By Logan Goh When the book Rather Take the Hard Seat was first published in 1999, it turned out to be an instant success. Thousands of copies were sold. The story of a courageous Harvard student taking an adventurous journey across China had struck a chord with numerous young souls who were living a relatively mundane life composed of homework and exams. Six years later, the author of the book has become a lecturer in our department. She is Dominika Baran.When I entered her office, Ms. Baran was busy arranging documents on the desk. The room was rather dark, but her brownish hair glowed in the light pouring through the windows. She has shiny big eyes and a stiff nose, and she was dressed in casual office clothes. Aside from being good-looking, Ms. Baran has a magnetic voice. She speaks in a unique English accent, because she grew up in Poland. “Escaped” from Poland
Before 1989, Poland was still a communist country. Life was difficult under the communist regime, because, as Ms. Baran explains, the government was corrupt, those who refused to join the party were discriminated against, and the economy was terrible. Therefore, many people opted to emigrate in search of a better life and among them, Ms. Baran’s parents. They “escaped” to Italy and lived in a refugee camp when Ms. Baran was still thirteen. Life was hard at that time, as she recalled: “We never ate Italian food, because we couldn’t afford to go to any restaurant.” One year later, they moved to the United States after their application as political refugees had been approved by the American government. The immigration experience had a tremendous impact on Ms. Baran. “When you come to this new country, your worldview opens up, you start accepting a lot of new things. Coming from a very Catholic country, suddenly you realize that there are all kinds of religions out there.” Learn English or Die When Ms. Baran left Italy she knew only a little English. Nonetheless, after four years she was accepted by Harvard University. When I asked about her English learning experience she said, “I was very young. When you are thirteen or fourteen, you can still learn a language pretty quickly. When I started going to high school, there were no Polish people my age. So, it was just me and this big high school and nobody spoke Polish. It was like ‘learn English or die.’ It was very much a survival issue."As for entering Harvard University, Ms. Baran herself didn’t really know exactly why she was admitted. She prepared every required document like everyone else, and she had very good grades. "I was so scared being a foreigner that I really made an effort, but I wasn’t number one in my class,” she added. She told me that maybe it was her background that helped, because universities always emphasize diversity. What You Don’t Know about Harvard Is Harvard University really the ideal place it seems to be? Ms. Baran, currently a PhD student at Harvard majoring in sociolinguistics, shared her experience with me. She admitted that Harvard students are very intelligent. However, the university is just too big, with many different schools. The professors are all very famous and busy with their research. Hence, as a student it is very easy to be overwhelmed and lost. It’s up to the students to go after their professors and make an effort to ask questions as a way of capturing their attention. In other words, if a student is shy or not aggressive it can be very scary. From her experience of teaching at Harvard as a teaching assistant, Ms. Baran found that many students had faced similar problems. In addition, it is very common to feel lonesome as a Harvard student. “You are surrounded by people that are very driven, very ambitious, and very intelligent. If you feel like you don’t understand something, maybe it’s not easy for you to ask a question about it. Maybe you’ll feel like you are not as good as other people,” Ms. Baran added. Traveling Inspires You As an experienced global trekker, she found traveling very rewarding. “It really inspires you. It broadens your horizons, opens up your mind, and allows you to look at things in a new way.” For people who would like to go trekking, she advised them to do research beforehand: “If you go to a Muslim country, find out how strict they are. If you are a girl, don’t walk around in shorts and a tank top, because that’s asking for trouble.” Ms. Baran came to Taiwan to learn Chinese. She thought that Taiwan was easier for foreigners, because Taiwan has had more contact with foreigners than China. Being the girl who dared to travel across China all by herself, I doubted that she would have any problem adapting herself. However, she explained, “There’s a time limit. If you go for a summer vacation, then every difficulty is exciting, because you can learn something from the experience, yet you can get on a plane to go home; whereas, if you live somewhere, you really have to adapt. It’s a very different experience from just traveling.” At first she planned to stay in Taiwan only for one or two years, but then “things just progressed.” Now, she has to finish her dissertation, which focuses on Chinese languages. To my surprise Ms. Baran just got married last month. She showed me her ring to clear my suspicions. In her book, Taiwan was the destination where she finished her adventurous journey to the east. Now, however, it has become the starting point from which she will begin her new journey of life. a
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May 2024
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