In the Jungle; Pan Liu

Thank you for joining us for In The Jungle, where you stay connected to the current students at Pittsburgh State University. Now, here's your host, Howard Smith. Welcome to In The Jungle, where we meet the gorillas of Pittsburgh State University. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and today we are joined by Pan Liu, but he goes by Jackie. Yep. Thanks for being here. Thank you very much, Dr. Smith. Tell us a little bit about yourself. First of all, tell us where you're from. I'm actually from the Middle East of China, Little City, and Chang, with the two million people over there. A little city of two million people. Exactly. Yeah, that's where I'm from, and yeah. The majority of the area, is it rural or is it metropolitan? What would you like? Just like the small city is not really metropolitan or rural rule, but it's like a small, tiny city, like Manhattan here. Okay. And I'm saying we're joblin'. Right, right, yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Have you had to adjust like to the size of Pittsburgh or anything? Yes, I did. I had to do some adjust because this is a very small city.

It's like the county or town, pretty much like the size of China, the city is in China. Yeah, it's pretty small, and it's on the wheel. So if you don't have a wheel, you pretty much can't do anything. Yeah, I've got to get used to that. So you want to be a communications major or you are a communications major? I actually am right now in a master's program here in Pittsburgh State University and Communications. After I graduated and get my bachelor's degree here as well. And the major was communication as well. Okay. Now, are you a graduate teaching assistant? Yes, sir. I am teaching speech communication courses here. What's it like to be on the other side of the desk? I always wanted to be a teacher. Before teaching here in Pittsburgh State University, I actually have been doing teaching jobs from kindergarten through college. So I didn't feel very shocked or some sort of like a culture shock after I came to be a teacher. But I mean, this is a legit job.

So I did feel really excited about it. How long have you been here then in Pittsburgh? This is my fourth year in Pittsburgh. So you've had a really good time to figure out Pittsburgh and all that. Exactly. How did you, I mean, you said the Middle East of China? Yep. How'd you find Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh State. I've been to a film school back in China and it's a Sichuan film in television college. I used to call it Sichuan Normal University Film Television College. And I just felt like I wanted to go to study abroad when I was in my sophomore year. I've always had a niche, you know, a little voice in my head that I want to go to studying the United States. So when I was in my sophomore year, I looked through all the programs that we've had. It turns out that we've got a couple of choices for me to study abroad in two plus two program. The two years in China and two years in the United States. And when you graduate from here, you get both degrees, right? And through all the programs, the possible universities, I skimmed through and this is the best one.

It requires the best, the total grade. Okay. And I was like, if I want to go, I might just want to go to the best one. Right. So, you know, I was like PSU. And I am actually the only one in six or seven years that came to PSU for my film school. Yeah. Well, we're glad you're here. Thank you very much. I know you're involved in campus activities and have been involved in some campus activities and your experience here. Tell us a little bit about your involvement. I know. We'll tell us about the work on a collegio. Okay. And then we'll talk about your life as a bicycle repairman. Oh, yeah. It's totally different. Yeah. Sounds really interesting. But first of all, yeah. Let's talk about the collegio starry side. I used to work in collegio as a student reporter and a photographer as well. The reason why I choose to do that was because, you know, I came here to go to school. I came here to learn stuff, right?

So, when I'm looking for a part-time job, I'm actually looking for, I'm aiming more towards whether I can learn any job-oriented knowledge from this specific position. Rather than how much money I can make from there. So, if I can find a job that I can actually benefit me and can fit me some information, so I'm going to be using the future, I would rather to prefer this one. Even though I cannot make as much money as probably working as a tax or somewhere else. So, that's the reason why I choose to do this job. And it was a really big challenge to me because being held from China the first year, I could barely speak English or understand, you know, anybody here when they're talking. Sometimes even they have some fly-assure ragsons. It's really hard for me to understand as well. But I gotta tell you, your language is very good for being here for years. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Yeah, so, yeah, basically that's what I've been doing.

I have to use the recorder to record my interview ease. They're interviews and when I get back home, I had to slow it down two or three times. It's been two more hours to actually type it down. Each everything he said, sometimes I have to go back and forth and listen probably a couple more times. And I wrote some stories and took some pictures. Those are really good. As far as the bicycle repair man thing was concerned, I know Don Smith here. He's a very good guy. He'd contribute to the society. He alone bicycles to other international students. And I just felt like, you know, I would like to do something for him or to the society as well. You know, you pass this around. Pass this through. So that's the main reason that I decided to work with Don Smith. And we had very good conversations when we're doing bicycle stuffs. And I really enjoy the conversations with them. I've done that for an entire semester. And I feel like it is a relief for me mentally. So fixing bicycles, I don't have to worry about a lot of things.

I just concentrate on my work. Well, thanks for doing that. I know that people get a lot out of that. You see them all over campus. So the step in and help is just outstanding. Yeah. Got a question for you. Yep. You said you were the sixth or seventh student, kind of from the area in China that you came from. Yep. What if a student in China were considering going to school in the United States now, and they were thinking about Pitt State? Why would you tell them they should consider us? Through this four years experience, I couldn't figure out any reason that you don't choose Pitt State. And Pitt State has the feature of all the reasons they can think about as a great university. Especially for undergraduate programs. First of all, it's really teaching one. It's teaching one university. So it's really student-friendly. And secondly, and the local community is really as a college town. So everybody is friendly and they're open-minded. And the third reason is because the class size is really not that big.

So I mean, mainly just because the professors, they care about students. They care about each and every of you. They've got office hours and you can just, you know, knock in and talk with them. And I mean, they care about students and the parking is not that bad. Hey, that proves why you belong in Pittsburgh State University. Thank you for joining us in the jungle. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and Pan, Jackie Lou. Thanks for being with us today. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. Join us for in the jungle, Wednesday afternoons at 350, and Friday mornings at 850, here on KRPS.