Hello! Hows it going?
Wednesdays are my crazy day! But other than that i'm good :) how about you? Did you finish that calculus?
Ya, I got it all done! Wednesdays are actually my more chill days. I have more to worry about on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And this week I have a midterm that I will probably end up taking on Friday So Im not necessarily looking forward to that, but I think ill do ok on it What kinds of things do you have today? Are you still there?
yeah sorry! hang on So today I skyped with this lady in Ethiopia to discuss how we can improve maternal health in Kenya. It was so cool And then i have classes, a study group, more classes, and then a late night in the library to study for a big test tomorrow!
No worries, just curious if you were still there. Oh, good luck! Hopefully your tests will all go well. Im a little nervous about my test, but Im sure you will do great on yours. Sounds like you are doing quite a bit of studying for it You have already Skyped with someone in Ethiopia today. Thats pretty cool. I havent done much except just attend two classes Do you Skype people from outside the country often or is it just a today thing?
Haha classes are important too! Recently, talking to people outside the country has become more common. I'm doing a maternal health challenge right now that involves partnering with an existing company and then using technology to improve maternal health in our country of choice. My team is doing kenya! it's like a 10 month challenge
Oh, thats pretty sweet. I don't have a lot of connections to people outside the country except from companions that I have had in the past. I know a few people from the phillipinnes and its cool to be able to chat with them every once and a while Thats pretty cool, hopefully your challenge is going pretty well. Not only that but Im sure it is building connections, that you wouldn't normally get without doing this challenge it really will benefit you in way more ways than one, im sure
Yeah! It has been mind-boggling how many connections I've been able to make. This challenge has provided such a sense of purpose to my life. It's been so great
Thats cool, has it given you ideas of things that you want to do after you graduate?
Yeah, I'd love to specialize in maternal health or refugee health. Well, ultimately I'd like to end up teaching at the university level. along the way, i'd like my research to be focused in maternal health
That would be pretty cool. Ive heard a lot of people that Ive talked to, even in different majors, just really want teach at a university level, and I think that would be pretty cool I don't think it will be what Im going to do, but I think that is something that could be pretty fun. Ive always wanted to teach or tutor something. I find it fun, sharing knowledge
Yeah, i think it's fulfilling to help others learn what we are lucky to have already learned! You want to work for Pixar, right?
Yup! I think that would be a ton of fun!
Yeah for sure! what's your favorite pixar movie?
Thats a good question... I really like Nemo. For some reason, I think growing up with it has made it sink deep, but I really like the new Coco movie too!
Yeah Coco is so so cute! Such a good message And of course, finding nemo is a classic
Ya, they did a pretty good job with it. They had a conference a couple of weeks ago here with the director of Coco, and they were talking about some of the struggles that they were having with the film and its kind of crazy the things that they were able to accomplish. It would have been really easy to alienate every hispanic people with anything that they were to get wrong in the  animation, but apparently they aced it and made it so that it was a remarkable film that everyone of every culture loves!
OH, that's wonderful! Also how cool that the director was here haha
Ya, thats what I thought too! Thats so cool we get the privilege of meeting cool people from there. I think I would have been happy just hearing from someone who just works th there
Yeah. Did the director come to BYU specifically? or just utah in general
I don't know for sure, but they often do that for the animation department, I think Sometimes they will fly out just to recruit from here.
I'd want to recruit from BYU too if I were an employer
Ya, there are a ton of great people here that would do great in a lot of businesses In fact, I don't know if you know but there are quite a few places that have been started by BYU alumni. Do you know what qualtrics is?
Yeah!
It was started by BYU alumni. This isn't BYU alumni, but co-founder of Pixar ed-catmull came from Utah, he just graduated from the University of Utah
No way! That is so cool. small world