an area of Long Island that is predominantly Caucasian/Hispanic, I hold a strong sense of pride in my background and identity as an Asian American. I believe that this is a result of going to a church and having many close friends in the Flushing/Fresh Meadows area of Queens growing up (which is predominantly Chinese-American). The influence of these two sides of life, the one at school and the one at church have shaped me into who I am today.
As a freshman in college, I’m living in the dorms here, The Towers. It’s definitely a new experience for me as for the first time in my life; I am surrounded by people of pretty much every ethnicity under the sun. My belief is that this allows me to expand my horizons as an individual and see the world in a whole new light, something I couldn’t really do in suburban Long Island. Suddenly, the two worlds that dominated my life before college have merged into one. It’s been quite the experience so far, I must say.
A few of my interests include playing piano, and cooking. I love horror and thriller movies and going to explore new places. (Exploring Manhattan is awesome!) I also enjoy playing badminton and I also swim a bit. Overall, I’m known to be a relatively outgoing person and apparently I’m funny too (?). Anyways, hope to see you guys soon!
IMMIGRATION VIDEO
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Thoughts on the Tenement Museum
I’d have to say the tenement museum was definitely an interesting experience. I can’t really say I had much expectations going there except for the fact that I would learn about the housing immigrants stayed in during the beginning of the 20th century. When we got there, I was pleasantly surprised by how much there was to learn and process.
The tour consisted of us visiting two recreated rooms in an actual tenement on Orchard St. I thought it was really interesting learning of the stories of the two families the museum decided to research and follow. The tour really helped me appreciate how hard it was for these immigrants to make ends meet as they migrated to America. In high school, when we went over immigration, we were just told “oh yea, immigrants had it tough, the streets of America weren’t actually paved with gold.” Now, I truly understand what that means; they literally had sweatshops inside their own homes and worked from sunrise to sunset. I guess understanding this; it makes me appreciate how hard it was for my parents and grandparents when they immigrated here in the 70’s. Sure, they didn’t work for hours in sweat shops, but to pick themselves up from nothing, it sure is pretty impressive.
I know at one point, we were shown a map of how Orchard Street looked at the turn of the 20th century and there were definitely some “wows” in our group. The map consisted of hundreds of people in the street. When you look at Orchard today, it really isn’t a very wide street. It’s pretty shocking that that many people were able to fit. I guess this experience truly put into perspective of how large New York City has become. Millions of more people inhabit the city then the time that picture was taken. This just means that like the stories of the immigrants we heard during the tour, there are even more stories of immigration in the city today.
GREENWICH NEIGHBORHOOD VIDEO
